Raiders make sure there’s no close call

After too many games early in the season when the Las Vegas Raiders couldn’t seem to make a big play at the right time in the fourth quarter, everything came together against Houston.

With Josh Jacobs and an improved offensive line dominating the ground game, Derek Carr making a few key throws and the defense delivering down the stretch, the Raiders turned a three-point deficit into a rare lopsided win, 38-20 over the Texans

on Sunday.

“We expected the game to come down in the fourth quarter,” coach Josh Mcdaniels said. “I thought they stepped up and played really well. I thought the communication was better. I thought the execution was better.”

The win marked a league-low fourth time since Carr arrived in 2014 that the Raiders won a game by more than 14 points.

It was just what Las Vegas needed after four one-score losses before the bye week left it mired at the bottom of the AFC standings.

Now Las Vegas will try to carry that over and go on a run during the soft part of its schedule. The next four opponents have a combined record of 9-18-1.

The Raiders rode another big performance by Jacobs for four consecutive touchdown drives of at least 75 yards. They kept Houston off the scoreboard on three fourthquarter possessions and put the game away with Duron Harmon’s pick-6.

“Really towards the end of the second quarter and on, we stopped beating ourselves and we just executed,” Carr said. WHAT’S WORKING

Run game. Jacobs is on one of the best three-game stretches in franchise history with 441 yards rushing and six TDS. This is just the eighth time since the merger a back has run for at least 140 yards and a score in three straight games. The Raiders are averaging 5.43 yards per carry for the best mark through six games in franchise history and 2.1 yards better than the average at this point last season.