Raiders QB Carr drives team to season’s first win
SKID ENDS: Running back Murray comes up big
OAKLAND, Calif. — After 368 days and 16 straight losses, the Oakland Raiders finally had something to celebrate.
Rookie Derek Carr threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to James Jones with 1:42 remaining and the Raiders got one last defensive stop to snap a 16-game losing skid with a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.
“Hopefully, there’s many more to come because I like this feeling better than the other one, that’s for sure,” Carr said.
Oakland’s Latavius Murray ran for two touchdowns and 112 yards on just four carries before leaving the game with a concussion.
The Raiders (1-10) built a 14-point lead, but needed a 17-play, 80-yard drive led by Carr to secure its first win since beating Houston on Nov. 17, 2013.
“We learned something today,” Raiders interim coach Tony Sparano said.
“We learned something about ourselves. We’ve been in this end of the pool a long time. I kept saying that eventually it’s going to happen. Today, they just refused to give up.”
The Raiders became just the third team since the merger to beat a first-place team for their first win after losing at least 10 games to start the season.
Indianapolis did it against Green Bay in 1997 and Buffalo did it to Dallas in 1984.
Alex Smith threw two touchdown passes for the Chiefs (7-4), who had won five in a row.
They fell a half-game behind Denver in the AFC West. The Chiefs will have a long time to stew over this loss before hosting Denver on Nov. 30.
“We knew we were going to be in a dogfight,” Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said.
“Prime-time game and they’ve got the guys, played a lot of tough teams very well.”
It took that impressive drive by the rookie Carr to win it.
He twice had to sneak for first downs. He also threw an eight-yard pass to Mychal Rivera on third-and-six and capitalized on a pass interference penalty against Ron Parker on another third down before finding Jones for the go-ahead score.
“To go 17 plays on the winning drive, that’s impressive, man,” Raiders defensive end Justin Tuck said.
“That lets you know a little bit of the moxie of No. 4 (Carr).”
The game wasn’t sealed until Smith threw an incomplete pass on fourthand-13 from his 48. Even that didn’t come without a tense moment.
Khalil Mack and Sio Moore sacked Smith on third down and celebrated in the backfield while the Chiefs ran up to the line.
An angry Tuck had to call timeout as he seethed at his younger teammates.
“I was so caught in the moment,” Moore said. “That was an error I have to make sure I clean up.”
The Chiefs battled back from a 17-3 deficit late in the third quarter to take the lead with three scores in less than eight minutes, including a pair of touchdown passes from Smith.
Murray had a 90-yard run in the first quarter that was the longest run by a Raiders running back since Bo Jackson had a 92-yarder against Cincinnati in 1989. Murray’s 112 yards rushing on four carries were the most by any player since at least 1960 with five or fewer carries.