The Oakland Raiders owe their week six victory over the Cleveland Browns in large part to the play of their special teams. This is not surprising considering the Raiders boast the dynamic duo of kicking tandems in Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler, however, it was not the kicking game that made the difference in this game.
The Raiders scored 14 of their 24 points on special teams. The first touchdown came on a 101 yard kick off return by Jacob Ford. Last season as a rookie, Ford took three kickoffs to the house. This is his first kick return for a touchdown this season and it couldn't have come at a better time. The touchdown came right after Cleveland had scored to tie the game, and immediately put the momentum back on the side of the Silver and Black.
The second special teams touchdown came on a fake field goal in the third quarter that put the Raiders up three scores. The Raiders lined up for a Sebastian Janikowski chip shot (a 53 yard field goal), but when Lechler caught the snap, rather than place the ball for the kick, he stood up and threw a perfect pass to tight end Kevin Boss who sneaked off of the right side to find him self wide open streaking down the field for a 35 yard touchdown.
In a game where the Raiders lost their starting quarterback to a broken collarbone, the special teams stepped up big time to help secure the win and improve the team to 4-2.