Captain Comeback: Derek Carr Leads Raiders to a Big Win

Derek Carr drove the Las Vegas Raiders to victory at the home of the Indy 500.

Daniel Carlson kicked a 33-yard field goal, his third of the game, with no time left to give the Raiders a 23-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Raiders (9-7) won their third straight game and remained in the AFC playoff race with one game remaining and clinched their first winning season since 2016, the last time they went to the postseason.

As a tribute to legendary Coach John Madden, who led the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI and passed away on Tuesday at the age of 85, the Silver and Black wore decals on their helmets with the Raiders shield and the initials JM.

“Regardless of the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows during the game, I think you can see the energy from all the players whether it was on the offensive side or defensive side, just pulling for their brothers in there,” Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia said. “(We) never took a step back the entire game.”

The Colts (9-7) had their three-game winning streak broken but remained in the playoff hunt after winning nine of their last 12 games since starting 0-3.

Carr, who engineered the 29th game-winning drive of his career in the fourth quarter or overtime, drove the Raiders 58 yards nine plays in the last 1:56 to set up Carlson’s game-winning kick.

The big play was Carr’s 24-yard pass to wide receiver Hunter Renfrow with 48 seconds left. Renfrow beat cornerback Kenny Moore II, and the play was initially ruled a touchdown, but Renfrow went down on the 24-yard-line and didn’t appear to be touched, so he got up and ran the rest of the rest the way to the end zone.

However, the replay showed that Moore barely touched Renfrow’s foot, and the ball was placed at the Indianapolis 24.

“I was just trying to keep the play going as long as I could,” Carr said. “I saw Hunter running in the open, just like on the touchdown (earlier in the game) and we extended the play, I waited as long as I could. He kept running and made a heck of a catch.

“We’ve had adversity this season, off the field and during games, but we just keep on winning and find a way to win. We’ve won three in a row now, and we’ll take the wins any way we can get them.”

The fact that Renfrow was down at the Indianapolis 24 actually turned out to be a break for the Raiders, who ran the clock down from 48 seconds on three runs by Josh Jacobs for nine yards to reach the 15-yard-line as the Colts called their last two timeouts.

Then Carlson delivered, again.

“It’s been an exciting season with a lot of close games coming down to the end,” said Carlson, who kicked his fourth game-winning field goal of the season. “It was a huge team win, not always pretty, but we pulled it out in the end with a last-second kick again.

“Whenever the offense gets the ball, I start getting ready, but with two minutes left I have to be a little quicker. I thought Hunter scored, but actually it was better for us because we were able to run the clock down. The offense executed perfectly and set me up for a 33-yard field goal to win the game. Like I said, it was huge for us.”

The Colts had tied the score, 20-20, on Michael Badgley’s 41-yard field goal with 1:56 left in the game.

The Raiders took a 7-0 lead by driving 75 yards in 12 plays with the opening kickoff to a two-yard touchdown run by Jacobs, who rushed for 63 yards on 16 carries in addition to catching four passes for 17 yards in the game.

Carlson kicked a 47-yard field goal to make it 10-0 with 14:12 left in the second quarter and a 44-yarder with 1:47 remaining in the half for a 13-3 lead.

The Colts score the following 14 points on a one-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Taylor on the last possession of the first half. Subsequently, on a 45-yard TD reception by wide receiver T.Y Hilton on a tipped pass from quarterback Carson Wentz on the first possession of the second half to give the Colts a 17-13 lead.

Taylor, the NFL’s leading rusher, had 108 yards on 20 carries in the game, and Wentz completed 16-of-27 passes for 148 yards.

Carr got the lead back for the Raiders with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Renfrow on fourth down with 11:18 left in the game before Badgley, who also kicked a 46-yard field goal in the second quarter, tied it and set up the Raiders’ winning drive.

Wide receiver Zay Jones, who has become a significant factor in recent weeks, led the Raiders with eight receptions for 120 yards. Renfrow made seven catches for 76 yards and the TD, as Carr completed 24-of-31 passes for 255 yards with the one TD and two interceptions.

“(Renfrow) makes big plays in big situations and he’s done it his whole career,” Bisaccia said of his wide receiver, who also had a 41-yard punt return to set up Carlson’s first field goal. “He did it at Clemson and now he’s doing it in the National Football League. I can’t say enough about the chemistry between him and Derek.”

Star tight end Darren Waller missed his fifth consecutive game for the Raiders, the first four because of back and knee injuries, but he was scheduled to practice in the last week before testing positive for Covid-19 and could not play against the Colts.

Defensive tackle Kendal Vickers, defensive end Carl Nassib, and guard Jordan Simmons also are on the list and missed the Colts game.

However, linebacker Denzel Perryman, cornerback Casey Hayward Jr., linebacker Cory Littleton, defensive tackle Darius Philon, linebacker Patrick Onwuasor, quarterback Marcus Mariota, linebacker K.J. Wright, and wide receiver Bryan Edwards were all activated from the COVID-19 list.

Linebacker Divine Deablo led the Raiders with nine tackles. At the same time, Philon and safety Roderic Teamer had eight, and Perryman, the Silver, Black’s leading tackler and one of the league leaders, made seven.

The Raiders can clinch a playoff spot with a victory over the AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers in the final game of the regular season next Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Chargers defeated the Raiders, 28-14, in the fourth week of the season at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., after Las Vegas had won its first three games.

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