But as Oakland Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell pointed out, "they [the Jaguars] made one more big play."
McFadden had one of his most explosive games as a professional Sunday at EverBank Field, scoring three long touchdowns and accounting for a career-high 209 yards of offense in the Raiders' 38-31 loss to the Jaguars. McFadden gained 123 yards rushing (getting the ball only 16 times, for a 7.7 per-carry average) and caught three passes for a career-best 86 yards.
The day's work on the ground put McFadden only seven yards away from his first 1,000-yard season as a professional. He will get the chance to reach that mark next week at home against Denver. McFadden has five 100-yard games this season after having only one in his first two years after being drafted in the first round (as the fourth overall selection) out of Arkansas.
Each touchdown McFadden scored was perfectly timed. His 67-yard catch and run with a short pass — he made Jaguars safety Sean Considine whiff as he broke into the clear — opened the scoring in the first quarter and converted a third-and-8. His 51-yard TD run in the third quarter answered a Jaguars touchdown to start the second half and gave the Raiders a 24-14 lead.
And his 36-yard score with 2:03 left tied the score at 31-31.
McFadden's TD reception was the longest of his career. His scoring run in the third quarter was his second-longest as a pro.
Unfortunately, McFadden couldn't play defense or special teams, and every one of his game-changing TDs was answered by a big play for the Jaguars.
"We came out and played hard, but they had a bunch of big plays, and I felt that cost us,"
McFadden said after the game, his voice barely a whisper as he still appeared stunned that Deji Karim's 65-yard kickoff return and Maurice Jones-Drew's 30-yard TD on the next play undid his final score. "A game like that means nothing if we don't win. I felt we played hard the whole game, but it didn't bounce our way at the end."
Despite the fact that McFadden had driven the Jaguars' defense crazy, there were stretches of plays during the game where he didn't touch the ball. Between his two second-half scores, the Raiders ran 20 plays, with McFadden getting three touches. Then, on the Raiders' final possesion, McFadden didn't touch the ball once as Campbell threw four times to Louis Murphy and once each to Darius Heyward-Bey and Jacoby Ford.
"I don't know ... that's not for me to decide right now,"
Raiders coach Tom Cable said when asked if McFadden should have had more than 16 carries or targeted more in the passing game.
McFadden also played the good soldier and might not be complaining much after a frustrating 2009 season in which he had only 104 carries in 12 games.
"I thought [offensive coordinator Hue Jackson] did a great job of calling the game,"
McFadden said.
McFadden also gave credit to the Jaguars.
"They have a pretty good run defense, but we have a pretty good rushing offense,"
he said. "It was a battle of the Titans out there."
