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It was Charles Woodson's night as the final home game of his long career. Prior to the game, he led the warm-ups saying "This is bigger than me, but it's not bigger than us." His teammates took the call and led the Raiders to a come-from-behind victory over the rival Chargers.
It didn't start so inspiring for the Raiders. Most of the game offered little inspiration, especially on offense.
A few stats to consider: At half time the Raiders wide receivers had a total of -10 yards receiving. In the second half, the Raiders didn't convert a single first down. NOT ONE. And yet, they still managed to take the game to overtime.
Here's how that happened.
The Raiders got the ball first, but after picking up a first down, Derek Carr's pass was tipped at the line by Kendall Reyes, who also intercepted the pass to give the Chargers the ball at the Oakland 36-yard-line. They would quickly pick up those yards and scored the touchdown on a Donald Brown run up the middle for a 7-0 lead.
The Raiders answered with a long touchdown drive of their own, which was capped off by a 22-yard run off right guard for the score. But the Chargers had an answer of their own, with a full length drive this time for a touchdown to re-take the lead at 14-10.
Both teams swapped field goals in the second quarter, with Sebastian Janikowski's being of the all time NFL record tying variety from 52 yards out. That's how we come to our 17-10 half time score.
The second half featured a whole lotta punts by both teams. But it also featured a safety on a sack by Denico Autry.
Later the Chargers turned the ball over. Malcolm Smith forced the fumble and Benson Mayowa recovered it. Mayowa returned it to the 3-yard-line and in one play, Derek Carr hit Michael Crabtree for the touchdown. They went for the two-point conversion to take a 3-point lead at 20-17.
Then the Chargers drove into field goal range late to send it to OT.
In the overtime, the Raiders finally got a first down. In fact, they got several. The biggest one was a 33-yard connection with Seth Roberts that put the Raiders in first and goal at the 10-yard-line. That's when the Raiders chose to give Woodson a play on offense. It was an end around and he was tackled for a 3-yard loss.
They could get no closer and added a field goal to go up 23-20. That gave the Chargers a chance to tie it up or win it. The Raiders defense held and they sent Charles Woodson out with a victory.
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