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Las Vegas suffered an epic collapse Sunday afternoon in a game where it led by 20 points with a little more than 21 minutes left in regulation.
The Raiders dropped a Week 2 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, 29-23, in overtime from Allegiant Stadium Sunday, Sept. 18.
“The reality of the National Football League is the game is never over until it’s over,” head coach Josh McDaniels said. “They have good coaches and good players and they’re going to continue to fight and play and we did the same thing last week.”
That’s back-to-back losses to open the year for Las Vegas meaning a 0-2 start for McDaniels in his second head coaching job. Currently, the Raiders are the only team in the AFC West without a win.
“I love our team,” McDaniels said. “I have a lot of confidence in them. I love their spirit, how they work and how competitive they are – the way they practice. I have no doubts about the way they will respond to this.” Las Vegas will return to the road for a Week 3 matchup against the Tennessee Titans Sunday, Sept. 25. Kickoff is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Safety Duron Harmon appeared to save the game on a 4th and 1 hit stick in overtime that provided the Raiders with a turnover on downs.
That hit set the Las Vegas offense up at its own 37-yard line. Third play of the drive, Carr found wide receiver Hunter Renfrow for a first down gain but a fumble nearly soiled away the positive yardage.
On the next play, Carr was nearly intercepted trying to go to wide receiver Davante Adams across the middle.
Immediately following the dropped pick, Carr found Renfrow again who would gain another first down but would fumble for the second time in three plays. That fumble turned into a scoop-and-score for Arizona’s Byron Murphy Jr.
Prior to taking the field in overtime, the Raider offense had been on the sidelines for nearly 30 minutes.
“I definitely started to get cold,” Carr said. “I got up and just kept warming up. There were a couple of times where you get up and throw just to make sure you’re ready.
“I thought we went down and hit a nice run. We hit Hunter. We were moving it down there, getting into [kicker Daniel Carlson’s] range. I thought we had a chance, man.”
Carlson was 3-for-3 in the game on field goal attempts and is now up to 28 consecutive makes. He has yet to miss one inside of Allegiant Stadium since the building was opened in 2020.
Las Vegas was burned in the second half and beyond by Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray who came alive after putting forth a shaky first 30 minutes.
Murray and the Cardinals didn’t score their first points until the 6:03-mark of the third quarter.
Still trailing by 16 and now in the fourth quarter, Murray nearly threw a second touchdown pass, this time to recently acquired Marquise Brown but he was ruled out at the 1-yard line. A play later, Arizona found the end zone on a one-yard score.
The Cardinals added a two-point conversion to cut the deficit to one possession. On that conversion, Murray held the ball for 20.8 seconds from snap to score, running a total of 84.9 yards in the process.
Murray made the Raiders pay with his legs at several points of the game even battling through a relatively unsuccessful first half.
Las Vegas defensive end Maxx Crosby sacked Murray in the first quarter and even partnered with former Arizona defensive star Chandler Jones for a hurry up play that was ruled intentional grounding.
Crosby nearly got another one in the fourth quarter but a holding flag on defensive back Rock Ya-Sin. The Raiders also gave the Cardinals another fresh set of downs after another holding call on 4th and 4 from the Las Vegas 6-yard line.
Facing another fourth down, Murray rushed for a touchdown from three yards out and followed it up with a two-point conversion on a throw to wide receiver A.J. Green.
At that point, Arizona tied the game at 23 apiece after trailing 20-0 with six minutes left in the third quarter and again trailing 23-7 with more than eight minutes left in regulation.
“You’ve got to learn to play with a lead,” McDaniels said. “You’ve got to learn to play when you’re behind. It’s not the same feeling on the sideline but you can’t relax and hope that we have enough.”
While Murray heated up in the second half after a cold first half, Carr may have had the opposite occur for him.
Carr’s early success came on throws to wide receiver Mack Hollins who hauled in three catches for 52 yards on the team’s first drive of the game on his way to 66 yards on five catches.
Adams finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown reception for his first Allegiant Stadium score. He finished with two catches for 12 yards and a touchdown.
“Look, they’re a good defense,” McDaniels said. “They chose to take Davante away a little bit more, certainly more than last week than the [Los Angeles] Chargers did so that forced the ball to some other people.”
Carr threw his second touchdown of the first half in the second quarter on a three-yard pitch-and-catch to tight end Darren Waller.
“Derek played fine,” McDaniels said. “We’ve got to do better around him in the second half. To put the quarterback in a 3rd and long situation and ask him to overcome it on his own isn’t a good formula for success. I thought Derek played a good football game today.”
Las Vegas’ offense was aided by a successful running game shouldered by running back Josh Jacobs’ 69 yards on 19 carries. However, 42 of his rushing yards came in the first half.
I think at this point of the season, we’re just trying to improve everything honestly,” McDaniels said. “I thought we did a decent job in the first half. Josh ran hard, I thought he did a great job of creating some opportunities for himself.”
The Raiders didn't punt until the 11:41-mark of the third quarter.
Las Vegas was held to three points in the second half and overtime period while being outscored 29-3 along the way.
“We – We have to learn how to win,” Carr said. “And it starts with me and it always will.