Raiders Punch Their Ticket to NFL Playoffs with Thrilling OT Win
The Las Vegas Raiders claimed one of the most remarkable victories in franchise history and qualified to the NFL playoffs on the 45th anniversary of one of their greatest wins.
Daniel Carlson kicked his fifth field goal of the game from 47 yards with no time left to give the Silver and Black a 35-32 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night in the final game of the regular season before 65,000 fans at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Carlson has made 38 field goals without a miss at Allegiant Stadium since the Raiders moved there from Oakland last season.
The Raiders (10-7) won their fourth straight game to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and will play the AFC North champion Cincinnati Bengals (10-7) in a first-round playoff game on Saturday at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” said Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia, who is 7-5 since taking over when Coach Jon Gruden resigned and had to improve his chances to have the interim tag removed next season. “They don’t blink, they reset. They recover quickly.”
“Derek (Carr) has been in two-minute situations before, he’s been in 4-minute situations before. Our defense has had to come up with stops at the end of the game. So you just can’t say enough about how this team prepares ... I just know they believe in each other when they go out there.”
Earlier this season, the Chargers (9-8) beat the Raiders, 28-14, at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., but on this night they were eliminated from playoff contention.
Both teams would have made the playoffs, and the Pittsburgh Steelers would have been on the outside looking in had the game ended in a tie.
On Jan. 9, 1977, the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena behind Hall of Fame Coach John Madden, who passed away recently at the age of 85.
Fittingly, the Madden family was in attendance for this game, as the Raiders paid tribute to Madden, and his wife, Virginia, lit the Al Davis Memorial Flame before the game. Coach Madden lit the flame on the day it was first unveiled at the Oakland Coliseum on Oct. 16, 2011.
The Raiders seemed to be in control when Carlson kicked his third field goal of the game from 52 yards to build a 29-14 lead with 8:23 left in the game after Carr threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Hunter Renfrow earlier in the game.
“We knew, no matter what, we didn’t want a tie, we wanted to win the football game,” said Carr, even though a tie would have gotten the Raiders into the Playoffs. “Obviously, if you tie you’re in an all of that.
“But my mindset all day, I was even texting with (Green Bay Packers quarterback) Aaron Rodgers this morning, my mindset was to make sure we were the only team moving on after this.”
However, second-year quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers were not finished.
Herbert led the Chargers 75 yards in 14 plays, threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Josh Palmer, and added a two-point conversion pass to running back Austin Eckler that narrowed the gap to 29-22 with 4:28 left in the game.
After the Raiders went three-and-out, Herbert led San Diego on an incredible 83-yard drive by throwing passes on 19 straight plays and completing only six. Still, the last one was a 12-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Williams with no time left on the third-fourth down of that possession.
Dustin Hopkins added the extra point, and the game went to overtime at 29-29.
Josh Jacobs, who had his best game of the season with 132 yards on 26 carries, started the Raiders off after winning the coin flip and took the ball to start overtime, rushing for 28 and 18 yards on consecutive plays to get things going.
“I said, ‘It’s time,’” said Jacobs, who has battled injuries this season after rushing for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons but finished with 872 this year. “We collectively came together, the offensive line, DC, everybody. And we just made it happen.”
However, the drive faltered, and Carlson put the Raiders back in front, 32-29, with a 40-yard field goal with 7:09 left in overtime.
Herbert put the Chargers in scoring position with a 47-yard pass to Williams, but the Raiders defense stiffened, and Los Angeles had to settle for a 41-yard field goal by Hopkins to make it 32-32 with 4:30 left in overtime.
That left it up to Carr to complete the 30th game-winning drive of his career in the fourth quarter and overtime, including four after regulation time, ended this season.
Carr hit wide receiver Bryan Edwards to 17 yards to get things started, added an 11-yarder to wide receiver Zay Jones with two minutes left, and Jacobs had two runs of seven yards and another of 10 to move the Raiders into position for Carlson’s game-winning kick.
Edwards led the Raiders with four receptions for 63 yards, Jones had five for 27, and although Renfrow made four catches for only a net of 13 yards, two were for touchdowns of two and 12 yards.
Linebacker Denzel Perryman led the Raiders with 12 tackles, cornerbacks Brandon Facyson and Nate Hobbs each had seven, and defensive end Maxx Crosby added six tackles, including three for losses, two sacks, four quarterback hits, and three passes defended.
“One of the most stressful games I’ve ever been a part of,” Maxx Crosby, who was in Herbert's face all day, told reporters. “But we got the win.”
Herbert completed 34-of-64 passes for 383 yards and three touchdowns with an interception, and while Carr couldn’t match that, he was 20-of-36 for 186 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
That was good enough.
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