Finally! Raiders get 1st win, 24-20 (w/video)

OAKLAND - Revered Hall of Famers from the team’s illustrious past appeared out of nowhere and assembled on the field before the game at O.co Coliseum. While one of them, former punter Ray Guy, spoke to the media, a rainbow appeared behind the towering eastside stands known as Mount Davis. Somewhere, a butterfly landed gently on a unicorn.

And the Raiders won a game.

This team might finish as the worst in the NFL this season and wind up with the No. 1 overall draft pick, but it will not go 0-16. The Raiders grabbed a lead, lost it and got it back in the nick of time to upset the playoff-contending Kansas City Chiefs 24-20 on Thursday night, averting a fate that will forever haunt the winless 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2008 Detroit Lions.

After the game, players exchanged congratulations on the field, then clowned and sang in the locker room. The hardy fans who braved light rain for much of the evening exited in a giddy mood. It had been a long time since Oakland had witnessed such a scene, had witnessed a victory - 16 games and 368 days, to be exact.

Was it joy the Raiders were feeling afterward, or relief?

“A little bit of both,” safety Brandian Ross said. “I’m happy, and I can’t even describe it right now. It’s such an awesome feeling. And to do it Thursday night, where everyone’s family’s watching - most times it’s a regional game. This one’s on national television, and for us to be at home, in front of our fans and for us to get this win was big-time.”

To the Raiders’ credit, their first win of 2014 was not handed to them. In fact, it was very nearly ripped from them by a Chiefs team that came into the game tied for first in the AFC West with a 7-3 record.

The Raiders led for most of the game, by as many as 14 points, but saw their advantage whittled away until Kansas City took its first lead, 20-17, on a short field goal by Cairo Santos with 9:03 to play.

At that point, there were about a hundred reasons for the snake-bitten Raiders to fold. When you have lost your first 10 games of the season, some of them in heartbreaking fashion, when your offense has quietly disappeared and your opponent has claimed all the momentum, when it’s late November and you have rookies who have never won an NFL game, you aren’t really entitled to a lot of confidence.

But the Raiders took over at their 20-yard line and proceeded to mount a drive they will remember for some time.

Fullback Marcel Reece, more or less the team’s fourth option in the run game, picked up a couple first downs. Rookie Derek Carr converted a fourth-and-1 with a quarterback sneak. Carr hit tight end Mychal Rivera with an 8-yard completion on third-and-6. The Raiders converted a third-and-9 play via a pass interference call on Kansas City’s Ron Parker. Carr sneaked again to pick up a third-and-1.

And on first-and-goal from the Chiefs’ 9, the young quarterback audibled to a different protection scheme and hit veteran wide receiver James Jones in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

The drive lasted 17 plays, went 80 yards and chewed up 7:21 of the clock.

“For a rookie quarterback in that situation to lead the offense that hadn’t had much success in the second half, and it seemed like everything was going downhill, and to … get in that huddle and go 17 plays to a winning drive, that’s impressive, man,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “That lets you know a little bit of the moxie of No. 4, man.”

Carr would finish 18 of 35 for 174 yards and the one touchdown. Smith completed 20 of 36 for 234 yards and two scores.

The Chiefs weren’t done, of course. They replied with a long kickoff return by De’Anthony Thomas and gained a first down on a fourth-and-3 play when Oakland’s Benson Mayowa was flagged for illegal use of hands.

But linebacker Sio Moore shot up the middle on a delayed blitz to sack Alex Smith on third-and-6, and the Chiefs quarterback threw incomplete on fourth down with 28 seconds left to sew up the Raiders’ win.

The Kansas City passing game was dormant for the first 2½ quarters, reminding Bay Area fans of the bad old days of Smith’s early years with the 49ers. But after the Raiders padded their improbable lead to 17-3, the Chiefs came alive.

They drove to three consecutive scores, and did most of the heavy lifting through the air - a 21-yard catch by tight end Travis Kelce … a 19-yard touchdown reception by tight end Anthony Fasano … a 27-yard grab by Kelce … a 24-yard catch-and-run by Dwayne Bowe … a 30-yard scoring play to running back Jamaal Charles … a 23-yard pass to wide receiver Albert Wilson.

Just like that, the Chiefs had gone up 20-17. Order had been restored. But entropy would take over one more time, and the Raiders would get that long-awaited 1 in the win column.

“This team has went through a lot,” Tuck said. “I’m beyond words as far as how these guys have fought. 0-and-10, no one ever pointed fingers, no one ever blamed anybody. We just came in here trying to fight, trying to figure out ways to right the ship.

“And to me personally, man, now that we have righted the ship, I just want to keep going.”

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.