Originally published on Dec. 25, 2021
By Zane Miller
On Sunday, December 15th, 2019, a pair of fourth
quarter touchdown passes to wide receiver Chris Conley from quarterback Gardner
Minshew led to the Jacksonville Jaguars taking down the Oakland Raiders in the
final NFL game to be played at RingCentral Coliseum so far, with the Raiders
relocating to Las Vegas at the conclusion of the 2019 season.
On Wednesday, April 15th, 1964, construction began on
what would be named the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, as the local
government sought to replace the recently opened Frank Youell Field, which was
only intended as a temporary stadium for the Raiders to play at while the
Coliseum was being built.
In 1966, the Raiders, still members of the American
Football League at this point, moved into the Coliseum as they looked to build
upon their 8-5-1 record in the 1965 season, as well as earn their first AFL
championship. While their debut season inside the new stadium saw them repeat
their 8-5-1 showing and miss the postseason, the team would take their best
record yet in 1967, going 13-1 to host the AFL championship game, as they
defeated the Houston Oilers 40-7 to clinch their first and only AFL title. In
doing so, the Raiders also made their first Super Bowl appearance, although
they would lose to the NFL’s Green Bay Packers 33-14.
Oakland would reach the title game in the following
two seasons, carrying their success into the NFL following the NFL-AFL merger
prior to the 1970 season. Throughout the 1970’s, the Raiders would continue to
be one of the most consistently powerful teams on the circuit, making the
postseason in seven of the 10 years along with holding a winning record in
every season during that span. The team capitalized on their regular season
success with a Super Bowl victory over the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in the 1976
season, claiming their second not long after in 1980 against the Philadelphia
Eagles 27-10.
While the Raiders’ 16-season long winning record
streak ended in 1981, the more immediate concern would be the team’s move to
Los Angeles for the following season, as a series of legal battles attempting
to keep the team in Oakland would fall unsuccessful. For 1982, the team moved
into Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to become the Los Angeles Raiders, leaving
the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum with the MLB’s Oakland Athletics as the
lone tenant, with the exception of 1983 to 1985 as the United States Football
League’s Oakland Invaders also held their home contests at the stadium.
While the Raiders’ time in Los Angeles would yield
on-field success, including their victory in the 1983 season’s Super Bowl, issues
related to dropped renovations for the current stadium as well as a proposed
new stadium led to the Raiders relocating to Oakland once again, with their
second tenure beginning with the 1995 season.
While Oakland continued to play well throughout the
first several seasons of their return, seeing another Super Bowl appearance in
the 2002 season, their performance hit a sharp dive right afterwards, as the
team failed to put together a winning season from 2003 to 2015. While a 12-4
season in 2016 provided a brief blip of confidence, the Raiders continued to be
mired in losing territory with a 6-10 showing in 2017 and a 4-12 finish in 2018,
as the trend looked as though it would continue to the 2019 season.
The 2019 season saw the Raiders look to be on the path
to a winning record initially, taking a 6-4 record through the first 10 games.
However, the season began to collapse after a three-game losing streak, all of
which were lost by at least three possessions, setting themselves up at 6-7
coming into their contest against Jacksonville.
The Jaguars were in a similar position as Oakland,
after having a respectable start to the year, a five-game losing skid saw
Jacksonville fall out of postseason contention, taking a 4-9 record across the
country as they looked to finish the season on a positive note.
Starting at quarterback for the Raiders would be veteran
Derek Carr, as he started every game for the Raiders during the 2019 season and
had not missed a start since October 8th, 2017 against the Baltimore Ravens, in
which EJ Manuel filled in at quarterback with Carr out due to a back injury. Despite
having a losing record, Carr produced 18 touchdown passes coming into the home
finale.
While Oakland’s quarterback situation was solidified
for years, the Jaguars’ scenario in 2019 was the opposite. After signing Nick
Foles as starter in the offseason, the plan changed quickly with Foles breaking
his collarbone in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs. This led to
sixth-round draft pick Gardner Minshew taking the majority of the starts for
the Jaguars, claiming a 4-5 record at this point in the year, going along with 15
touchdown passes. However, Minshew would be the one to lead a fourth quarter
comeback to end the Raiders’ time in Oakland on a sour note.
With Oakland leading 16-6 with just over five minutes
to go in the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Raiders would be able to
hang on despite missing opportunities to put the Jaguars away for good, as they
settled for three field goals from inside the red zone while the defense held
Jacksonville to just three points in the first half.
While Minshew found ex-Chiefs wide receiver Chris
Conley for a six-yard score to make it a 16-13 game, the Jaguars would need to
rely on their defense for a chance to get the ball back and complete the
comeback. Jacksonville had good reason to trust their defense, as along with
holding when backed up into the red zone throughout the afternoon, star
defensive end Yannick Ngakoue had racked up a pair of sacks while fellow end
Josh Allen and linebacker Austin Calitro earned one apiece.
The ensuing drive for the Raiders would see a
methodical march down the field, with the key play coming in the form of a
12-yard scramble by Carr, although they would sacrifice a significant amount of
time on the clock with less than two minutes to go as Oakland got into field
goal range. Kicker Daniel Carlson, who had been perfect at three-for-three on
field goal attempts, missed his 45-yard kick to keep it at a three-point game.
It wouldn’t take long for the connection of Minshew
and Conley to strike again, as a 21-yd pass set the Jaguars up in the red zone
with less than a minute to go, followed by the final touchdown in the history
of RingCentral Coliseum as Conley had his second of the game to put the Jaguars
ahead for the first time on the afternoon with just 31 seconds remaining, as
they would hold on to take the 20-16 victory to advance to 5-9, while the
Raiders fell to 6-8.
While both teams finished the year with losing records,
as the Raiders went 7-9 while the Jaguars finished at 6-10, the 2020 season
would see vastly different results between the two clubs. The Jaguars fell
apart after an ugly dispute between the team and Ngakoue led to a trade and set
the tone for the rest of the season, with Jacksonville going 1-15. Meanwhile,
the Raiders improved and remained in playoff contention for most of 2020,
taking an 8-8 record. However, the Raiders would accomplish this away from
Oakland, as the team completed their move to Las Vegas. While RingCentral
Coliseum is still in operation as of this writing as home stadium of the MLB’s
Oakland Athletics, the chances of it hosting an NFL game again remains unlikely.
Happy Holidays!
No comments:
Post a Comment