Leading 10-3 late in the second quarter, the Broncos found themselves facing a fourth-and-1 at the Oakland 36-yard line.
Having already converted a fourth-down play earlier in the game, the Broncos were left with trotting the offense back out on the field or bringing in kicker Matt Prater to attempt a 54-yard field goal.
Denver went with option C.
Punter Britton Colquitt took the snap as normal before tossing the ball to Prater, who dropped back as a quarterback.
The kicker rolled out and lofted a high pass down the sideline toward guard Zane Beadles, who was tripped up as the ball fell incomplete. The turnover on downs gave Oakland the ball, and the Raiders used the field position to drive down for a field goal just before halftime.
“It was a little disappointing,” Head Coach John Fox said. “I didn’t see exactly what happened. We got the look that we were looking for and obviously it wasn’t very well executed. It was really supposed to be designed more of as a run than a pass.”
Prater acknowledged that his initial read was to run for the first down, but he saw a Raiders safety headed his way, and he didn’t feel that he could outrun him.
After the 37-6 win — the largest margin of victory for the Broncos against the Raiders in 50 years — it was a little easier to joke about the unsuccessful fake field goal.
“I just kind of told them to maybe give ‘Manning-to-Stokley’ a chance, maybe before ‘Prater-to-Beadles,’” quarterback Peyton Manning joked. “It’s one of the all-time great combinations, right? ‘(Jim) Kelly-(Andre) Reed,’ ‘(Joe) Montana-(Jerry) Rice,’ ‘Prater-Beadles,’ you know?”
Prater was quick to point out that he’s undefeated as an “all-time quarterback” in a flag football league back home, so he was disappointed with his throw. Especially with the way Beadles was burning his way downfield.
“He was flying down the field — I thought it was (tight end Jacob) Tamme,” Prater laughed. “I tried to give him a 50-50 ball. Might have overthrown him a little bit. Had a little extra adrenaline – I’m not used to having the ball in my hands. It was fun, I’m glad we did it, just wish we would have executed it better.”
Whether Prater gets a chance to make up for his throw is up to his head coach.
“We probably won’t see that one again for a while,” Fox said.
Tags: Fake Field Goal, Matt Prater, Oakland Raiders, Week 4, Zane Beadles
This game coming up against the Patriots is HUGE, and I’ve personally had it circled since the schedule came out. I know I’ve said many times that I hate the Jets, which I do, but not nearly as much as I hate the Patriots… They have beat us many times, including an embarrassing loss in the playoffs last year, they have McDaniels calling the plays for them, they have got caught cheating, but above all of that, I also live around a ton of Patriots fans, and have several people close to me who are die hard fans… Needless to say, I want this one BAD!!!
7 Days untill the Big Game, Ill be sitting in row 9 section 113 watching PFM pick apart the porous new england secondary. I AM SOOOO PUMPED FOR THIS GAME!!!!
I just love me a good Raiders stompin’! We finally got to be the ones to dominate. While there are always things to work on I thought we looked good. We were jacked up, fans were excited, we played with intensity, our defense played great, and our offense looked well oiled. Too bad about Walton though. I think all offensive lineman should wear knee and ankle braces. They’re always getting rolled up on and piled up on. Least we have a good veteran backup that played with Brady. So the experience should be there, just getting acquainted and gelled with the o-line.
The one big question was the fake field goal. I’m certainly glad it didn’t come back to bite us, but we don’t need our offensive lineman going downfield to catch a pass and then get cloberknockered. I’ll take the 3 pts. Besides..that play definitely needs some practice and the Raiders were totally ready for it.
Defense played great with May’s out and that was good to see. Not saying we don’t need Mays but the guys are really buying into the Next Man up mentality. Doom and Miller, finally glad to see them knocking the QB around! Think we took a play from the Atlanta defense, just kind of shifting, standing around and then BAM Palmer on the ground!
This week will be a great test. Our guys still have that nasty taste of last year I’m sure. We just need to go in there and play lights out..unlike the Bills. Just has to make you sick if you’re a Bills fan. We need to dominate Brady. I think it might turn into a ol’ fashioned AFC shootout. It’s tough going to Gillette and pulling a victory. That’s the difference in the game is home field advantage.
Patriots 31 Broncos 27
Great game. If Prater had made the firstr down and DMT hadn’t fumbled Broncos would have scored EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION!!!!!!!
The seasson is 1/4 over. I’ll try to get some time this week and post BBBP that are already proven wrong or right.
We better be shining the bright light in Koppen’s face, to get all that Patriots intel out of him.. I’m sure he has a ton of Brady “tells” he could share with us…
I kind of have to defend Jim Leonhard in the return game. I think it was the Falcons game where Gruden said about Leonhard “He is not going to get you any 40-50 yard returns, but he is also not going to put the football on the ground during a return”
Punt coverage was good though too. Lechler was just booming them to swing field position. At the same time we need to block better but Leonhard does need to make the first guy miss. That’s one of the keys to a good punt return is making the first guy miss. I sure do miss Royal though in the return game.
I said this last year and ‘ll say holds true this year. If we can pressure Brady, especially up the middle, we can beat the Patriots. Brady is a different player when he gets sacked , he starts hurrying throws and missing the target. If we can pressure Brady like we did C. Palmer, we will beat the Patriots. Jack Del Rio will have a few suprises in store , you can bet on that. Go Broncos!
Hoot!!! Woot!!! Hoot!!!
Enjoy the win against the Oakland! Don’t even think about the Pats.
Truth is: I saw more to be concerned about in the win than I did in the previous two losses.
The battle is won in the trenches and dominating Raider defective trenches is a long shot from being able to beat the Pats. The Broncos are going to need to get some lucky bounces to stay in the game next week.
We are needing Kuper – big time!!!
Anyone still want to be calling out Moore? Again – leading the team in tackles as the obvious target of the Raider offense. I never saw Moore miss a single tackle (not saying he didn’t – I just didn’t see it). Moore is stepping up and getting the experience he needs.
It is one of those situations where Moore is easy to set up as a mismatch. The raiders ran big receivers at him and faster receivers at him. Moore was ‘the man’ yesterday and should get as much credit as anyone for the win!