Raiders Come Out With Another NFL Victory

By ESPN

The party in the stands started early in the second NFL regular season game ever played in Mexico with loud cheers and chants from before kickoff until the final whistle. The Oakland offense took a little longer to get going, but once they did Derek Carr and the Raiders came out with yet another win.

Carr woke up a struggling offense by throwing two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Raiders capped a successful trip to Mexico with a 27-20 victory over the Houston Texans on Monday night.

"We got punched in the mouth," Carr said. "We weren't doing things the way we usually want to do things executing wise. But there was no doubt in anybody's mind that we'd come back and win the football game."

Oakland had been held to 120 yards through three quarters with the running game going nowhere and Carr finding few open receivers downfield. But that suddenly changed in the fourth quarter to give the Raiders (8-2) their fourth straight win for the first time since 2002 .

With star receiver Amari Cooper lined up in the backfield, Carr found fullback Jamize Olawale open for a 75-yard catch and run that tied Houston (6-4) at 20.

"We felt like that was the momentum shifter," Cooper said.

Then Oakland took advantage on two questionable spots by the officials to take over on downs at the 15 and drove 85 yards in five plays to take the lead on a 35-yard pass to Cooper to send the Texans to their fourth loss in five games outside of Houston.

"Very tough loss," defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney said. "We should have won the game, we are trying to win every game. You don't leave the game in the ref's hands."

That set off loud celebrations from the pro-Raiders crowd of 76,743 in the second regular season game ever played in Mexico. What was originally scheduled as an Oakland home game featured Raiders music during stoppages, Tommie Smith lighting the Al Davis torch in a memorable return to Mexico City nearly a half-century after his Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics and frequent "RAI-DERS!" chants.

While the atmosphere was electric, the field was a bit slippery leading to some falls and the high elevation 7,380 feet above sea level played a factor. The Raiders needed to use a timeout on defense at one point in the fourth to catch their breath and receiver Michael Crabtree was seen gasping for breath at one point.

Monday, November 21 Scoreboard

Carolina 23, New Orleans 20

Thursday, November 24 Schedule (All Times Central)

Minnesota at Detroit, 11:30 a.m.

Washington at Dallas, 3:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Indianapolis, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

Tennessee at Chicago, noon

Jacksonville at Buffalo, noon

Cincinnati at Baltimore, noon

Arizona at Atlanta, noon

New York Giants at Cleveland, noon

Los Angeles at New Orleans, noon

San Francisco at Miami, noon

San Diego at Houston, noon

Seattle at Tampa Bay, 3:05 p.m.

Carolina at Oakland, 3:25 p.m.

New England at New York Jets, 3:25 p.m.

Kansas City at Denver, 7:30 p.m.