Oakland vs Pittsburgh recap, final score 24-21: Raiders get late TD for the upset win against Steelers

It’s another installment of the legendary rivalry between the Raiders and the Steelers. Oakland got the ball first and struck pay dirt right out the gates. They drove down the field with 2 great long catches from Jared Cook, and then it was finished off with a Doug Martin 1 yard TD run. That opening drive touchdown gave the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

The two teams traded punts after that before it was the Steelers turn to strike. They went down the field and eventually scored on a 2 yard Steven Ridley touchdown run. It was a 11 play, 67 yard drive that took over 6 minutes of clock and tied the game at 7.

The Raiders responded with another score of their own on the next drive, though it was a field goal and not a touchdown. Jared Cook had 2 more big catches on the drive to help get the 44 yard Daniel Carlson field goal. That gave the Raiders the lead back 10-0. The Steelers almost tied it up right away but they missed their field goal on their next drive.

Unfortunately the Raiders couldn’t take advantage of their good luck with the missed field goal. They actually only went backwards with a -3 yard drive before punting back to Pittsburgh. After that it was a combination of WR JuJu Smith-Schuster and TE Vince McDonald for the Steelers who got several big plays between the two of them. JuJu Smith-Schuster then just barely toe tapped the touchdown catch in the closing seconds of the 1st half for Pittsburgh to take the lead 14-10.

Pittsburgh got the ball to start the 2nd but both teams just punted back and forth on the first 2 drives. Pittsburgh’s next drive had them driving into Raiders territory but Arden Key got a huge 3rd down stop. The Steelers were aggressive and went for it on 4th down but Oakland’s Tahir Whitehead played Vince McDonald perfectly to stop him short of the first down.

Oakland started off their drive after the turnover on downs with an offensive holding penalty, but followed that with a 13 yard pass to Seth Roberts and then a 19 yard pass to Jared Cook. Then they hit little used Derek Carrier for a 23 yard pass into the red zone. That’s where the good feelings stopped though thanks to Derek Carr losing control of a ball when he tried to pass it and untouched he fumbled it forward and it was recovered by Pittsburgh.

The Steelers should have given the ball back on a fumble themselves but thanks to terrible refereeing they got to keep the ball despite their QB fumbling after Arden Key knocked the ball loose. Obviously back up QB Joshua Dobbs (in for Ben Roethlisberger who got injured on a play earlier in the 2nd half) felt bad about the horrible call by the refs because he threw an interception to Tahir Whitehead on the next play.

The two teams traded 3 and outs after the interception by Whitehead. Though Oakland went 3 and out after their interception, this time they got some momentum going as they drove into Steelers territory. They even converted a 4th and 1 on the drive, a rarity this year with it being just the 5th 4th down they converted for a 1st down this season. They eventually took the lead back 17-14 with a 3 yard touchdown pass to TE Lee Smith.

Ben Roethlisberger must have seen enough from Josh Dobbs because he came out to lead the Steelers next drive despite leaving the game injured earlier. His return uplifted the Steelers offense because they suddenly became unstoppable. They scored to retake the lead 21-17 with a JuJu Smith-Schuster TD that was very nearly a Demontrae Moore interception on the goal line but he couldn’t quite get his hands on the dangerous pass. Roethlisberger was 6 for 6 on the drive after having missed most of the 2nd half.

Oakland got the ball back with just 2:55 left on the clock in regulation. They got a big diving catch from Marcel Ateman, followed by another catch for Jared Cook and then a magnificent deep ball to Seth Roberts down to the Pittsburgh 7. It took til 4th down but the Raiders got their touchdown to Derek Carrier with 21 seconds left in regulation. The huge TD gave Oakland the lead 24-21.

The Steelers came back to their star WR Smith-Schuster for a huge play to get them into field goal range with just 5 seconds left. However, their kicker slipped on the kick and kicked the ball right into the defensive line. Raiders win 24-21.