Raiders Demise Exaggerated, Big Win in Big D Over Cowboys
Arlington, TEX.--The Las Vegas Raiders breathed some life back into their season and gave Raider Nation, even more, to be thankful for on Thanksgiving.
But it was anything but easy.
Daniel Carlson kicked his fifth field goal of the game without a miss from 29 yards, and the Raiders never trailed but needed overtime to slip past the Dallas Cowboys, 36-33, in a wild game on Thursday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“We had some explosive plays and we gave up some explosive plays,” said interim coach Rich Bisaccia, who left after five seasons with the Cowboys to join the Raiders in 2018.
The Raiders (6-5) snapped a three-game losing streak and revived their playoff hopes after losing five out of seven games following the season's 3-0 start. Las Vegas also is 3-0 in overtime games this season.
Quarterback Derek Carr led the Raiders on the 27th game-winning drive of his career in the fourth quarter and overtime, driving the Silver and Black from their 22-yard-line to the Dallas 11 on their first possession of overtime before Carlson connected for the game-winner with 4:28 left.
Cornerback Anthony Brown’s fourth pass interference penalty of the game, against Raiders wide receiver DeSean Jackson, gave the Raiders 21 yards to the Dallas 24 and set up the winning score.
“It kind of gave me goose bumps, I’m not going to lie,” said Carr, who moved from Bakersfield to Texas and played high school there before returning to play at Fresno State. “When that kick went through, I had a lot of memories from when I as a kid.”
Said Brown: “Just one of them days. I feel like I was in position for all of them, tried to turn my head. On some of them I did have my head turned. Just try to get better.”
Carlson was setting up for a 39-yard field goal before the Cowboys (7-4) committed two offside penalties in an attempt to block the kick, moving him basically into chip-shot range after he connected on field goals of 22, 46, 30 and career-long 56 yards earlier in the game.
“For me, it’s just blocking it out and taking one rep at a time,” said Carlson, who had a career-high 18 points in the game. “It felt like an eternity out there, having to kick it–I think I kicked three of them. Really, I kicked two of them, one I was like, ‘I might as well try to hit it and maybe even with a flag, it’ll count,’ so I kind of half kicked it. You know, trying to take them one at a time and seal the deal.
“Every win’s important. We’ve been working really hard. It’s tough when things don’t go your way for a few weeks. On a short week to be able to get a win like that, that helps us going forward. Like I said, I think that just speaks to the character of this team and our will to win.”
The Raiders never trailed, building a 17-6 lead in the second quarter on Carr's 56-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jackson to open the scoring, running back Josh Jacobs' 1-yard TD run, and Carlson's first field goal.
Dallas battled back as quarterback Dak Prescott threw touchdown passes of 10 yards to tight end Sean McKeon and 32 yards to tight end Dalton Schultz, a one-yard TD run by Ezekiel Elliott, and a 100-yard kickoff return for a score by running back Tony Pollard.
Greg Zuerlein kicked a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter and sent the game to overtime at 30-30 on a 45-yard field goal with 19 seconds left in regulation. However, he missed an extra point after the Cowboys' first touchdown, which proved very costly in the end, in addition to having a 59-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright and bounce away.
Carr and Prescott put on quite a passing show.
Prescott completed 32-of-47 passes for 375 yards and the two touchdowns without an interception, while Carr went 24-of-39 for 373 yards and the one touchdown and did not throw an interception for the first time in five games.
Carr became the fifth quarterback to surpass 30,000 passing yards in his career—joining Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford.
The Raiders are 6-0 this season when Carr throws for more than 300 yards.
The Raiders' leading receiver, tight end Darren Waller caught two passes for 33 yards before leaving for good because of a bone bruise on his left knee in the second quarter.
So wide receiver Hunter Renfrow stepped up and caught eight passes for 134 yards, including a 34-yarder, wide receiver Zay Jones caught five for 59 yards, and Jackson had three receptions for 102 in his third game in Silver Black.
Not only that, Jackson gave the Raiders the deep threat they have missed since Henry Ruggs III was released following his arrest after a deadly car crash.
Jacobs had one of his better games of the season, rushing 22 times for 87 yards and the TD and adding two catches for 25 yards, while Kenyan Drake rushed seven times for 25 yards.
Carr had the Raiders' longest run of the game on a 22-yard scramble, and backup quarterback Marcus Mariota came off the bench to run three yards for a touchdown out of the shotgun to give the Silver and Black a 24-13 lead with 7:13 left in the third quarter.
The Raiders piled up 509 total yards, 437 for the Cowboys, and controlled the for 39:02 minutes to 26:30.
There were no turnovers in the game, but the Raiders committed 14 penalties for 110 yards to 14 for 166 by Dallas.
“Twenty-eight penalties, I don’t know what the hell you want me to say,” Dallas coach Mike McCarthy said. “Write what you want. I’m all for it.”
Safety Johnathan Abram led the Raiders with ten total tackles; Cory Littleton added nine, linebacker Denzel Perryman made seven, while cornerbacks Casey Hayward and Brandon Facyson each had six.
The Raiders have ten days off before trying to keep the momentum from this victory going when they host the Washington Football Team on Dec. 5 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
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