Raiders hold off Lions, claim victory in back-and-forth battle

Both the Lions and Raiders offenses were firing as Oakland came away victorious, 31-24, Sunday afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum.

Oakland (4-4) leaned heavily on the ground game, out-rushing the Lions (3-4-1) 171 yards to 90, while Detroit got points via chunk plays through the air. But in the closing seconds, Karl Joseph forced an incomplete pass in the end zone to seal the Raiders’ first home win since Week 1.

At the 14-yard line, Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford made a 13-yard pass to the 1-yard line with 10 seconds remaining in the game.

Detroit had no timeouts left and rushed to the ball to get a final play off, but Jon Gruden called a timeout before the snap. The decision to take time paid off for the Raiders as Joseph climbed the ladder to tip the Stafford pass away from tight end Logan Thomas.

Last week, Oakland could not make the plays with dropped passes and missed tackles. This week, after Detroit tied the game at 24, Oakland showed the ability to make big plays and put the game away.

Derek Carr, who finished with 289 yards and two touchdowns, found Jalen Richard for 33 yards on a beautifully thrown ball to beat coverage on Oakland’s first play from scrimmage following the tying score from Detroit. After two carries for 12 yards from Richard, Carr found Richard in the middle for 23 more yards to Detroit’s 9-yard line.

On third and goal, Carr avoided the sack, scrambled to the left, waited a tick, then darted a pass to rookie receiver Hunter Renfrow, his second straight game with a touchdown, giving Oakland a 31-24 lead with 2:04 remaining in the fourth.

Raiders rookie running back Josh Jacobs gashed Detroit for 120 rushing yards and two touchdowns while Detroit wide receivers Marvin Jones Jr. and Kenny Galloday combined for 258 yards.

Oakland could not stop the pass, and the Lions could not stop the run as Jacobs passed Raider great Marcus Allen for the most rushing yards (740) by a rookie in Raider history.

Injuries continued to haunt the Raider offensive line, which has gotten just 10 snaps from its projected staring unit this season. With less than five minutes in the game, tackle Trent Brown went down with an apparent leg injury. Brown tried to play hurt, but subbed himself and did not return

David Sharpe replaced him and once again showed Oakland’s depth, preventing any pressure on the offense’es right side.

The offensive line played well all afternoon, opening huge holes for the running game and allowing just one sack.

On the other side, Stafford took advantage of a hobbled linebacker core and young secondary.

The beneficiary of those big plays was Jones Jr., who lost Daryl Worley on a slant going 47 yards for the score to tie the game, 7-7, 10 minutes into the game.

Early on the second quarter, with a 10-7 Oakland lead, Stafford’s second touchdown went to Galloway for 59 yards. Worley expected safety help from Erik Harris, but it came to late and Harris failed to make an open field tackle.

The Lion shot themselves in the foot with A pair of turnovers — Worley’s first interception of the season and a botched snap by Stafford.

Notes

Brandon Marshall who was signed by Oakland earlier this weak was listed as inactive Sunday afternoon. … Daryl Worley was removed from the game with an injury and replaced by Nevin Lawson

Up next

This was an important win for the Raiders, who stayed 1-1/2 games behind the Chiefs in the race for the AFC West. They have a short week when they play the Chargers on Thursday night.