Derek Carr wouldn’t let the Raiders lose to the Buccaneers

The Oakland Raiders were going for their fifth win in six games on Sunday when they went on the road to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Winning on the road in the NFL is never easy, and the Raiders didn’t make it any easier on themselves in a 30-24 win.

The Buccaneers jumped out to a 10-3 lead at halftime, thanks to a 41-yard field goal from Roberto Aguayo, and a Russell Shepard touchdown reception from the hands of Jameis Winston.

The Raiders answered in the third quarter with 14 points, thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by Derek Carr. One went to Donald Penn, who was cut by the Buccaneers in 2013, and the other went to Amari Cooper.

In the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers looked like they were going to tie the game with a Winston touchdown pass, but Aguayo missed his second extra point of the season to make it 17-16.

The Raiders, who broke an NFL record with 23 penalties on the afternoon, helped keep Buccaneer drives alive in the fourth quarter. They really hurt themselves on the Buccaneers’ drive that gave them the lead. Twice on third-down stops, the Raiders were called for penalties. The Buccaneers were able to convert on a 2-point conversion to make it 24-17.

Carr led his team to a nine play, 75-yard drive to tie the game with just 1:38 remaining in the game. After getting the ball back, Cooper had a brutal drop that could have sealed the game for the Raiders.

Carr would end up running for 13 yards, setting up the Raiders at the Tampa Bay 32. Sebastian Janikowski would miss the 50-yard field goal wide left, sending the game into overtime.

The Raiders won the toss, and had first dibs on offense in overtime. On a 3rd and 3, Carr hit Michael Crabtree for a 45-yard gain, putting the Raiders on the Buccaneers’ 23-yard line.

Of course, the game wouldn’t be complete without a couple more penalties from the Raiders. An unnecessary roughness penalty by Cooper and a false start penalty by Penn ended up setting the Raiders back to the Bucs’ 34-yard line. Sebastian Janikowski missed yet another kick, this one from 52 yards out.

After getting the ball back, the Raiders had a 42-yard gain from Crabtree wiped out due to yet another holding from Penn. That was essentially the theme for the Raiders’ second drive in overtime, where they broke the NFL record for penalties in a game with 23, and the Buccaneers got the ball back.

Regardless of the penalties, dropped passes, and other shortcomings by the Raiders, Carr found Seth Roberts for a game-winning 41-yard touchdown.

The Raiders are now 6-2, and have their best start in 15 years. They are also a perfect 5-0 on the road, and at the least, will remain tied for the AFC West lead at the end of the day.

Carr had a heck of an afternoon. He completed 40 of his 59 passes for 513 yards and four touchdowns. He was also careful with the ball, not throwing any interceptions. The Raiders had 626 total yards.

Most importantly, we narrowly avoided another tie, after having two in as many weeks.