SportsDirect Inc. staff
Nov 17, 2013
Raiders 28, Texans 23: Rookie Matt McGloin threw three touchdown passes and visiting Oakland made a late defensive stand to send Houston to its eighth straight defeat.
The Texans received an emotional boost with the return of head coach Gary Kubiak from health issues but were bested by McGloin - who was making his first career start in place of the injured Terrelle Pryor - and hurt themselves with wasted opportunities late in the game. McGloin finished 18-of-32 for 197 yards and Rashad Jennings had 80 of his career-high 150 rushing yards on a touchdown run late in the third quarter for the Raiders (4-6).
Case Keenum threw for 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception for Houston (2-8) before being replaced by Matt Schaub, who was 12-of-25 for 155 yards and could not get his team into the end zone despite three red-zone opportunities in the fourth. Ben Tate ran for 88 yards for the Texans, who have scored two second-half touchdowns during their skid.
McGloin had three completions of at least 20 yards on an impressive drive in the third quarter, including a go-ahead 26-yard touchdown toss to Mychal Rivera, and Jennings ran over a tackler and raced 80 yards to make it 28-17 late in the period. Schaub engineered two drives inside the Oakland 20 that resulted in field goals but threw an incompletion to Andre Johnson on fourth-and-seven from the Raiders 8 with 1:10 remaining.
McGloin took advantage of two early Houston turnovers with touchdown passes to Denarius Moore and Rod Streater before Keenum found Garrett Graham for a 42-yard score early in the second. Houston tied it when Keshawn Martin knocked down a bounding punt, scooped it up and rumbled 87 yards to the end zone with 2:54 left in the half and took the lead on Randy Bullock's 51-yard field goal with 40 seconds remaining.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Tate lost a yard on third-and-one from the 2-yard line prior to Schaub's incompletion that ended Houston's final threat. ... Graham had seven catches for 136 yards, while Johnson hauled in 10 passes for 116 yards. ... Raiders RG Mike Brisiel left in the third quarter with a knee injury.