Oakland Raiders win thriller against an old rival Sunday
The Oakland Raiders pulled off a major upset on Sunday, as they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at home in Week 14 action.
On a Sunday filled with exciting finishes, the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers had their own nail-biter that ended with Oakland getting their third win of the season in a 24-21 final. For the second week in a row they showed great fight despite being heavy underdogs, but unlike last week they got the necessary breaks to come out with the victory.
The Raiders started the game out with a bang putting together an 8 play 74-yard touchdown drive on their first offensive possession. The Steelers would tie the game early in the second quarter, but Oakland responded quickly with a field goal on the next drive to retake the lead.
Then trailing 10-7 with just under 3 minutes left, the Steelers put together a great drive to end the half with Ben Roethlisberger finding Juju Smith-Schuster wide open in the end zone. So a back and forth first half ended with the 14-10 Steelers lead.
Things got a little unusual to start the second half after Roethlisberger was not under center for the Steelers first drive. He was shaken up earlier from a Clinton McDonald sack and was reported to have a rib injury. For a second it appeared Big Ben would quickly return to the game, but the Steelers coaching staff opted to keep backup Joshua Dobbs in for quite a while.
The third quarter would result in little to nothing until the end when both teams would trade turnovers. The first being a Derek Carr fumble where the ball just simply fell out of his hand and then the Raiders defense would pick off a Dobbs pass intended for Antonio Brown.
In the 4th, the Oakland offense found life and had perhaps their best drive of the season. Going 73 yards on 14 plays while chewing up nearly 8 minutes of clock to give Oakland the lead 17-14. Carr made some incredible throws including a slant to Jordan Nelson that was barely beyond cornerback Joe Haden fingertips.
However, with the Steelers playoff chance on the brink, Big Ben would finally return to the game and lead them on a quick touchdown drive to regain the lead 21-17.
Normally this would the end for the Raiders, but Carr and company refused to give up as they marched right back down the field and scored another touchdown with only 21 seconds left.
The Steelers would get a field goal opportunity after a perfectly executed hook and ladder play that went for 48 yards. But kicker Chris Boswell who has struggled all season long slipped on the tying field goal attempt to preserve Oakland’s victory and one of the biggest upset in the NFL this season.
Here are the highlights from this wild game.