It looked as if neither team wanted to win Sunday afternoon at Raymond James stadium in Tampa Bay as the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were tied 24-24 deep into overtime.
As has been the case twice in the last two weeks in the NFL, if the overtime period ends and neither team has scored then the game would end in a tie. Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was well aware of that, as on 4th-and-3 from the Tampa Bay 41-yard line with just under two minutes remaining in overtime, Del Rio elected to go for it and quarterback Derek Carr rewarded him by delivering a perfect strike to Seth Roberts, and Roberts broke free and took it all the way for a touchdown, giving the Raiders a 30-24 win.
While the win was a big one, it did not come pretty as the Raiders set an NFL record with 23 penalties for 200 yards. But they were able to overcome that with a superb performance from Carr, who has put himself in the MVP conversation in recent weeks. Carr completed 40-of-59 passes for 513 yards and four touchdowns in the game, and also had a 13-yard run on a third down play late in the fourth quarter to set up a possible game-winning field goal that Sebastian Janikowski missed.
With the Raiders offense struggling in the first half, trailing 10-3 heading into the halftime locker room, Carr came out in the second half and led his team on an 8-play, 75-yard opening drive that resulted in a touchdown tying the game at 10.
After a quick three-and-out by the Buccaneers, Carr connected with receiver Amari Cooper on a 34-yard touchdown pass to give the Raiders a 17-10 lead. Cooper had a career-high 12 receptions for 173 yards in the game.
Tampa Bay scored the next two touchdowns though to take a 24-17 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the contest. It was then that Carr led a masterful 9-play, 75-yard drive that was capped of by tight end Mychal Rivera’s first touchdown catch of the season, tying the game at 24 with under two minutes remaining.
Another three-and-out led to the possible game-winning field goal attempt as time expired, but Janikowski pulled the 50-yard attempt wide left, sending the game into overtime.
Janikowski then missed another field goal on the opening drive of overtime, putting the game into a sudden death situation.
Neither offense was able to move the ball into field goal position, until finally Carr connected with Roberts for the game-winning score.
The Raiders currently sit at 6-2, which is at least tied for first place in the AFC West. Next Sunday they return home to host the Denver Broncos in what should be a first-place showdown.
