AGONY IN OAKLAND
Defense can’t stop Raiders after Ben Roethlisberger returns from injury to lead late touchdown drive
Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster reacts after Oakland Raiders tight end Derek Carrier scored the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of play Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. The Steelers were defeated, 24-21, for their third loss in a row.
OAKLAND, Calif. —– The Steelers are riding such a funky streak right now that even a Lazarus comeback by Ben Roethlisberger and a successful hook-and-lateral play at the end could not save them from themselves.
It was the same old story for them in Oakland, where they lost to a bad Raiders team for the fourth straight time, 24-21, but it wasn’t in similar fashion.
Twice they nearly pulled it out near the end only to have those hopes crushed, first by the Raiders and then again by their kicker.
Roethlisberger, who did not play in the second half because of a rib injury until 5:20 was left, completed all six of his passes on the fourth quarter drive for 70 yards, the final a 1-yard touchdown pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster that pulled the Steelers in front, 21-17.
Oakland responded with a 75-yard drive to go in front on Derek Carr’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Derek Carrier with 21 seconds left.
Then Roethlisberger went back to work. With 15 seconds left at his 30, he threw a 9-yard pass to James Washington, who pitched it back to Smith-Schuster, who ran it all the way to Oakland’s 30, where he went out of bounds with five seconds to go.
That pass made Roethlisberger 25 of 29 for 282 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 130.2 passer rating.
It would not be enough.
“It was a great call,’’ said Roethlisberger, who gave
‘We needed this game. We talked about it, we knew it. We just laid an egg.’ — David DeCastro
credit to coordinator Randy Fichtner. “It’s the situation. You can chuck it down the field and things like that, that’s the old hook and ladder thing. It worked.”
It looked like this one was going into overtime. Instead, it went in the loss column.
Chris Boswell, who had missed an earlier field goal from 39 yards, slipped on a wet field some teammates called terrible as he tried to tie it with a 40-yard field goal, and the Steelers crashed in dramatic fashion again.
“I’m not going to make field conditions an excuse,’’ Tomlin said. “It was slippery for everyone.”
It was the Steelers’ third consecutive loss on the final play to drop them to 7-51, still half a game ahead of the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North Division with three games left.
“Close doesn’t get it done,’’ center Maurkice Pouncey said. “This one sucks, this one hurts.”
It hurt even more for them because Baltimore, Houston and New England all lost. Had the Steelers won, they would have opened a 1½- game lead over the Ravens and been half a game behind the Texans and Patriots for the No. 2 playoff seed in the conference. Now, they must fight for their playoff lives over the final three games that includes New England and New Orleans the next two weeks.
“We needed this game. We talked about it, we knew it,’’ guard David DeCastro said. “We just laid an egg.”
With James Conner out with an ankle injury, the Steelers could not run the ball. They had 40 yards on 19 carries, although rookie Jaylen Samuels, who started, did have 64 yards receiving including a 23yard catch-and-run in the late drive that put them ahead.
“Trust me, it was wild,’’ Pouncey said. “Obviously, we didn’t run the ball well. We made a lot of plays, we just didn’t make enough.”
They did score twice in the second quarter to take a 14-10 lead, on a two-yard run by Stevan Ridley and a 1-yard touchdown catch from Roethlisberger to Smith-Schuster.
But when Roethlisberger did not come out for the second half, neither did the Steelers offense behind Josh Dobbs. They just could not move the ball, could not convert third downs, did not score.
Roethlisberger stood on the sideline, wearing a baseball cap, until the Raiders went ahead 17-14 on Carr’s 3-yard scoring pass to tight end Lee Smith that ended a 73-yard drive.
Roethlisberger then trotted onto the field to wild reaction from the many Steelers fans who turned out here. As he entered the huddle, he said simply, “protect me, guys.”
They did and he pulled it off, connecting on the final two passes with Smith Schuster, who had those two touchdown catches among the team-high eight receptions for 130 yards.
They turned it over to their defense and for yet another time, the defense was not up to the task as Carr led his offense 75 yards on six plays to the winning touchdown pass on fourth down.
“Big time,’’ Mike Tomlin said of his dismay at that drive. “Big time. I think equally as frustrating is we were on some of those plays. We’re there at the ball. We’re not making plays on the ball ... and they are.”
None was bigger than the 39-yard pass over the middle to Seth Roberts, who outfought safeties Morgan Burnett and Terrell Edmunds for the ball at the 7.
“We have to look in the mirror and figure out what’s going on,’’ Roethlisberger said.
They also might need to find a new mirror.