The Las Vegas Raiders needed overtime to defeat the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1, but it was a win that could springboard them to a successful 2021 campaign.
If you survived the stress of the Raiders win over the Baltimore Ravens, well, hats off to you. The Raiders beat the Ravens 33-27 in an overtime victory that was one of the most peculiar games in recent memory.
The banged-up Ravens took a 14-0 lead through the second, and on paper, this may have seemed like the same old Raiders defense, but blunders from the offense were the bigger story early on. Derek Carr and co. struggled mightily, and the defense was looking lively, led by the one-two pass-rushing combo of Yannick Ngakoue and Maxx Crosby.
The Raiders made it interesting by scoring ten in the second quarter after a disastrous first, to only be down by four going into the second half.
After a defensive battle in the third quarter, in which the Raiders were seeming to finally solve the riddle of the dual-threat ability of quarterback Lamar Jackson, Las Vegas came alive in the fourth to finally even the score.
Derek Carr, who only seemed to trust one receiving target in tight end Darren Waller in the first half, was singing a different tune in the fourth by spreading the ball out among receivers Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards, and finally, Henry Ruggs on a deep pass that put the Raiders in scoring position.
The Raiders would eventually tie the game up near the end of the fourth on a game-tying field 55-yard field goal with only two seconds left on the clock.
Raiders win in overtime
After forcing overtime, the Raiders won the coin toss, electing to play offense, and after driving the ball quickly up the field, Derek Carr connected on a deep pass to receiver Bryan Edwards who scampered in for what looked like a game-winning touchdown.
After further review, the goal-line referee called the play dead, a mere inches from the touchdown.
After a couple of dead plays in the red zone, Carr threw a quick pass to Willie Snead with the ball going through his hands and hitting the helmet of a Ravens player before settling in to the hands of Ravens cornerback Anthony Averett.
On the next drive, Lamar Jackson was looking to lead the Ravens to victory before being stripped of the ball by defensive end Carl Nassib. After once again driving the ball up the field, the Raiders were looking to go for the field goal win with fourth-quarter hero Carlson, but they ended up taking a delay of game.
This forced the Raiders to continue to run offense, and luckily for Raider Nation, they did just that.
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Las Vegas finally finished off the game by basically faking out the Ravens defense who were thinking run, as Carr connected on a wide-open pass to receiver Zay Jones for a 31-yard score. The Silver and Black pulled out the victory 33-27 in one of the most heart-pumping games in memory. Next up is the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday in Pittsburgh.