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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers got a much-needed win but might have lost another key offensive player. Chris Boswell kicked an 18-yard field goal with two seconds remaining to give the Steelers a 38-35 victory over Oakland on Sunday as Pittsburgh overcame an injury to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to hold off the Raiders and snap a two-game losing streak.
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Roethlisberger limped off the field with just under eight minutes left after being sacked by defensive end Aldon Smith. Roethlisberger was taken to a local hospital and scheduled to undergo an MRI.
Just a week earlier, Roethlisberger returned to the lineup after missing four games with a left knee injury. In that same game, a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, star running back Le'Veon Bell was lost for the season with a knee injury.
"You can waste a lot of time focusing on the guys who aren't available to you," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "We're just focused on the guys who are and how we can put together the right mix to be successful, how we can utilize their skills, how we can work to minimize their weaknesses individually and collectively. Injuries are as much of the game of football as blocking and tackling."
Antonio Brown's 57-yard catch and run on a screen pass from backup quarterback Landry Jones got the Steelers (5-4) to the Raiders' 15 in the final minute and capped a day in which the wide receiver set franchise records with 17 receptions and 285 receiving yards.
"All I can say is 'wow,'" Raiders safety Charles Woodson said of Brown's performance.
Two plays later, Boswell kicked his third field goal of the day to end a seven-play, 79-yard drive engineered by Jones. That came after the Raiders (4-4) tied the game 35-35 with 1:15 remaining on quarterback Derek Carr's 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Crabtree.
Boswell, a rookie, had his first career missed field goal in 12 attempts when he misfired from 41 yards in the third quarter and was happy for a shot at redemption.
"Just to get everybody back on my side after that miss," Boswell said.
The Steelers are 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Cincinnati Bengals (8-0) in the AFC North standings, but the win kept their hopes alive of reaching the playoffs as a wild card.
"We talked about (Saturday) night and we said that we don't want to be sitting home in January and wondering what we might have done differently to have made it to the playoffs," Steelers guard Ramon Foster said. "We're going to give our best shot."
Roethlisberger completed 24 of 44 passes for 334 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Running back De'Angelo Williams rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries in place of Bell and also had 55 receiving yards on two catches. Wide receiver Martavis Bryant and rookie tight end Jesse James, making his NFL debut, caught touchdown passes.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak by the Raiders (4-4) and could prove detrimental to their hopes of getting to the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
"We played hard. We played to the end. We made a lot of plays," Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said. "We have a chance there to at least get that thing into overtime and go against a backup quarterback with Big Ben out. We had a great opportunity."
Carr was also 24 of 44 for 301 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Crabtree caught two of the scoring passes as he finished with seven receptions for 108 yards.
Running back Latavius Murray rushed for 96 yards on 17 carries but was knocked out of the game with a concussion in the third quarter when he was hit by strong safety Mike Mitchell and fumbled.
Wide receiver Amari Cooper and tight end Clive Walford also had touchdown receptions and fullback Jamize Olawale added a TD run.
Olawale's 19-yard score pulled the Raiders to 35-28 with 9:32 left. They then got to the Steelers' 11 with a chance to tie five minutes later but cornerback Russ Cockrell intercepted Carr in the end zone.
Bryant put the Steelers ahead 28-21 with 12:13 remaining when he took a screen pass and turned it into a 14-yard touchdown.
The Steelers scored again just 49 seconds later after getting the ball back at the Oakland 6 when returner Taiwan Jones fumbled the kickoff when hit by Roosevelt Nix and Anthony Chickillo recovered.
Two plays later, Roethlisberger and James connected on a 4-yard score.
The Raiders tied it 21-21 on Carr's 1-yard touchdown pass to Walford with 6:05 to go in the third quarter.
The Steelers took a 21-14 halftime lead as Williams had a pair of a 3-year touchdowns runs and a two-point conversion and Boswell connected on field goals form 34 and 38.
Carr threw touchdowns passes of 22 yards to Crabtree and 15 yards to Cooper.
"It hurts to be so close, it really does," Carr said. "We have a great group of guys. Things started to fall apart and we just kept fighting. That's good to see. In this league, though, you have to win football games."
NOTES: Pittsburgh QB Ben Roethlisberger increased his career passing yardage total to 40,566, moving into 14th place in NFL history ahead of Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. ... Oakland S TJ Carrie (shoulder, hip) was inactive after being listed as questionable and was replaced in the lineup by S Larry Asante. LB Neiron Bell (knee) was also inactive. ... Pittsburgh QB Mike Vick (hamstring), LB Terence Garvin (knee) and TE Matt Speath (knee) were inactive ... Raiders CB DJ Hayden had a game-high 13 tackles while CB Antwon Blake topped the Steelers with nine stops. ... The Raiders host the Minnesota Vikings next Sunday while the Steelers play at home against the Cleveland Browns.
