PFF Recap: Grading the Oakland Raiders in Week 8

The Oakland Raiders (6-2) capped off their 10-day stay in Florida with a 30-26 overtime win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4) despite seeing a record-breaking amount of penalties thrown their way.

Beneath what looked like a yellow blanket, the Raiders turned what looked like a nightmare into remarkable dream due in large part to the play of their franchise pieces.

Here’s an in-depth look at how ProFootballFocus.com graded the Raiders’ Week 8 performance.

Derek Carr Establishes Himself Among the Elite

Raiders third-year quarterback Derek Carr pushed the pedal to the metal for four quarters and then some against the Buccaneers, and he never ran out of gas, revealing a trait Oakland hasn’t witnessed under center in a long time — championship grit.

With his back against the wall more than once in Sunday’s game, Carr remained reluctant to crumble beneath adversity, as he matched each of the referees’ thrown flags with an even more accurately thrown ball late in the game and on crucial downs.

Carr completed 40 of 59 passes for a franchise record 513 yards and four touchdowns, one of his scores going to his slot receiver Seth Roberts for a 41-yard game-winning touchdown on fourth down in overtime.

"“Yes, throw an accurate ball, stand in there make an accurate throw, give our guys a chance to make a play,” Carr said when asked to describe the game-winning play. “That is what my thought process is. As soon as the third down, I don’t know what it was, incomplete, I don’t know. I looked to the side and Coach Del Rio, sure enough, said ‘Go, just go’ and we [have to] come up big for him. He trusts us to do that, we [have to] keep doing it.”"

Carr, of course, came up big, earning the team’s highest offensive grade (82.7) on the day, per PFF.com.

Despite Carr’s record-breaking success, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio wasn’t even convinced that it was his quarterback’s best performance, and he expects Carr to only continue to improve as the season progresses.

"“I don’t know if I would say the best game throughout, but it was awesome,” Del Rio said, per Raiders.com. “It was an awesome performance. I don’t know. I’ve seen some good ones. I think we’’ continue to see good ones from him. He’s very confident, he’s got some weapons he’s utilizing, and he had a heck of a performance today.”"

Whether it goes down as awesome or one of his best, Carr’s performance single-handedly kept the Raiders in reach of the win, and his ability to maintain that level of play through the final play of the game ultimately allowed the Silver and Black to walk off the field with the victory in hand.