Raiders at Titans 1st Half Summary: Derek Carr leads Raiders to 10-6 lead at the half

The Oakland Raiders kicked the ball off first in this cloudy, rainy game against the Tennessee Titans. Titans rookie sensation at QB Marcus Mariota failed to lead the Tennessee to a first down on their opening drive so they punted right away after their first 3 plays. The punt traveled 60 yards but newly activated Jeremy Ross showed off what his specialty was by returning the punt 20 yards to the Raiders 38.

Derek Carr completed his first pass on the drive but got hit while throwing incomplete on the 2nd play. He was down on the ground after that long enough that he was required to come out of the game for at least one play. That meant Matt McGloin had to come in in for the 3rd and 3 play where his pass fell incomplete. The Marquette King punt after that went 47 yards and was downed inside the 10 at the Titans 8 yard line.

The Raiders defense remained up for the challenge however and forced another 3 and out with a nice pass break up from T.J. Carrie on 3rd and 1. The Titans 2nd punt was another good one that traveled 58 yards but again Jeremy Ross dodged tacklers for a decent 13 yard return to the Raiders 39 yard line. Thankfully Derek Carr did trot out for the Raiders next drive having missed only the one play after appearing to be injured.

Oakland did manage to get one first down but that was all before punting again. Latavius Murray had a few sub par runs and a dropped screen pass on the drive so it wasn't his most impressive set of plays on the year. Marquette King's 2nd punt of the day traveled 32 yards and was fair caught at the Titans 12 yard line. The Raiders had excellent field position thanks to the defense and Jeremy Ross's decent punt returns but failed to capitalize on it both times.

Tennessee's offense finally found a grove with a big time 36 yard pass and catch to TE Delanie Walker on the first play of their next drive followed by another first down pass on the next play. Just like that they were on the Raiders side of the 50 yard line, and it got worse after an unnecessary roughness penalty on DT Dan Williams moved the ball up to the Raiders 20 yard line. The following play was a juggling touchdown catch from TE Craig Stevens that made the score 6-0 Titans. The Raiders blocked the extra point attempt and returned it to the endzone which would have been 2 points for Oakland but an illegal forward pass on the return called the play dead.

The Raiders offense woke up some on their next drive by going deep right away for a 38 yard pass to WR Seth Roberts. The next play was a sack but a nice screen pass on the following play to Latavius Murray went for 23 yards and a first down which got the Raiders to the Titans 18. A nice run from Jamize Olawale got them into a first and goal situation and immediately after that the Raiders got a perfectrly placed touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree. They made the extra point so they took the lead 7-6.

There were no big plays this time from the Titans, they went three and out on their drive. Their punt went only 35 yards and was downed at the Raiders 40 yard line with no return. They got a nice catch from Amari Cooper on their first play of the drive and a decent run a couple plays later got them into a long field goal range. However, they decided to go for it on 4th and 2 from the Titans 36 instead of try the field goal and Tony Bergstom botched the snap on the play. Derek Carr ended up having to throw the ball away for a turnover on downs.

Tennessee got a first down on their first play of the drive which got them into Raiders territory but that was all they could manage thanks to a nice pass break up by David Amerson on 3rd down. Well, that was all they could do until a roughing the kicker penalty on the Raiders gifted the Titans a first down at the Raiders 32. Oakland's defense came up big though and had a tackle for a 4 yard loss and a sack which knocked the Titans out of field goal range so they had to punt again anyway.

The Raiders had to start at their own 4 yard line after a holding call on Neiko Thorpe on a punt which didn't even have a chance at a return. They were able to get a drive going anyway after a fantastic jump ball catch on 3rd down from Amari Cooper who went right over the defender who had great position on the play. They ended up getting a field goal on the drive after faltering once inside the Titans 5 yard line. The 16 play, 90 yard drive would have been the Raiders best drive of the whole season had they got a touchdown from it.

Starting their drive at their own 26 yard line with just 55 seconds left in the half the Titans rattled off a couple of passes to get onto the Raiders side of the field. However, they would get no further after the Raiders defense came up with a number of big stops to force a turnover on downs.

The Raiders took over at their own 44 yard line with 10 seconds left to try and get into field goal range. They completed a 9 yard pass to the Titans 47 which would have given Janikowski a 64 yard field goal attempt but Jack Del Rio decided to try a hail mary type play instead. It was exciting as they completed a pass to Seth Roberts who managed to run down to inside the 15 yard line but they did not manage to score on the circus like play that featured several laterals. That would bring us to the half with the Raiders up 10-6.