Raiders vs Lions final score game wrap: Early struggles lead to late heroics

Things looked like they might improve early on for the Raiders. Right out the gates, they got a first down on the first series - something they didn't do last week until the waning seconds of the first quarter. Schaub also had three nice completions. He connected with James Jones and Rod Streater on consecutive plays. Those two didn't see a single pass last week. Then he hit Mychal Rivera along the sideline who shook some defenders for a big gain. Schaub and Rivera couldn't get on the same page last week.

That's when the wheels came off. Schaub went for James Jones on a crossing route and the defender got a piece of it to knock it in the air where James Ihedigbo picked it off and got a pretty good return out of it.

The Lions would score a touchdown on the ensuing possession when Golden Tate got behind Tarell Brown to walk in for a 28-yard touchdown. Their kicker would hit the upright on the extra point attempt to make it 6-0 Lions.

The Raiders came back out and went three and out. Then after a dud punt by Marquette King gave the Lions decent field position, they marched right back down the field for another touchdown. The Raiders were failing in every aspect of the game and were down 13-0 in the first quarter. They were down 10-0 in the first quarter last week. They seem to have regressed, which is saying a lot.

On their fourth drive, the Raiders finally started to show signs of life. A few completions and Sebastian Janikowski came in and hit a 55-yard field goal. The Lions were called for 12 men on the field and the Raiders opted for the first down. That decision paid off as the Raiders finished off the drive for a touchdown to send the first team offense off on a high note.

The highlight of the drive was a well executed screen pass to Maurice Jones-Drew with Austin Howard, Stefen Wisniewski, and Brian Leonhardt blocking downfield. More good blocking on the goal line for Darren McFadden to squirt through for the touchdown.

Both teams switched out their starting quarterbacks and kept the rest of their first teamers in the game in the second quarter. Derek Carr went 2 for 4 on his first drive and led the Raiders to a field goal with the first team offense. The Raiders first team defense stiffened up for a while with Stafford out in favor of Dan Orlovsky, but even that was short lived as the Lions picked up big chunks of yardage in the two-minute drill against them. They ended with a 55-yard field goal to head to the locker room with a score of 16-10, Lions.

The second team defense didn't come out with the same immediate impact they had last week against Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings. This time their impact was allowing Dan (freaking) Orlovsky to look like Matt Stafford and go vertical for the touchdown.

But for whatever failing the second team defense had, the second team offense was succeeding. Derek Carr led the Raiders right down the field 80 yards for the touchdown. On the drive he went 6 for 6 for 76 yards with big gainers to Brice Butler and Greg Little and finished it off with a touchdown pass to Jake Murphy.

On the ensuing Lions drive, Khalil Mack finally gets in the backfield for his first sack as a Raider. On the very next play, he pushes into the backfield again and shucks the tight end to stuff the running back for a loss. The Lions had to punt.

TJ Carrie fielded the punt, made a move and shot up the sideline for 50 yards to the Lions 23-yard line and the Raiders were in business with an opportunity to take the lead, down 23-17. But after an Andre Holmes drop and a Greg Little route out of bounds, the Raiders could add just three points on a Janikowski field goal to pull to 23-20.

After that, it was tryout time for the fringe players on the depth chart. Derek Carr remained in for a while until he was tackled hard and left the game. It was later revealed that Carr has a concussion. Enter Matt McGloin.

McGloin took the Raiders down the field for what should have been a go-ahead touchdown. He hit tight end Scott Simonson on a seam route and just as he was about to cross the goal line, Lions safety Desean Gomes nails Simonson with a blatant helmet to helmet hit that knocked Simonson's helmet off and yet went uncalled on the field. The ruling on the field was a fumble and a touchback.

The Lions got the ball back and would go three and out. McGloin would have one more shot to score. The Raiders got the ball at their own 33-yard line with 2:32 on the clock. And McGloin led the Raiders down the field for late in the game for the second-straight week to score a touchdown. This time it was the game winner - 27-26 Raiders.

It is just a preseason game and wins and losses don't mean a whole lot but every team wants to win even in exhibition.

Matt Schaub finished 8 for 13 for 87 yards and an interception.

Matt Stafford went 9 for 10 for 88 yards and two touchdowns.

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