Carr throws for 382 yards, Raiders top Steelers 26-17
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jon Gruden’s long, arduous multi-state, multiyear rebuilding project may finally be nearing its end.
The swagger might be back for the Las Vegas Raiders. The deep ball certainly is.
Derek Carr threw for 382 yards and two touchdowns, including a pretty 61-yard strike to Henry Ruggs midway through the fourth quarter, as the Raiders toppled Pittsburgh 26-17 on Sunday.
Not bad for a team playing on a short week on the other side of the country without its starting running back and any sort of offensive balance. It didn’t matter, particularly once the Steelers lost star outside linebacker T.J. Watt to a groin injury in the second quarter.
“Honestly, anytime (Watt) is on the field he wrecks everything,” Carr said, later adding, “When he’s out of the game you notice he’s out but that doesn’t mean that we can do this or we can do that. We run our stuff in Las Vegas and have full confidence in our guys.”
It certainly looked like it.
Carr shredded the Pittsburgh secondary in Watt’s absence, completing 16 of 21 for 263 yards in the second half, including a 9-yard flip to Foster Moreau in the third quarter and a rainbow to Ruggs with 9:35 remaining that gave the Las Vegas defense all the cushion it would need.
“You just see this gear that not a lot of human beings have,” Carr said of Ruggs. “It makes it fun for me.”
Ben Roethlisberger passed for 295 yards, including a 25-yard catch-and-run early in the fourth quarter that rookie running back Najee Harris turned into the first touchdown of his career that drew the Steelers within 16-14.