It wasn’t pretty. Sloppy play, mounting injuries and flags everywhere made for a somewhat ugly football game on Thursday night.
But the Oakland Raiders polished off a second half comeback with a 23-20 overtime victory over the San Diego Chargers to send Charles Woodson out a winner in his final home game of his career.
Despite six three-and-out possessions in the second half, the Raiders managed to rally to take a 20-17 lead. However, the Chargers answered with a game-tying field goal with just a minute left to play to force overtime.
Oakland managed to overcome five offensive penalties on their lone possession of overtime to move the ball into scoring position against a San Diego defense that had to play wide receiver Dontrelle Inman at safety due to injuries in the secondary.
Woodson even got a snap on offense inside the 10-yard line as the Raiders tried to get Woodson to throwback to Derek Carr for the game-winning score. Instead the play went for a 3-yard loss. A pair of potential touchdown passes fell incomplete, forcing the Raiders to settle for a 31-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal to give the Raiders the 23-20 lead. The Chargers were unable to gain a first down as the Raiders held on for the victory.
The Raiders trailed 17-10 in the second half and the offense couldn’t do anything to move the ball against San Diego’s defense. The only “first down” gained by the Raiders in the entire second half was Carr’s touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree.
But the Raiders defense gave the team a chance to rally. After Denico Autry sacked Philip Rivers for a safety to close the deficit to 17-12, linebacker Malcolm Smith knocked the ball from the grasp of tight end David Johnson and Benson Mayowa returned the fumble 40 yards to the Chargers 3-yard line to set up the go-ahead score.
Carr’s fade pass for Crabtree beat Craig Mager for a 3-yard touchdown to give the Raiders the lead. A two-point conversion from Carr to Seth Roberts gave Oakland a 20-17 advantage with 4:41 left to play.
The Chargers responded with an 11-play, 53-yard drive that led to a Josh Lambo 45-yard field goal to tie the game at 20-20 and force the extra session.
Leading 17-12 after a Raiders safety, the Chargers wanted a pass interference flag against Ben Heeney on an incomplete pass to Danny Woodhead on third down. Instead, the Chargers were called for unsportsmanlike conduct to set up a 4th-and-25 and 53-yard field goal attempt by Lambo.
Lambo drilled the kick by Khalil Mack was called for defensive holding to give the Chargers a new set of downs. San Diego elected to take the points off the board and it looked like the risk would pay off. Rivers hit Ladarius Green for a 30-yard touchdown. But upon review, the touchdown was overturned and the Chargers had to settle for a 48-yard field goal try from Lambo, which of course he missed to keep the lead at just 17-12.