On target:
3 tight ends play critical roles as Raiders produce win over Steelers
Carr has two TD passes late in game.
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden deemed tight end Jared Cook “clearly our MVP, in my opinion,” after Cook set career highs in catches and receiving yards in a season Sunday.
Yet it was less-heralded tight ends who made two of the most critical catches in the Raiders’ dramatic 24-21 win over the Steelers.
Lee Smith’s 3-yard touchdown catch gave the Raiders a 17-14 lead with 5:20 left, and after the Steelers answered, Derek Carrier caught a 6-yard touchdown from Derek Carr for the game-winning play with 21 seconds remaining.
“That’s dope, man,” Cook said of the tight-end contributions. “It’s super cool. Those guys work their tails off to be here. And just to see those guys get rewarded for their hard work.”
Pittsburgh executed a 48yard hook-and-ladder play to put itself in field-goal position with five seconds left — but the Raiders averted overtime when kicker Chris Boswell appeared to slip on his approach and his kick was blocked as time expired.
With the 49ers beating the Broncos, the Bay Area teams remained tied for the NFL’s worst record (3-10) with the Cardinals, who lost Sunday.
Cook, a rare constant in the Raiders’ passing game this season, led them with seven catches for 116 yards, and has career highs this season in receptions (61), receiving yards (825) and touchdowns (six). He had a 14-yard catch on the Raiders’ game-winning, eight-play, 75-yard drive — on which Carr also made a pinpoint 39-yard throw to Seth Roberts on a play Gruden said was designed for Cook.
Facing 4th-and-goal, Carr looked to his left and found Carrier, who turned into the end zone for his first touchdown catch since 2015 and just his seventh reception of the season.
“I had 100 percent confidence,” said Carr, who was 25-for-34 for 322 yards and two touchdowns. “I actually missed him on that same play against Denver. … I hugged him after and said, ‘I owed you for the one against Denver.’ ”
Carrier said it was a play he and Carr had worked on “a lot.”
“Really it’s just selling the flat,” Carrier said. “On a shortyardage play like that, the defense doesn’t want to get outflanked for a quick, easy touchdown to the front pylon. So it’s really selling the flat and being as quick as you can to transition and come back inside.”
Smith’s touchdown capped a drive on which the Raiders went for it on 4th-and-1 at the Steelers’ 20 and converted on a 5yard run by Jalen Richard. The 3-yard misdirection pass to Smith, on 2nd-and-goal, was the second touchdown in two games for the blocking tight end, whose previous touchdown had come in 2015.
“Jared’s our bell cow, so Jared just dragged everybody with him and nobody was paying attention to me,” Smith said. “I don’t exactly scorch people in the passing game very much. They just lost me.”
The Steelers, already without running back James Conner, had played the second half up to that point without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger because of a rib injury. After the Raiders took a 17-14 lead, Roethlisberger re-entered and led the Pittsburgh offense on a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with 2:55 remaining.
“One guy said he was pulling a Paul Pierce and coming back and he was just going to ball on us,” Cook said. “We figured that he probably would (return). And he did.”
Said Gruden of Roethlisberger: “I was expecting Willis Reed to be right behind him.”
The Raiders’ final drive, though, kept Roethlisberger winless in four meetings at the Coliseum, which on Sunday included a notable pro-Steelers contingent.
Roethlisberger completed 25 of 29 passes for 282 yards, but began the second half in the locker room, replaced by second-year backup Joshua Dobbs, who was 4-for-9 for 24 yards and an interception.
“I was just waiting for Coach to tell me when to go,” Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger’s late work was erased by Carr, who led his 16th career fourth-quarter comeback, tied for most in the NFL since 2014, with help from his tight ends. Gruden afterward gave credit to tight ends coach Frank Smith.
“Hopefully, he gets some free chicken wings tonight at Hooters or something,” Gruden said.
Cook said the comeback was “something we needed.” Carrier said the result showed “resiliency and perseverance.”
“We’ve been in these positions the last couple of weeks, and it’s just finishing,” Carrier said. “And I think that’s what we did a great job of just as a whole unit, as a team. We finished today.”