Derek Carr overcomes injury to rally Raiders past Panthers 35-32

But when Benjamin shook off his earlier frustrations and caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from Newton early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers led 32-24 and it looked like they might escape falling into a playoffs hopes-killing Black Hole. Mack’s defensive dominance helped lead to a 35-32 Oakland victory over the Carolina Panthers that moved them to 9-2 on the season.

He played the first three games of the season but two days prior to the team’s October 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons he unexpectedly reported to work with concussion-like symptoms. With a one-game lead over both Kansas City and Denver, Oakland (8-2) simply has to win out in order to claim its first division crown in more than a decade.

Containing Cam: The Raiders did a number on Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in the first half. “I’m just going to keep on believing”. “That’s been the theme for us this year”. The Oakland pass rush ended the game with a strip sack of Newton, and that was that. He had two catches for 27 yards in a victory against the Denver Broncos on November 6 then three catches for 5 yards on November 21 in a win against Houston in Mexico City. He was 26-of-38 passing for 315 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. After rushing for at least 100 yards in every game last season, Carolina’s ground game has stalled and the Panthers are averaging a mere 69.3 yards per game the last three weeks. But just got a little feet tangled up, a little physicality at the top of the route and didn’t get my head turned around in time. “He stays confident in all of those things, and he honestly just comes back to the huddle and plays the mental side of the game”.

As long as they have Carr, the Raiders have shown they can find a way to win. “That’s all you can worry about”.

On the opening drive of the second half against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, with Oakland leading 24-7, Carr hurt the pinky on his right hand on a botched exchange with center Rodney Hudson.

On Carr’s fourth pass back from his injury, he threw a pick to Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis. Matt McGloin replaced him for one drive. The Panthers ultimately punted, and the Raiders drove 82 yards for Sebastian Janikowki’s game-winning field goal. Newton’s two-point pass failed. His 18 first-half yards was a career low. On that last drive we told each other ‘it’s on us, it’s on us to put the team on our back and end it.’ That’s exactly what we did. Carr gets a lot of the credit, but this whole team is at their best when their best is needed. It started with myself. The big blow was an 88-yard strike from Cam Newton to Ted Ginn Jr.

The Raiders (9-2) won their fifth straight game to remain tied atop the AFC with New England and are assured of a winning record for the first time since 2002.

The high-powered offense uses the potent receiving tandem of veteran Michael Crabtree and second-year player Amari Cooper. They score, we’re up three and now they’re kicking that field goal to tie as opposed to kicking it to take the lead. Cornerback Sean Smith defended two passes, while D.J. Hayden defended one pass while filling in for David Amerson. Hayden left the game early in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury.

As the football season has surpassed the halfway mark, the Oakland Raiders have steadily emerged as the American Football Conference (AFC) dark horse.