Raiders Emerge as Bay’s Best

SAN FRANCISCO — Without any of the grandstanding expected in the Battle of the Bay, Tim Brown caught two touchdown passes, including one on a 31-yard play in overtime as Oakland beat San Francisco, 34-28, Sunday.

“It was a beautiful throw,” Brown said. “Just perfect.”

The game could have been called the Blunder of the Bay, marked by turnovers, miscues and missed opportunities.

“It was a crazy game, but it was a victory,” Raider receiver Andre Rison said. “That’s what counts the most.”

The Raiders (4-1) won soon after Anthony Dorsett blocked Wade Richey’s 29-yard field-goal attempt.

Sebastian Janikowski, Oakland’s top draft pick, missed two field goals, including one in overtime that could have given the AFC West-leading Raiders the victory a lot earlier.

Tyrone Wheatley scored on a one-yard run, quarterback Rich Gannon had a 13-yard touchdown run, and Janikowski did make field-goal attempts from 23 and 35 yards.

Janikowski missed a 41-yard kick with less than five minutes to play that would have broken a tie. Then he missed 35-yard kick in overtime, a questionable attempt that came on second and two. The kick went wide right.

For San Francisco (2-4), Terrell Owens scored on 31- and four-yard pass plays from Jeff Garcia, and had 12 receptions for 176 yards. Jerry Rice had a five-yard touchdown catch, and Charlie Garner a nine-yard touchdown reception.

An unusually lighthearted NFL moment came after Owens’ first touchdown catch midway through the second quarter that put the 49ers ahead, 7-6. He started to run for the middle of the field--as he had two weeks ago against Dallas--then abruptly stopped and shook his head no. The crowd roared.

“I wasn’t going to let everything that happened to me get me down,” he said.

It was Owens’ first game back since a weeklong suspension for his two flamboyant touchdown celebrations against the Cowboys, when he ran to the midfield star logo at Texas Stadium and taunted the fans. Owens didn’t play in the 49ers’ victory over Arizona.

Gannon completed 21 of 43 passes for 310 yards. His elusiveness impressed 49er Coach Steve Mariucci.

“There were times when we had a spy, a defensive lineman, a looking for him, but we couldn’t run him down,” Mariucci said.

Owens kept his celebration in check again on his second touchdown reception in the fourth quarter, as the 49ers mounted their comeback.

Then, after Pierson Prioleau’s interception, Garner’s touchdown reception tied it at 28-28.

Garcia completed 28 of 41 passes for 336 yards. The 49ers have scored 20 or more points in 11 consecutive games dating to last season.

San Francisco hadn’t played the Raiders in the regular season since 1994.