After a long time away, Raiders win in return on Joseph’s clutch play
OAKLAND >> The Raiders celebrated their home coming with a yard to spare Sunday, with Karl Joseph breaking up a Matt Stafford pass in the end zone to preserve a 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions at the Coliseum.
With the game tied 24-24 after Derek Carr’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow, Stafford drove the Lions from their own 23 to the 1-yard line, with Nick Morrow and Lamarcus Joyner stopping a 13-yard completion at the 1-yard line with eight seconds to play.
With three seconds left, Stafford got some pressure from rookie end Clelin Ferrell, and when he threw into the back of the end zone toward Thomas, Joseph broke it up, touching off a celebration from both the Raiders and the 53,318 in attendance.
The Lions at times moved the ball
at will, but turned the ball over twice on a bad handoff exchange and a huge end-zone interception by cornerback Daryl Worley. Both times the Raiders followed up the first-half takeaways with touchdowns, althougn neither came on a short-field drive.
The Raiders end the first half of the season with a 4-4 record, with Detroit falling to 3-4-1.
“I thought we gave up some big plays, which my gosh we have to eliminate, but I’m proud of our guys,” coach Jon Gruden said. “We’re building our team. I’m going to continue to hit that chord ... I like some of the blocks we have in place. We have a heck of a challenge on a short week.”
Some studs and duds for the Raiders, who have a short week and host the Los Angeles Chargers Thursday night at the Coliseum:
Studs
DEREK CARR >> The Raiders quarterback completed 20 of 31 passes for 289 yards, a 9-yard touchdown pass to Renfrow and a 3-yard scoring strike to Foster Moreau on a third-down play. The last scoring drive covered 75 yards in seven plays. There were no turnovers, and Carr was sacked just once.
“To be home, to sleep in my own bed, was nice,” Carr said. “We got to play in front of our home fans. It was loud, especially towards the end zones. I love this place. It’s special. It really is. It’d be nice to win 40-0 sometime, but when you win like this, it does so many good things for the team.”
JOSH JACOBS >> Broke Marcus Allen’s Raiders rookie rushing record of 697 yards (in a nine-game, strike-shortened season) in the first half and rushed for 120 yards on a career-high 28 carries. Opened the Raiders scoring with a 2-yard run with help from lead blocker Alec Ingold.
MATT STAFFORD >> Lions veteran quarterback Matt Stafford had his way with the Raiders secondary for much of the day, particularly with downfield strikes to Marvin Jones Jr. (47 yards) and Kenny Golladay (59 yards for a touchdown). Stafford was 26 of 41 for 406 yards and one interception.
MARVIN JONES >> An eight-year veteran out of Cal, Jones made a leaping 47-yard catch against Daryl Worley to help set up the Lions first touchdown and finished with seven catches for 119 yards.
DARYL WORLEY’S INTERCEPTION >> The Raiders gave up plenty of plays to Stafford and Co., but Worley came up with a big stop when he out-fought Golladay in the end zone for a first-half interception on a pass from Stafford, giving the ball back to the Raiders on the 20-yard line. Worley departed late with an undisclosed injury.
JALEN RICHARD >> Besides receptions of 31 and 23 yards on the game-winning drive, Richard also had rushes of 7 and 5 yards. That accounted for all but two yards of his output during the entire game leading up to that point.
“Josh has earned the right to carry the mail the way he’s carrying it,” Richard said. “He’s a generational guy. When you’re talking about guys born to play the position, you could put his picture right next to any of them. Me and (DeAndre Washington) are team players. Whenever our number is called, we’re going to go out there and make plays.”
Duds
PASS DEFENSE >> Yes, there was Worley’s end zone interception and Joseph’s game-ending play. But the Lions had things far too easy through the air for much of the afternoon. Arden Key and P.J. Hall had sacks, and Benson Mayowa pressured Stafford into an incompletion.
The twin evils of rush and coverage continued to perplex the Raiders for much of the day and made the ending uncomfortable. A 26-yard pass interference by Nevin Lawson set up the Lions for their final scoring opportunity, which was incomplete with Joseph defending.
HUDSON’S ABSENCE, TRENT BROWN’S INJURY >> Raiders center Rodney Hudson had a streak of 59 straight starts snapped when he couldn’t play due to an ankle injury. Undrafted rookie free agent Andre James started in his place, and had issues with shotguns naps on occasion, including one rolled back to Carr that the Raiders’ quarterback had to throw away.
Brown was lost in the first half to a knee injury, attempted to come back, and then left after a few plays. David Sharpe, who played the entire Green Bay game in place of Brown, took over at right tackle.
“The negative thing is Trent Brown left the game and Rodney is not playing and Worley left the game,” Gruden said. “Hopefully we get some bodies well for the Chargers. It’s huge momentum. We’re 4-4 at the break. We’ve had a tough schedule and we’re not going to have an easier schedule coming up. I don’t care what any of the articles say.”