With No Safety Net, the Raiders Are Grounded

SEATTLE —  The Oakland Raiders claim they were robbed on a disputed safety. The officials insist they made the right call with 2:24 remaining in the game.

Then Jon Kitna threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to rookie Darrell Jackson with 28 seconds left as the Seattle Seahawks beat the playoff-bound Raiders, 27-24, Saturday.

Kitna’s deciding touchdown pass preceded the safety on a bizarre play. The Seahawks’ Ricky Watters had a 53-yard run before cornerback Charles Woodson knocked the ball out of his hands at the Seattle 25.

Marquez Pope recovered the ball at the two, but slid into the end zone, where he was touched down by Seattle’s James Williams for a safety that cut Oakland’s lead to 24-21.

“It was a fumble and I recovered it,” Pope said. “Down me where I got the ball or call it a touchback. If I thought they were going to call a safety, I would have got up and run.”

Defensive tackle Roderick Coleman used stronger words: “It’s ridiculous. You give them a safety, then you have to give them the ball back, punting into the wind.

“There should be fines for referees the same way they fine us for dumb stuff.”

The officials saw it differently.

“The defensive player [Pope] recovered the ball on the one-yard line, virtually took it into the end zone and then stayed in the end zone,” referee Bernie Kukar said. “In effect, what this amounts to is a player carrying the ball into the own end zone.

“We were looking to see if he was touched down by contact, which he was not, and he made no attempt to get out of his own end zone. Therefore, it is a safety.”

The Seahawks saw it as a safety too.

“The rule says that on a fumble momentum can’t carry you into the end zone,” Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said. “Don’t ask me why it’s different for an interception versus a fumble, but that’s just the rule.”

The loss in cold, wet and windy conditions left Oakland (11-4) in jeopardy of losing first place in the AFC West. The Raiders are a half-game ahead of Denver, but the Broncos will win the division if they win their final two games because they beat Oakland twice.

A similar play to Seattle’s safety occurred this season in Atlanta’s 15-10 victory in Carolina.

Carolina cornerback Doug Evans popped the ball out of Atlanta running back Jamal Anderson’s arms at the 16 at the end of a 42-yard run. As the ball bounced on the turf, Evans grabbed it on the two and fell forward into and through the side of the end zone.

One official called it a touchback, but was overruled by another who cited a little-known rule that momentum can’t carry the defender into the end zone unless it’s on an interception.

Seattle (6-9) got the ball back after Oakland’s free kick at the 39 and went 61 yards in nine plays for the winning touchdown. Kitna completed four of five passes on the drive for 50 yards.

Oakland, which clinched a playoff berth last Sunday night with a victory over the New York Jets, had one more possession. But Rich Gannon suffered his third interception of the game--by Willie Williams with 12 seconds left at the Seattle 28. Gannon threw only eight interceptions in the Raiders’ first 14 games.

The Raiders took a 17-13 lead in the third quarter on Randy Jordan’s six-yard touchdown run two plays after Tyrone Wheatley’s 67-yard run to the Seattle 12.

Wheatley, who had 146 yards in 26 carries, left the game later in the third quarter with an injury to his left leg and didn’t return.

Jordan’s seven-yard touchdown run with 11:48 left gave the Raiders a 24-13 lead after a peculiar decision by Seattle punter Jeff Feagles.

On fourth-and-nine from the Seahawk 15, Feagles lined up to punt and then, without any pressure, rolled out and threw an incomplete pass. Oakland got the ball at the Seattle 15 and scored three plays later.

Feagles also had a punt blocked, shanked a 15-yarder and fumbled Seattle’s final extra-point attempt and then kicked it out of bounds for a penalty.

Afterward, Feagles went to the sideline and tried to explain his play to Holmgren, who had not called for a fake punt.

“The wind blew the snap to my left,” Feagles said. “By the time I got my feet around, I couldn’t kick the ball. I looked up and saw some things there.”