Week 2, September 11th, 1988, Los Angeles Raiders (0-1) @ Houston Oilers (0-1)

Sunday, September 11th, 1988 4:00PM
Los Angeles Raiders (0-1) @ Houston Oilers (0-1)
Astrodome
Weather: Dome
Line: Houston -2.5 (los angeles), O/U 40 (over)

Attendance:  46,050 (50,594)

Los Angeles Raiders 31, Houston 14

Both the Houston Oilers and Los Angeles Raiders come into Sunday desperate to get into the win column.  

The Oilers were charged up on defense early, stopping the Raiders in their tracks stuffing Bo Jackson for -3 yards on a run, and on the next play, Doug Smith sacked QB Steve Beuerlein, forced a fumble to get great field position and electrify the Astrodome crowd.  The Oilers, however, could not capitalize.

First blood was drawn later in the quarter by the Raiders, converting a Cody Carlson botched snap and a 26 yard reception by Steve A Smith into a 2 yard QB Sneak by Steve Beuerlein for the touchdown and a 7-0 early lead.

The Oilers started to exploit a weak secondary on the right side and Carlson began to deliver the ball to Ernest Givins.  Completions off 9, 23, and 27 yards to Givins set the Oilers up with 1st and goal from the 10.  Mike Rozier banged it in from 2 yards to even up the game at 7.

The Raiders successfully answered with 31 yard deep pass to Tim Brown set up a 46 yard Chris Bahr field goal to put the Raiders up 10-7.

Offenses would be held in check until the middle portions of the 3rd quarter.  A 29 yard pass to Oilers' WR Ernest Givins (9-161 TD), followed by a catch by Drew Hill (5-68) (with a 15 yard roughing call), gave way to a 40 yard touchdown pass and catch to Givins, who was embarrassing Raider CB Lionel Washington.  The Oilers would take the 14-10 lead into halftime, despite the Raiders breaking into Houston territory twice late in the half.

Ernest Givins does the electric slide after catching a 2nd quarter touchdown to provide the Oilers with their only lead of the game 14-10.

Cody Carlson did an admirable job in place of Warren Moon, throwing for 300 yards

The destruction of the Oilers began with 10:59 remaining in the 3rd quarter on a Greg Montomery punt.  It was blocked and the victim of the 1st half, Lionel Washington recovered the ball in Oiler territory.  James Lofton caught a 26 yard pass from Beuerlein bringing the Raiders inside the 5, which culminated with a 2 yard touchdown catch by Steve A Smith (4-45, TD).  The Raiders were ahead for good 17-14.  The Oilers drove down the field to the 7, but a sack by Vann McElroy and a fumble recovered by Greg Townsend.

The Raiders started to move the ball late in the 3rd quarter.  A 28 yard catch by Mervyn Fernandez (2-59) and aided by 2 Houston penalties in the red zone, the Raiders again found the end zone with a 6 yard catch by rookie Tim Brown.  

Tim Brown celebrates a 4th quarter touchdown that put the Raiders ahead 24-14

Trying to salvage something, boosted by a 36 yard reception by Curtis Duncan, the Oilers drove far enough for a Tony Zendejas field goal try, but he missed the 47 yarder.  

The Raiders took the ball and demoralized the Oilers, going all 70 yards in almost 6 minutes, with Bo Jackson applied the final touch with a 2 yard run to make the score 31-14 with less than 5 minutes to play.

The Oilers drop to 0-2 and are left shaking their heads.  They outperformed the Raiders in many statistical categories, but gave up 117 yards on 13 penalties.  Their defense was also terrible in the red zone, allowing 31 of 35 points.

Player of the Game:

Steve Beuerlein - Raiders

Beuerlein only completed 13 passes on the day, but made them count, tossing 2 touchdown passes in the 2nd half, and rushing for another to guide the Raiders to their first victory

1988 Los Angeles AFC 31, 1988 Houston 14
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	Total
1988 Los Angeles AFC	10	0	7	14	0	31
1988 Houston	7	7	0	0	0	14

Scoring Plays
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Scoring Description(Extra Point)	Score
1	8:55	1988 Los Angeles AFC	S.Beuerlein 2 yd. run (C.Bahr kick)	7-0 LAA
1	3:03	1988 Houston	M.Rozier 2 yd. run (T.Zendejas kick)	7-7 HOA
1	0:57	1988 Los Angeles AFC	C.Bahr 46 yd. field goal	10-7 LAA
2	6:07	1988 Houston	E.Givins 40 yd. pass from C.Carlson (T.Zendejas kick)	14-10 HOA
3	8:40	1988 Los Angeles AFC	S.Smith 2 yd. pass from S.Beuerlein (C.Bahr kick)	17-14 LAA
4	12:51	1988 Los Angeles AFC	T.Brown 6 yd. pass from S.Beuerlein (C.Bahr kick)	24-14 LAA
4	4:37	1988 Los Angeles AFC	B.Jackson 2 yd. run (C.Bahr kick)	31-14 LAA

Other Highlights
Qtr	Clock	Poss	Event	Player	Yards
1	13:57	1988 Los Angeles AFC	QBSack Fumble	Doug A. Smith	-8
1	13:38	1988 Houston	QBSack	Greg Townsend	-9
1	9:41	1988 Houston	QBSack	Matt Millen	-3
1	9:28	1988 Houston	Fumble	Cody Carlson
1	3:56	1988 Houston	Fumble	Alonzo Highsmith
1	2:18	1988 Los Angeles AFC	Pass	Tim Brown	31
1	1:31	1988 Los Angeles AFC	QBSack	Doug A. Smith	-6
2	4:29	1988 Los Angeles AFC	QBSack	Ray Childress	-7
2	0:15	1988 Los Angeles AFC	Fumble	Tim Brown
3	10:44	1988 Houston	Blocked Punt	Greg Montgomery	0
3	7:11	1988 Houston	Pass	Drew Hill	40
3	5:26	1988 Houston	QBSack Fumble	Vann McElroy	-11
3	0:29	1988 Houston	Fumble	Cody Carlson
4	11:52	1988 Houston	Pass	Curtis Duncan	36
4	11:34	1988 Houston	QBSack	Russell Carter	-7
4	9:52	1988 Houston	Missed Field Goal	Tony Zendejas	47
4	6:48	1988 Los Angeles AFC	Pass	Mervyn Fernandez	31

Team Statistics
	1988 Los Angeles AFC	1988 Houston
First Downs by Rush-Pass-Pen-Total	4-13-5-22	4-10-3-17
Third Down Efficiency	7-14-50%	4-14-29%
Fourth Down Efficiency	1-1-100%	1-2-50%
Red Zone Efficiency (pts-poss-pct)	31-35-89%	7-14-50%
Total Offense-Plays-Avg Yards Per Play	262-63-4.2	355-69-5.1
Total Net Yards Rushing	57	85
Total Rushes	28	28
Average Per Rush	2.0	3.0
Passes Completed/Attempted	13/32 (40.6%)	18/37 (48.6%)
Net Yards Passing	205	270
Avg Yards Per Pass	7.1	8.1
Sacked/Yards Lost	3/21	4/30
Punts/Average	5/45.0	5/26.6
Punts Received/Return Yardage	3/3	3/19
Kickoffs/Returns	1/17	5/88
Interceptions/Returns	0/0	0/0
Penalties/Yards	7/46	13/117
Total Fumbles/Fumbles Lost	5/3	4/4
Time of Possession	26 mins 41 secs	33 mins 19 secs
Average Drive Start	LAA 37	HOA 26

Passing Stats
	Att	Comp	Yds	Comp %	Yds/Att	TD	TD %	INT	INT %	Long	Sack	Rating
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Steve Beuerlein	32	13	226	40.6	7.1	2	6.3	0	0	31	3/21	86.2
1988 Houston
Cody Carlson	37	18	300	48.6	8.1	1	2.7	0	0	40	4/30	85.4

Rushing Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv	Fumbles/Lost
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Marcus Allen	11	34	3.1	6	0	0	0/0
Bo Jackson	10	15	1.5	5	1	0	0/0
Steve Beuerlein	4	8	2.0	6	1	0	3/1
Steve A. Smith	2	1	0.5	1	0	0	0/0
Vance Mueller	1	-1	-1.0	-1	0	0	0/0
1988 Houston
Mike Rozier	14	57	4.1	28	1	0	0/0
Alonzo Highsmith	9	19	2.1	6	0	0	1/1
Cody Carlson	3	5	1.7	5	0	0	3/3
Allen Pinkett	2	4	2.0	5	0	0	0/0

Receiving Stats
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD	2 Pt Conv
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Steve A. Smith	4	45	11.3	26	1	0
Tim Brown	4	50	12.5	31	1	0
James Lofton	2	49	24.5	26	0	0
Mervyn Fernandez	2	59	29.5	31	0	0
Marcus Allen	1	23	23.0	23	0	0
1988 Houston
Ernest Givins	9	161	17.9	40	1	0
Drew Hill	5	68	13.6	40	0	0
Curtis Duncan	2	41	20.5	36	0	0
Alonzo Highsmith	1	23	23.0	23	0	0
Leonard Harris	1	7	7.0	7	0	0

Field Goals
	1-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	Totals	% Made
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Chris Bahr	0/0	0/0	0/0	1/1	0/0	1/1	100
1988 Houston
Tony Zendejas	0/0	0/0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0/1	0.0

Punting
	No	Avg	Net	Tb	Inside 20	Long	Blocked
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Jeff Gossett	5	45.0	37.2	1	3	58	0
1988 Houston
Greg Montgomery	4	33.3	32.5	0	2	40	1

Kickoff Returns
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Stefon Adams	1	17	17.0	17	0
1988 Houston
Leonard Harris	3	50	16.7	19	0
Lorenzo White	2	38	19.0	20	0

Punt Returns
	Ret	FC	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Tim Brown	3	0	3	1.0	2	0
1988 Houston
Kenny Johnson	3	0	19	6.3	11	0

Individual Defense
	Tackles	Sacks	Fum Rec
1988 Los Angeles AFC
Jerry D. Robinson	8	0	1
Mike Haynes	6	0	0
Matt Millen	5	1	0
Linden King	4	0	0
Bill Pickel	4	0	0
Vann McElroy	4	1	0
Rod Martin	4	0	1
Greg Townsend	3	1	1
Russell Carter	3	1	0
Ron Fellows	2	0	0
Scott M. Davis	2	0	1
Lionel Washington	1	0	0
Mike Wise	1	0	0
Mervyn Fernandez	0	0	1
Rory Graves	0	0	1
1988 Houston
Robert Lyles	6	0	0
Johnny Meads	6	0	0
Doug A. Smith	5	2	0
Ray Childress	5	1	1
John Grimsley	4	0	0
Al Smith	3	0	0
Steve Brown	3	0	0
Jeff Donaldson	3	0	0
William Fuller	2	0	0
Cris Dishman	2	0	0
Patrick Allen	1	0	0
Alonzo Highsmith	0	0	1
Drew Hill	0	0	1

Interceptions
	No	Yds	Avg	Long	TD
1988 Los Angeles AFC
1988 Houston

Game Story

With a solid effort the visitors from Los Angeles AFC defeated Houston by the score of 31 to 14. Los Angeles AFC had 226 yards passing and 57 yards running for the game. Los Angeles AFC took the early lead outscoring Houston 10 to 7 in the first quarter. Houston took the lead into the locker room at the half 14 to 10. Los Angeles AFC led after three quarters 17 to 14. Cody Carlson threw 37 times for 300 yards adding a touchdown for Houston, in a losing effort.