Raiders 13, Bills 10

It was fitting that coach Norv Turner earned his first win in the Oakland Raiders ' home opener.

Rich Gannon completed 19-of-27 passes for 207 yards and the Raiders defense sacked Drew Bledsoe six times en route to a 13-10 win over the Buffalo Bills .

"To our credit, the offensive played very well," Gannon said. "Because of field position, we didn't get to take as many shots downfield as we hoped."

The Raiders improved to 9-1 in their last 10 home openers. They lost their season opener under Turner last week at Pittsburgh.

"I told them Wednesday that this was a big game and that we needed it," Turner said. "It wasn't pretty. But we improved from last weekend and got a win out of it. Every win in this league is so hard to get. It feels good on the sideline."

Oakland's Jerry Rice saw his streak of catching a pass in 274 consecutive games come to an end. The last game Rice failed to catch a pass was December 1, 1985 against the Washington Redskins .

"It happens. Life goes on," Rice said. "I'll just have to start another streak for another 200. I knew it would end one day, but didn't expect it to be today. I felt like Forrest Gump running around all the time."

The end to Rice's streak means former Raiders teammate Tim Brown , now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , has the longest current streak at 174. Former Redskins receiver Art Monk has the second longest all-time streak at 183.

Gannon completed nine of his first 11 passes in the first half and concluded a 10-play, 98-yard drive with a 43-yard touchdown pass to Ronald Curry to give Oakland (1-1) a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

"A lot of guys play star coverage, and we just beat their safeties that came up," Curry said. "We've got a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball. I think I played well and just want to see the team to continue to improve."

Curry had five receptions for 89 yards.

Bledsoe threw his only interception of the game on the second play of the third quarter. Cornerback Ray Buchanan picked off Bledsoe at the Bills 39, which eventually led to Sebastian Janikowski 's 21-yard field goal, giving Oakland a 10-3 lead.

"We will be a great defense in the near future," Buchanan said. "More picks will come when we play teams that don't take sacks and throw the ball out when pressured."

"I didn't throw it well enough," Bledsoe said. "We didn't block well enough. We didn't run well enough (and) didn't catch the ball well enough. We are better than this and it was very frustrating."

On the ensuing kickoff, Terrence McGee 's 88-yard return to the Oakland 11 was called back because of holding, putting the ball on the Bills 28.

"It's very disappointing, especially when you see the great return and try to get some momentum," Buffalo coach Mike Mularkey said. "Next thing you know it's negated and it hurts bad."

On Oakland's next possession, Buffalo missed out on a safety when officials ruled tight end Roland Williams was guilty of holding at the 1-yard line. Had the infraction been in the end zone, the Bills would have been given two points.

Buffalo had another opportunity for great field position in the fourth quarter when Nate Clements returned a punt 63 yards to the Oakland 11. But another holding penalty brought the ball back to the Bills 26.

Trailing 13-3 with less than two minutes remaining, Buffalo went for it on 4th-and-18 from its own 30. Bledsoe hit rookie Lee Evans with a 65-yard strike to the Oakland 5. Two players later, Bledsoe completed a five-yard TD pass to Eric Moulds .

"It's tough having to think about the 0-2 record going into the bye week," Moulds said. "They have a solid D and played a lot more cover-two than I thought they would."

Bledsoe finished 13-for-24 for 198 yards.

Oakland recovered the onsides kick and ran out the clock, handing the Bills (0-2) their ninth loss in 11 road games.

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