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Three Key Plays: How complementary football secured the Raiders' first victory of the 2024 season

The Raiders' first victory of the 2024 season was certainly a group effort.

Down 9-6 at halftime, the team rallied with 20 points in the second half to win, 26-23, against the Baltimore Ravens. It was a rollercoaster affair, down 10 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but complementary football in all three phases of the game helped the Silver and Black pull out a tough road win.

"Fourth quarter is what it needs to look like for all four quarters," Antonio Pierce said following the victory. "We talked about it, we preached it, but I'm glad it did show up in a critical moment, in a critical situation in the game. ... We talked about it at halftime, being a four-quarter team, having that hard-hat mentality, and really just putting a bow on it and finishing. It's nothing like it."

Let's dive into a key play on offense, defense and special teams that helped determine the outcome of the game.

Ravens lead 16-6

Third quarter, 6:13

BLT 2nd-and-6 at the BLT 44

Turnovers can make or break a football game, and this play in particular shifted the momentum toward the Raiders.

Earlier in the contest, Gardner Minshew II threw an untimely interception to Marlon Humphrey, but fortunately for the Raiders, it didn't lead to any points as Justin Tucker missed a 56-yard field goal. However, when the Raiders defense came away with their first interception of the season, they made it count.

As the Ravens were driving the ball down the field in the third quarter, receiver Zay Flowers motioned to the right side of the field to run a wheel route. A sprinting Jakorian Bennett pointed out Flowers motioning as Jack Jones picked him up in coverage. As Bennett ran to the middle of the field, he diagnosed the ball being thrown on an underneath route to Rashod Bateman, putting himself in the right place to deflect the ball.

While the ball was in the air, linebacker Robert Spillane was to the right of Bennett and caught the deflection for an interception.

"JB did a great job, Jakorian Bennett, punching that ball out and knocked up right into my hands and was able to make a play on it," Spillane said.

The interception should be considered even more vital to the final score as it put the Raiders offense in great field position to score on the following drive with Alexander Mattison punching it in from the one-yard line to cut the deficit to three points.

It was Spillane's fourth interception within the last two seasons.

"Team football, that's what we're all about here," Spillane said. "We got to do a good job getting our offense the ball in scoring positions, and that's by creating turnovers. And I truly believe that's what flips these games over. We did a great job getting a good rush, Jakorian being lock down on his guy and then falling into my hands."

Raiders tie Ravens at 23

Fourth quarter, 3:57

LV 1st-and-Goal at the BLT 1

Late in the game against the Ravens, the Raiders abided by simple offensive game plan: give the ball to Davante Adams.

Minshew started zeroing in on his star receiver, finding him for five catches and 88 yards in the second half. Their last connection on the day resulted in an Adams touchdown grab on what was an exceptional play call from Luke Getsy.

At the one-yard line, the Raiders lined up in a similar formation from a short-yardage situation Week 1 against the Los Angeles Charges. Minshew lined up in pistol formation with Zamir White behind him and tight end Michael Mayer motioning backfield to serve as fullback. They were stopped by the Chargers on 4th-and-1 with a rush from White, however, they added a wrinkle into the play against the Ravens.

After the ball was snapped, Minshew faked the handoff to White with a majority of the Ravens defense biting on the run. Minshew kept the ball on a RPO as Adams slipped past Marlon Humphrey to create a sliver of separation in the end zone. Before the pressure got to the backfield, Minshew floated the ball up off his back foot to Adams for a touchdown to tie the game.

The play is impressive considering it's not exactly how it was drawn up according to No. 17.

"Football is football. That's not the look that we wanted or that we were practicing against all week," Adams said. "Got a different leverage from the guy covering me, so it wasn't ideal and didn't get to run it the way I intended to do. But Gardner stuck with me and gave me a ball that I could catch so that's really all you need sometimes."

Raiders take lead 26-23

Fourth quarter, 31 seconds

LV 4th-and-3 at the BLT 20

Daniel Carlson accounted for 12 of the Raiders' 26 points Sunday, including the last three scored to win the game.

A stagnant Raiders offense had difficulties pushing the ball down the field in the first half, but Carlson showed off his All-Pro boot to knock down a 51 and 53-yarder that brought the score to 9-6 at halftime.

"Daniel Carlson going four-for-four was the difference," Pierce said Monday morning. "His kickoffs, giving us an opportunity to pin those guys back twice inside the 25 – that was huge for us."

Down the stretch, Carlson knocked in a chip shot from 25 yards to make it a one-score game with less than 10 minutes left in regulation.

Following Adams' touchdown reception that tied it up, the defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back shortly before the two-minute warning.

A pass completion to Jakobi Meyers and a few carries from White drove the Raiders down the field and the Ravens used their remaining timeouts as the clock turned in the favor of the Silver and Black. With 31 seconds left in the game, Carlson stepped up to the plate to finish things off.

"I get more comfortable the longer I've been in this [league], but at the end of the day, everyone gets nervous," Carlson said of his mindset in that moment.
"But that's part of the fun. If it was boring, it wouldn't be really fun. If I wasn't nervous, it would be pretty boring doing my job. So it's exciting. You embrace it and it is a lot of fun.

"At the end of the day, I'm a football player that just wants to help my teammates and my team win. We were excited about the result."

View the best photos from the Raiders' Week 2 win against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.

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