The Oakland Raiders squared off against the Arizona Cardinals Sunday night at O.co Coliseum in their final home preseason game.
At the half, the Raiders lead Arizona 15-3. Here are the highlights from the first half.
The Cardinals won the coin toss and elected to receive, and on the ensuing kickoff Sebastian Janikowski kicked the ball deep into the end zone resulting in a touchback.
On the initial drive of the evening, Carson Palmer dropped back, avoided the Raiders rush and attempted to connect with Larry Fitzgerald. However, the pass was thrown behind him and was intercepted by safety Nate Allen.
The Raiders took over on the Arizona 34-yard line and on their first play from scrimmage, Derek Carr found wide receiver Michael Crabtree for a gain of six.
Carr and the Raiders offense failed to gain a first down, but Janikowski connected on a 49-yard field goal to give the Silver and Black a 3-0 lead with 11:35 left in the first quarter.
The Raiders were able to force a three-and-out on the Cardinals next possession, as Palmer overthrew John Brown on third down as Keith McGill and Nate Allen provided coverage.
Later in the quarter, the Cardinals drove down the field, but Khalil Mack was able to strip Andre Ellington on third down and force Arizona to attempt a field goal – a field goal that kicker Chandler Catanzaro proceeded to miss.
With 3:00 left in the first quarter, Palmer dropped back and tried to find Fitzgerald, but TJ Carrie provided tight coverage and prevented the completion.
Facing a 3rd and 16, Carr was able to squeeze a pass into a tight window, connecting with tight end Mychal Rivera for a gain of 18, and the first Raiders first down of the evening.
The Raiders once again were unable to find the end zone, but Janikowski came on and kicked his second field goal of the half, this one from 33-yards out, to give the Silver and Black a 6-0 lead with 0:05 remaining in the first quarter.
The Cardinals drove down into Raiders territory, but as Arizona faced a third down, Mario Edwards Jr and Khalil Mack collapsed the pocket and took down Palmer for a loss of seven to force a field goal attempt.
Catanzaro connected from 53 yards out to cut the Raiders lead to 6-3 with 11:55 remaining in the half.
With 11:10 left in the second quarter, Carr floated a pass to fullback Marcel Reece, who ran down the sideline for a gain of 41 yards.
Carr and the offense were able to matriculate the ball into Arizona territory, and Janikowski connected on his third field goal of the night to give the Raiders a 9-3 lead with 8:04 remaining in the half.
The Cardinals faced a third down deep in Oakland territory with 5:15 left in the half, but were unable to convert as Khalil Mack took down Palmer in the backfield for a loss of four.
With just over three minutes left in the first half, Carr connected on back-to-back passes with Amari Cooper, for 36 and 13 yards, respectively.
The drive stalled, but Janikowski connected on his fourth field goal of the evening to give the Raiders a 12-3 lead with 1:15 remaining in the half.
With just over a minute left in the half, Palmer overthrew John Brown and Nate Allen picked the pass off, his second interception of the evening.
Once again, the drive stalled, but Janikowski connected on his fifth field goal, to give the Silver and Black a 15-3 lead with 0:33 left in the half.
