The Oakland Raiders on Sunday gave the Pittsburgh Steelers everything they had.
Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t quite enough.
After fighting back from a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 35-35 with 1:15 remaining, the Raiders finally were overcome on a late Steelers drive – led by backup quarterback Landry Jones – and an 18-yard field goal by Chris Boswell with two seconds remaining to give Pittsburgh a 38-35 victory.
The loss drops the Raiders to 4-4 at the halfway point of the season, breaks their two-game winning streak and denies them a second victory in the Eastern Time Zone this season.
Once again, the Raiders offense was explosive.
Derek Carr threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns – including a beautiful, perfectly-placed 38-yard strike to Michael Crabtree that tied the game and looked as if it would send the game to overtime.
Crabtree had seven catches for 108 yards and two TDs, Amari Cooper had seven catches for 88 and a score and Seth Roberts caught three balls for 73 yards. Latavius Murray also had a big day, gaining 96 yards on 17 carries – including a 44-yard burst – but was knocked from the game in the second half on a big hit by Pittsburgh safety Mike Mitchell.
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At one point in the fourth quarter, the Raiders trailed 35-21, with a Taiwan Jones fumble on a kickoff return handing the Steelers the ball on the Oakland 6 to set up a 14-point Steelers lead.
But as the Raiders have shown this season, they can come back from a deficit late in the game. Oakland got within one score on Jamize Olawale’s 19-yard TD run, then – after a drive ended with Carr throwing an interception into the end zone – came back for the tie on Carr’s throw to Crabtree.
But Pittsburgh showed it could rebound, too, even without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was knocked from the game with a foot injury and replaced by Jones. Jones led his team from Pittsburgh’s own 20 to the Oakland 1 – the big play coming on a 57-yard catch-and-run play from Jones to Antonio Brown – to set up the winning field goal.
Brown had a magnificent game against the Raiders, catching 17 passes for a franchise-record 284 yards.
The Raiders now get to come back to Oakland, where they’ll face the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday afternoon at O.co Coliseum.
