Oakland Raiders' Del Rio: 'I'm real proud of our guys'

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The Oakland Raiders, on the verge of making enough mistakes to lose to a two-win team for the second straight week, kept themselves on the periphery of the playoff chase with a 24-21 road win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Rather than dwell on how the Raiders almost lost the game, Raiders coach Jack Del Rio was elated to have won it.

"I'm real proud of our guys. Resilient," Del Rio said. "We wanted to end the week 1-0 somehow, some way, and I'm real proud of how the guys stayed in it. It was tough. There was reason to be discouraged."

Indeed, starting quarterback Derek Carr lost a center exchange with Tony Bergstrom, a play that eventually resulted in a short-field 42-yard drive and a 1-yard pass from Marcus Mariota to Jalston Fowler that turned a 17-14 Raiders lead to a 21-17 deficit with 4:41 to play.

Backed up to their own 10-yard line following a penalty on the ensuing kickoff, Carr then drove the Raiders 90 yards in nine plays, ending the drive with a game-winning 12-yard touchdown pass to Seth Roberts with 1:21 to play.

"You're in control of the game, you fumble it, you say, 'Oh my gosh, what are we going to do?'" Del Rio said. "Well, we are just going to go down there and find a way to get a score."

The drive wasn't without some luck. On a fourth-and-8 play in Tennessee territory, Carr launched a high pass intended for Andre Holmes that fell incomplete. However, the Raiders got a reprieve on a defense holding call away from the ball.

"We had to get back on track, play the way we know we can," Carr said. "We had to deal with the elements and all those fun things, but at the end of the day it says win or loss."

With four of their five remaining games coming against teams currently seeded for the playoffs (including the Chiefs twice), the games will only increase in intensity.

"This is the playoffs for us," wide receiver Amari Cooper said. "We're just trying to go 1-0 each week."

REPORT CARD VS. TITANS

--PASSING OFFENSE: B plus. Derek Carr completed 24 of 37 passes for 330 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 120.3 in a steady rain. Amari Cooper had a big bounce-back game with seven catches for 115 yards after catching a single pass the previous week. Seth Roberts had a career day with six catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns. The Titans, one of the NFL's top pass-rushing teams, only sacked Carr once.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: C plus. The Raiders had only 84 yards on 30 carries with a long gain of 10 yards. Latavius Murray found the going rough with 59 yards on 22 attempts. But the Raiders did manage six rushing first downs, and the attempts at running helped to slow the Tennessee pass rush.

--PASS DEFENSE: B. Marcus Mariota threw three touchdown passes for the Titans, but completed less than 50 percent (17 of 37) of his throws. Cornerback David Amerson and safety Nate Allen had interceptions. Amerson's came after a Raiders turnover, and Allen's came on Tennessee's final drive. Amerson broke up six passes while starting in place of DJ Hayden.

--RUSH DEFENSE: A. The Titans came in with the reputation as a poor rushing team, and the Raiders, smarting from being run on in previous weeks, shut them down. The Titans had just 44 yards on 18 carries and three first downs rushing. No gain was longer than 11 yards.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: C-plus. Sebastian Janikowski's lone field-goal attempt was a chip shot from 24 yards out. Marquette King had a 41.0-yard net punting average and placed three kicks inside the 20-yard line with no touchbacks. New return specialist Jeremy Ross fumbled a kickoff return, but the Raiders responded with an Amerson interception. Tennessee had only one kickoff return for 31 yards and one punt return for 5 yards.

--COACHING: B. Something held the Raiders together when they appeared to be on the verge of losing for the second straight week to a two-win team. The decision to bench DJ Hayden and replace him with Amerson was long overdue and the correct one. Staying stubborn with the run (30 carries) despite limited results helped keep the pressure off Carr.