NFL

Jets fourth-quarter rally falls short against Raiders

OAKLAND, Calif. – Not this time.

The Jets have made a living off dramatic, how-did-they-do-that, fourth-quarter comebacks in the last year. But, Sunday the Raiders denied them another line on their comeback resume, holding on for a 34-24 victory at O.co Coliseum.

The Jets opened a three-game road stretch with a brutal loss, their first of the season. They held a 10-point lead before surrendering 24 unanswered points as their usually infallible defense showed plenty of holes.

Darren McFadden rushed for 171 yards, the most anyone has rushed against the Jets since Rex Ryan became head coach. Penalties hurt both teams, and the Jets had seven, some crucial.

The Jets showed their usual fourth-quarter fight after falling into a 14-point hole. The O.Co crowd was rocking and the Raiders had all of the momentum, but the Jets mounted a 10-play drive, punctuated with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez to Plaxico Burress to cut the Raiders’ lead to 31-24 with 3:06 left in the game.

Sebastian Janikowski answered by kicking his second field goal of the game on the next drive with 2:37 remaining to extend the Raiders’ lead to 10.

The Jets made one last gasp, taking the ball down to the Raiders 2. Sanchez scrambled on fourth down and looked like he scored a touchdown. But after the referees reviewed it, the play was overturned and the Jets turned the ball over on downs, sealing the Raiders’ victory.

The Raiders took control of the game late in the third quarter after the Jets went for it on fourth-and-2 at the Raiders 37. Burress failed to pull in Sanchez’s pass, and the Raiders capitalized.

On first-and-10 at the 50, McFadden kept the ball on an option pass and gained 27 yards. The Raiders then gave the ball to Denarius Moore on a reverse that he took through the Jets defense for a 23-yard touchdown to put the Raiders up 24-17.

Antonio Cromartie, who had a brutal day, then muffed the ensuing kickoff and Raiders rookie Taiwan Jones recovered it at the 13. Two plays later, at the start of the fourth quarter, Michael Bush scored from the 1 to give the Raiders a 31-17 lead.

Janikowski hit a 54-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to tie the game, 17-17, as the teams went to the locker rooms.

The Raiders began the game looking like they would own the Jets defense all day. They drove down the field in five plays on the opening drive, capped by a McFadden two-yard touchdown. The Raiders used a hurry-up offense that knocked the Jets’ defense off balance.

The Jets recovered quickly, though, and the Raiders offense began to stall. The Jets tied the game at 7-7 with 6:37 left in the quarter on a one-yard run by quarterback Sanchez. The key play of the drive was a 74-yard reception by LaDainian Tomlinson, who turned a short pass into a long gain.

Early in the second quarter, the Jets took their first lead of the day. Sanchez hit Tomlinson for an 18-yard strike up the middle of the field. Tomlinson was matched one-on-one with linebacker Quentin Groves. Tomlinson has made a career out of beating the Raiders. This was his 26th touchdown against them, the most he has against any team. It was also Tomlinson’s 160th touchdown of his career, joining Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith as the only players to have reached that milestone.

The Jets had better field position than the Raiders most of the first half. A Janikowski miss from 56 yards gave them the ball at their own 46 to begin a series that resulted in a Nick Folk 21-yard field goal to push the lead to 17-7.

Just as it felt like the Jets might pull away with the game, McFadden let them know the Raiders were not done yet. The speedy back ran 70 yards for a touchdown to bring the Raiders back to within 17-14. On the long run, McFadden hit the corner, the Jets failed to contain and then McFadden beat Jim Leonhard and Cromartie.

Running back Shonn Greene rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries in the first half, the first sign of a running game the Jets have shown this season.