Barber: Raiders drive to dramatic 31-30 win against Chiefs

OAKLAND

The game was so good that no one wanted it to end. Not even the officiating crew.

The Raiders won, then lost, then lost again, and finally won it for good, 31-30 against the Kansas City Chiefs, all in the final four snaps at Oakland Coliseum on Thursday night.

“This was one of those games that gives you goosebumps, man,” running back Jalen Richard said. “On the sidelines, everybody was taking that breath, like ...”

And here Richard widened his eyes and made a sharp inhaling sound.

The Raiders are 3-4, still on the outside looking in at the AFC playoff situation. Question marks abound, especially on defense. It’s way too early to make proclamations about what this win will mean in January. But if these guys do catch fire and roar back into contention, the final drive against the Chiefs will grow in legend.

There were so many points at which the Raiders could have crumbled in this one. Like in the second quarter, when running back Marshawn Lynch was ejected for making contact with the line judge. That transgression helped bump the Raiders out of field goal range and, of course, removed one of their offensive weapons.

Or when Kansas City went up 30-21 at the end of the third quarter. Oakland had played well, but at that point the Chiefs looked like the more poised and efficient team.

Most of all, it could have fallen apart with 4:26 left in the game, when the Raiders failed to get a first down in three plays and had to punt it back to the Chiefs. There was a decent chance they wouldn’t see the ball again.

As wide receiver Michael Crabtree reminded Richard in the locker room, the sawed-off running back had shouted a reminder to his teammates, even as the clock shrank: “Believe.”

“I told Crab we gonna win. It was like at the 6-minute mark,” Richard said. “We got the ball and we had the quick three-and-out. And I’m still jumping up and down on the sidelines, telling everybody, ‘We gonna win this game.’ This is stuff we did all last year.”

And sure enough, the Oakland defense, mocked last season and inconsistent this year (including Thursday) forced its own three-and-out, and the game - the season? is that overdramatic? - came down to 85 yards and 2 minutes, 25 seconds.

“I was on the sidelines praying to the sky,” Richard said. “Like, ‘Lord, we need this one.’”

Quarterback Derek Carr, still recovering from a fractured transverse process in his back, got the team rolling. The Raiders picked up a first down on a pass to Amari Cooper, then Carr and Cooper connected on a 39-yarder into Kansas City territory.

“I was saying in the huddle, ‘Be your best. This time, you gotta be your best,’” left tackle Donald Penn said. “In the back of my head, I’m like, ‘Oh, I hope we get this.’ But when you got a guy like DC, man, it’s never the end. With him back there slinging that ball like that - he getting back to himself, man - you always feel like you got faith.”

Moments later, though, the Raiders faced fourth-and-11 at the KC 42. Another crux. Another breakthrough. Carr threw over the middle to tight end Jared Cook for 13 yards, and the train kept rolling.

Two plays later, Carr found Cook again, this time on a deep ball down the left side. The tight end went up over two Chiefs, hauled in the pass and tumbled into the end zone. There were 7 seconds left. The crowd went ballistic.

But this was just the beginning of a bizarre, confounding, throat-constricting series of events. Officials ruled Cook down at the 1. On the next play, Carr threw a touchdown pass to Crabtree in the right side of the end zone, but the receiver was flagged for offensive pass interference, pushing the ball out to the 10. Carr then threw incomplete to Cook - and Kansas City’s Ron Parker was called for holding, giving the Raiders life. The clock was at zeroes. Carr passed to Cordarrelle Patterson, incomplete again; this time, holding on the Chiefs’ Eric Murray.

Thursday Night Football had become a zombie movie. It wouldn’t die. We would stay here forever, the teams trading big plays and the officials tossing yellow flags. And it was so tense, so thrilling, that I’m not sure we would have minded.

“I was just thinking, ‘Man, give DC time,’” Penn said. “If I give DC time, he can make some (stuff) happen. Make sure my guy don’t get there.”

Penn revealed something else after the game: Carr wasn’t getting good radio transmission for the final few plays. He was more or less drawing things up in the dirt.

“He was dicing stuff up,” Penn said. “Couple times he didn’t get the call in, so he had to just tell the receiver what to do. It was nice. I’m back there watching. I’m like, ‘Damn, DC, all right.’ I didn’t know what he was calling. ‘OK, the protection, I got it.’ He was telling them all some other stuff I haven’t ever heard before.”

When Carr got one more chance at 0:00 and threw to Crabtree on a comeback route, he scored the winning touchdown about 15 feet from where I was standing. This time, no flag. Giorgio Tavecchio kicked the extra point, and the Raiders had survived.

In an industry that trades in clichés and magnifies every achievement or failure, this game - this ending - can hardly be overstated. The Raiders punched out of a desperate corner and beat the Chiefs, a popular choice for the best team in the NFL, with a gut-wrenching touchdown drive. Forgive them for believing it can change their season.

Is this the way out? We’ll see. But at least the vehicle is moving forward.

For the record, these adversaries play again at Kansas City on December 10. “I’m not looking forward to playing them again, because I know they’re gonna remember this,” Penn said.

The truth is, we all will.