Raiders Surge in OT

It was only Week 4. But as Derek Carr and the rest of the Raiders’ offense took the field late in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter Sunday, down by eight points and staring at the possibility of an 0-4 start, they seemed to carry with them the weight of a season.

“I’ve been through a lot of things in five years,” Carr would later say. “The start of this year and half of this game has been some of the hardest stuff that I’ve ever had to deal with.

“I looked at our guys and said, Just fight. Whatever we do, we’re going to fight.”

With 30 seconds left, Carr, who’d been booed off the field by fans earlier in the game, found tight end Jared Cook for a 7-yard touchdown pass to cap a six-play, 53-yard drive. Carr then lofted a fade pass to Jordy Nelson, who fought off his defender for the two-point conversion.

It sent the game into overtime and allowed the Raiders to salvage a 45-42 win over the Browns at the Coliseum, giving Jon Gruden his first head-coaching win in 10 years.

“Feels like my first win in 100 years,” Gruden said.

The Raiders began their last drive at their 19 and drove to set up a 29-yard field goal from rookie Matt McCrane, who nailed the winning kick in his NFL debut.

“Never been so nervous for a 29-yard field goal in my life,” Gruden said.

McCrane, signed last week to replace the injured Mike Nugent, made 3 of 5 field-goal attempts, having missed from 47 yards in the second quarter and from 50 yards in overtime. The Kansas State alum gave a fist pump before being met by teammates after the game-winner.

“Winning in the Big 12 is a good feeling,” McCrane said. “But getting a win like this, it’s pretty nice.”

Carr completed 35 of 58 passes for 437 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, outdueling Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, this year’s No. 1 pick. Mayfield finished 21-for-41 passing for 295 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles.

“He made some unbelievable plays under fire,” Gruden said of Mayfield, who made his first NFL start. “I think Cleveland’s found their quarterback.”

The Raiders entered the game with a minus-4 turnover margin, tied for worst in the NFL, and the Browns had a league-best plus-9 margin. But Oakland’s defense had four takeaways — including a first-half pick-six by Gareon Conley.

It was part of a feast-or-famine day for the Raiders’ defense, which gave up touchdown plays of 63 and 49 yards in the first half but also made a first-half goal-line stand and stopped Cleveland on five consecutive drives in the second half.

“It was good to get the turnovers,” Gruden said. “The turnover margin is usually the deciding margin.”

Down 28-14 midway through the third quarter, the Raiders went on a 20-0 run after Maurice Hurst forced a Mayfield fumble that was recovered by Johnathan Hankins, leading to a 7-yard scoring pass from Carr to Cook.

Hankins recovered another fumble on a dropped snap by Mayfield early in the fourth quarter. Two plays later, Carr found Nelson for a 19-yard touchdown to put the Raiders ahead 31-28.

“It changed a lot,” Hankins said of the recoveries. “It was a lot of momentum that swung our way. It was definitely a back-and-forth game.”

Cleveland wrested the lead back as Carlos Hyde dived for a 1-yard touchdown — set up by a 59-yard pass from Mayfield to Antonio Callaway. And with 4:20 left, running back Nick Chubb shed several tackles for a 41-yard touchdown run that gave the Browns a 42-34 lead.

Carr’s first try at a game-tying drive stalled inside Cleveland’s 10-yard line, with his fourth-down pass for Amari Cooper falling incomplete. The defense gave him another chance with a stop, aided by a review of a third-down run by Hyde, with the original ruling of a first down being overturned.

“Derek was just resilient,” Cook said. “He stood in the pocket even though he was getting blown up a few times and delivered the throws to us downfield.”

Cook had eight catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Cooper had eight receptions for 128 yards and his first touchdown of the season. Marshawn Lynch had 20 carries for 130 yards — and might have had more but for a play that was whistled dead while he fought for yardage.

“We made some plays, but I think we felt like we left like 100, 200 yards out there just in drops,” Nelson said. “But we were able to battle through it. We’ll learn from it.”

Outscored 37-3 in the fourth quarter amid their 0-3 start, the Raiders scored 21 fourth-quarter points Sunday. Gruden said of Carr: “He hung in there and played his best when we needed him the most.” Gruden also said the quarterback, and the team overall, has plenty to improve.

“We haven’t fixed anything,” Gruden said. “We have a lot of things we’ve got to get better at.”