Easily the ugliest half of football for the Raiders this season, they were lucky to be down just 10-3 at the half. There wasn’t much to like about that first half. Sean Smith was lost on the second play to a shoulder injury, the Raiders had 10 penalties for 86 yards, and Jameis Winston was completing most of his passes.
If there were anything to look to as a positive, it was that one score deficit in part to the play of the defense, even despite the penalties. Mack got his fourth sack of the season, matching his total over the first eight games last season.
With the start of the third quarter, the penalties would stop and the Raiders scoring would start. They scored touchdowns on their first two drives, without a penalty to take a 17-10 lead.
The first drive featured a deep pass to Amari Cooper in which the Buccaneers were called for pass interference in the end zone. The Raiders lined up in first and goal from the one-yard-line and called Donald Penn’s number. Against his former team, Penn caught the one-yard touchdown to tie it up at 10-10.
The second drive also featured Amari Cooper who went deep for a 34-yard touchdown to give the Raiders their first lead.
That’s where the scoring spree would stop and the penalty spree would pick back up.
By midway through the 4th quarter, the Raiders penalty number had blown up to 17 penalties for 150 yards which is the most by any team in the NFL this season. The result was the Buccaneers making a comeback, scoring two touchdowns of their own for a 24-17 lead. The first touchdown saw Bucs kicker Roberto Aguayo missing the extra point, but the Bucs converted the two-point conversion after the second touchdown to make it up.
In the final minutes, the Raiders began a last gasp drive.
That gasp would give them new life, driving to tie the game at 24-24 highlighted by a leaping 31-yard grab by Cooper.
The defense would hold off the Buccaneers on their drive which would give the Raiders a chance to actually win it with a minute left in the game.
What happened after that was madness.
Amari Cooper dropped a wide open pass up the left sideline that would have been a touchdown to win it.
Sebastian Janikowski lined up for a 50-yard field goal as time expired and missed it to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime, the Raiders added to their tally of penalties, eventually putting up and NFL record 23 penalties for 200 yards.
Even despite the penalties, the Buccaneers couldn’t score. The Raiders kept putting up yards on offense, but kept shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.
Janikowski would get another shot at a field goal from 52 yards out and missed that one too.
As the first OT period was ticking down the final seconds, Carr hit Seth Roberts for a 41-yard touchdown catch and run to finally put the game away.
While all the focus was on the NFL record penalties, Derek Carr was ‘quietly’ setting a new franchise record, throwing for 513 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Despite his ugly drop on the would-be game-winner, Amari finished with 12 catches for 173 yards and a touchdown.
The Raiders won the time of possession battle in OT by a wide margin, maintaining possession over the Bucs 10:55 to 2:20.
They improve to 6-2 on the season, tied for the top spot in the AFC West while the Buccaneers fall to 3-4.
I need a nap.
Or a lobotomy.
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