Adams’ 35-yard TD in OT powers Raiders past Broncos 22-16
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Pro Football Writer
DENVER (AP) — Derek Carr hit a wide-open Davante Adams with a 35-yard touchdown pass on the third play of overtime, powering the Las Vegas Raiders to a 22-16 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
The Raiders (3-7) never led in regulation but sent the game into OT when Daniel Carlson kicked a 25-yard field goal with 16 seconds left after a crucial blunder by Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson.
The Broncos (3-7) were clinging to a 16-13 lead at the 2-minute warning but Wilson rolled right on third-and-10 from his own 34 and instead of sliding to burn more time, he pulled up and fired out of bounds.
That saved crucial seconds for the Raiders, who didn’t have any timeouts left and got the ball back with 1:43 left instead of about a minute.
Carr drove them 71 yards, hitting running back Josh Jacobs for 43 yards to the Denver 7 to set up Carlson’s game-tying kick.
The Raiders won the overtime coin toss and Brandon McManus kicked it to the 5-yard line instead of blasting the ball out of the back of the end zone. Ameer Abdullah returned it 28 yards to the Las Vegas 33.
After Jacobs — who had 109 yards rushing and 51 receiving — lost a yard, Carr hit tight end Foster Moreau for 33 yards over the middle to the Denver 35. From there, Adams confused the Denver defense and was all alone for the game-winner, which gave him 141 yards and two TDs on seven catches. Carr finished 23 of 37 for 307 yards.
McManus’ 48-yard field goal put the Broncos ahead 16-13 with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter and Denver’s defense forced the Raiders to go three-and-out. But Wilson couldn’t burn enough time off the clock before the Raiders got the ball back.
Embattled first-year Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett relinquished offensive play-calling duties to Klint Kubiak, his QB coach and passing game coordinator.
The move paid off immediately when the Broncos scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time under Wilson, whose 32-yard throw to Kendall Hinton set up Latavius Murray’s 1-yard TD run.
After that, the game settled into the grind-it-out defensive affair expected of two teams that have been riddled by injuries and ineffective offensive play.
Maxx Crosby came up huge in the final seconds of the first half, preventing a touchdown and then a field goal as the Raiders turned back the Broncos and kept their deficit to 10-7 at the half.
Crosby punched the ball out of fumble-prone running back Melvin Gordon’s arms at the 1. Although guard Quinn Meinerz recovered for Denver at the 7, Crosby blocked McManus’ 25-yard field-goal try as the first half expired.
That was Crosby’s third career blocked field goal, and all three have been against the Broncos. He had two against Denver on Jan. 3, 2021.
Crosby’s big plays atoned for his personal foul call earlier in the drive when he hit a sliding Wilson, drawing a 15-yard flag on third-and-12 in Broncos territory.
Crosby added a sack on Denver’s opening drive after halftime and another on their final snap of the third quarter. Las Vegas has 14 sacks this season and Crosby has nine of them.
McManus kicked a 52-yard field goal after that second sack, giving Denver a 13-10 lead, and Carlson knotted it up again with a career-long 57-yarder with 7:06 remaining in the fourth quarter.
In the first quarter, Carlson’s 48-yard try sailed wide right for his first missed field goal since Nov. 7 2021, against the Giants in the Meadowlands.
After McManus’ 48-yarder, Adams blew Broncos past star cornerback Patrick Surtain II and hauled in a 31-yard touchdown catch from Carr to make it 10-7.
There was a moment of silence held before kickoff in honor of the dozens of people shot and five killed when a 22-year-old gunman opened fire overnight at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, about 70 miles south of Denver.
INJURIES
The Raiders were without TE Darren Waller and WR Hunter Renfrow. … S Duron Harmon was carted off with a leg injury early in the fourth quarter. Harmon was playing in his 154th consecutive game.
The Broncos were without WRs Jerry Jeudy (ankle) and KJ Hamler (hamstring) along with slot CB K’Waun Williams (wrist/elbow/knee). They lost RB Chase Edmonds (ankle) on their first drive and DT D.J. Jones (hand) and DL Jonathan Harris (knee) in the second quarter.
UP NEXT
The Raiders visit Seattle next Sunday, their fourth road game in five weeks.
The Broncos visit Carolina next Sunday.
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Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter at https://twitter.com/arniestapleton
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