On the final play of the Oakland Raiders win over the Houston Texans, the Raiders only had ten men on the field. Despite that fact, the Raiders' safety, Michael Huff, was able to come up with a game sealing interception in the end zone.
Ironically, earlier in the drive, the Raiders were called for a penalty for having twelve men on the field. Luckily for the Raiders, there is no penalty for too few men on the field, or Matt Schaub might have gotten another chance at racking up a come from behind victory in the fourth quarter. However, while the Raiders had ten men on the field, I cannot help but feel that they did have an eleventh man out there, but we just could not see him.
As I watched the final play unfold, I was in shock. It appeared as though Matt Schaub had an open lane which he could have used to walk right into the end zone and secure a win for the Houston Texans. However, as he started to take a step towards the end zone, he suddenly stopped, moved laterally and threw the ball to the end zone where Huff picked him off.
In watching the play, it appeared as though Schaub was dead set on running the ball in when he stopped in his tracks. It was almost as if he saw a defender breaking towards him that would have prevented him from crossing the goal line despite the fact that it was an open running lane.
It may be cheesy, it may be overly sentimental, but I think Al Davis put the fear of god in Schaub and prevented him from making the decision to run the ball into the end zone. For those of you who are big soccer fans, you are familiar with Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" play in the 1986 World Cup. Perhaps, the final play in the Raiders huge win over the Texans should start being referred to as "The Hand of Al" play.