Sixth NFL Battle of the Bay Area
The San Francisco 49ers and the Las Vegas Raiders played each other earlier this year on January 1, but it wasn't as anticipated as previous 49ers-Raiders games since
the Raiders' home is no longer in the Bay Area. In other words, there will be no more NFL Battles of the Bay.
According to
this website, the Raiders and the 49ers have played each other fourteen times:
four when the Raiders were in Los Angeles and ten when the Raiders were in Oakland. So, there were a total of ten NFL Battles of the Bay.
In my opinion, the most entertaining Battle of the Bay was the sixth one.
The sixth NFL Battle of the Bay was held in Oakland in 2002. Which team was I rooting for in this game?
Both. On the one hand, I grew up in Cupertino and Candlestick Park (where the 49ers played their home games at the time) was slightly closer to Cupertino
than the Oakland Coliseum (where the Raiders played their home games). On the other hand, I moved to the East Bay (UC Berkeley) approximately three months before the game
and Oakland is located in the East Bay. Since I supported both teams, I was rooting for a great game and that's what I got.
In the game, the 49ers were leading the Raiders 20-13 in the 4th quarter when the Raiders scored a touchdown with 6:28 remaining to tie the score. After the ensuing kickoff, the 49ers methodically moved the ball down the field. Twelve plays later, the 49ers were at the Raiders' 9-yard line with three seconds left in regulation. 49ers kicker José Cortez proceeded to miss a 27-yard field goal with no time remaining and the game went to overtime.
The 49ers won the overtime coin toss, received the kickoff, and went on another long drive. After sixteen plays, the 49ers made it to the Raiders' 5-yard line and then attempted another field goal. This time, Cortez made the kick with 6:19 left in overtime and the 49ers won 23-20. Adding the number of plays from the two drives, the 49ers ran thirty consecutive offensive plays (16 + 12 + 2 (field goal attempts) = 30). After their game-tying touchdown in the 4th quarter, the Raiders' offense didn't touch the ball for over fifteen minutes of game time. (Fifteen minutes is the length of a quarter.) I can't remember another game in which a team ran thirty consecutive offensive plays or an offense didn't see the ball for over fifteen minutes.
After the game, the 49ers were 6-2 and the Raiders were 4-4. The Raiders then won eight games in a row to win the AFC West. The 49ers lost half their remaining games, yet still won the NFC West. In the playoffs, both teams lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers: the 49ers were beaten by the Bucs in the second round and
the Raiders lost to them in the Super Bowl. That was the only time that the Raiders and the 49ers have lost to the same team in the playoffs. (In case you're wondering, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants have never lost to the same team in the playoffs. If it weren't for Madison Bumgarner, the Kansas City Royals
would have pulled off the feat in 2014.)
Cortez was cut by the 49ers two weeks after the 27-yard field goal miss and retired from the NFL in 2005. Subsequently, Cortez became a state trooper in Oregon. Six years into the job,
he was fired from his position.