The Tampa Bay defense wasn’t on the field for long. O’Connell fumbled the snap on the very next play and David came up with it at the bottom of the pile, making it first down for the Bucs at their own 35. On first down, Mayfield dumped it off to White as the pocket fell in on him and White was able to ramble down the sideline for 14 yards. Mayfield scrambled again on the next play and got seven to the Raiders’ 44. Two plays later, Mayfield was sacked by Amari Burney and he lost the ball, with the Raiders recovering at Tampa Bay’s 45.
O’Connell tried to go deep on first down but Tucker couldn’t quite get his toes down inbounds. The Raiders challenged the ruling but it was upheld. Bowers made a highlight-reel, one-handed catch on his first target, getting the ball down to the Buds’ 33. O’Connell went to his other tight end, Mayer, on the next play, and Mayer hurdled over a tackler for a gain of 29 to the Bucs’ two. Two runs by Sincere McCormick gained a total of just one, and on third down he was falling backward when he got off a lob in Bowers’ direction. The ball was incomplete but LB Vi Jones was flagged for pass interference, making it first-and-goal at the one. O’Connell snuck it across the line for the Raiders’ first score with 9:21 left in the half.
The ensuing kickoff bounced into and through the end zone for a touchback out to the 20, and Mayfield was swarmed over in the backfield on first down resulting in Adam Butler’s eight-yard sack. A false start took it back another five yards. Mayfield barely escaped a sack in the end zone and got off an incompletion. On third-and-23 the Bucs played it safe with a handoff to White, who got 12 yards before the punt. Jack Browning’s first NFL punt went 49 yards but was returned to close to midfield.
O’Connell zipped a six-yard pass to Tucker and the Raiders went no-huddle before calling a reverse to Bowers for a gain of three. McCormick got the needed yard plus much more, as he broke free from several defenders for a gain of 29 to the Bucs’ 14. Three plays later, on third-and-two, O’Connell dropped back to pass but was chased into a throwaway and the Raiders settled for Daniel Carlson’s 25-yard field goal.
Tucker got the next kickoff back to the Bucs’ 31 with 4:20 left in the first half. A toss left to White was good for just one yard, but White’s great blitz pickup on second down gave Mayfield time to find Shepard down the middle for a gain of 22. It was then second-and-one after a nine-yard catch by McMillan but a holding call on the next snap moved it back 10 yards. Mayfield was swung down by his arm on second down to make it third-and-19 as the two-minute warning arrived. Evans got most of it back on a 15-yard catch to the Raiders’ 40. The Bucs tried to get the Raiders to jump offsides, then used a timeout to consider the situation. They then lined up to go for it only to have Las Vegas use a timeout before the snap. The Bucs eventually did go for it and got a new set of downs when CB Jack Jones was flagged for pass interference at the Raiders’ 29. Tucker powered through a gang of tacklers to get nine yards on the next play, but Mayfield was pressured into an overthrow on second down and Jones intercepted the pass and returned it to the Raiders’ 16. Las Vegas kneeled to kill the last 25 seconds of the half.
Ameer Abdullah ran the opening kickoff of the second half out to the Raiders’ 29 and McCormick went straight up the middle for six yards on first down. O’Connell was flushed out of the pocket on second down and got to the 39 for a first down. The Raiders brought out a jumbo package and ran again for another six. McCormick made it third-and-one with another power run, and a handoff out of the shotgun was good enough for a new set of downs. Three plays later it was third-and-one again and the Raiders converted on O’Connell’s sneak. Two plays after that, McCormick took a handoff wide right and found a lane for a gain of 11 to the Bucs’ 23. A screen to McCormick got eight more but he was stuffed on second down for no gain. O’Connell’s next sneak was stopped short so the Raiders went for it on fourth and less than a yard. McCormick fell through the pile to get a first down at the 12. An illegal shift backed the Raiders up five yards and a crossing route pass to Mayer got seven back. O’Connell tried to get the ball to Bowers on third down but Smith got between the tight end and the ball and intercepted it at the seven-yard line.
A second-effort run up the middle by White got seven and some valuable breathing room, and his brutal stiff-arm of CB Decamerion Richardson allowed him to get around the corner for 12 on second down. A false start cost the Bucs five, and Mayfield then threw over the middle to Otton for six. Mayfield attempted swing pass to Tucker was batted away by Crosby, and he was unable to scramble for the first down, leading to a punt. Abdullah returned the kick to the Raiders’ 49 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
O’Connell’s sideline pass downfield to Bowers sailed out of bounds. On the next play, OLB Yaya Diaby got into the quarterback’s face quickly, and O’Connell faded back and threw a high lob in the direction of Tucker. S Kaevon Merriweather tracked it as it flew over the receiver’s head, but he couldn’t quite come down with the ball. O’Connell scrambled away from pressure on third down and got off an eight-yard pass to Meyers to make it third-and-two at the Bucs’ 44. O’Connell was injured on the play and taken off the field on a cart with his leg in an air cast. The Raiders chose to punt and the ball went into the end zone for a touchback.
Baker danced around in the pocket on first down but eventually had to throw the ball away. An incompletion and a two-yard run by White put the Bucs into a long third down right away but Mayfield converted it with a scrambling throw to Shepard for 14 on the last play of the third quarter. To start the final period, Mayfield targeted Evans on a deep out but delivered the pass a bit too tall. Two plays later, on third-and-six, Mayfield skipped his pass in front of Shepard. Browning got a lot of hang time on his punt, which was fair caught at the Las Vegas 20.
Ridder came into the game at quarterback for the Raiders and handed off to McCormick, who went up the middle for five. Ridder dropped the snap on second down and had to fall on the ball. Ridder threw a quick slant to Meyers, who was brought down a yard short by CB Zyon McCollum. The Raiders chose to punt on fourth-and-one. The Bucs got the ball back at their own 23 with 12 minutes left in regulation.
After a one-yard run by White, Mayfield threw on-target to McMillan but the receiver wasn’t ready for it and it went through his hands. On third-and-nine, Mayfield found Evans on a post over the middle and Evans caught the ball before hurdling S Isaiah Pola-Mao to ramble for 32 yards. White bounced his next carry around right end and lowered his shoulder into Trevor Moehrig for a pickup of seven. Tucker went in the same direction on the next play and broke through to the second level for a 34-yard run all the way down to the four. White bashed up the middle on first down and pushed his away across the line for the touchdown. That gave the Bucs a 21-10 lead with a little less than nine minutes left.
Abdullah ran a short kickoff out to the Raiders’ 35 and Ridder’s first pass was a six-yarder over the middle to WR Terrace Marshall. McCollum dived for a fluttering pass that was tipped by Diaby at the line and originally was ruled to have intercepted it. Once again, however, a review reversed the ruling and the Raiders faced a third-and-four. The Bucs blitzed and Bowers got wide open over the middle to haul in a 25-yard pass to the Tampa Bay 34. Another quick pass to Mayer was good for four, and Merriweather dropped Tucker after just one yard on a short pass. Ridder scrambled on third down but was caught by Merriweather at the line of scrimmage. The Raiders went for and Ridder found Meyers on a shallow out, with the receiver breaking out of a tackle and running down to the nine. Abdullah was stopped for just one on his first-down carry and Ridder than scrambled down to the five. On third-and-goal, Ridder threw a swing pass to Abdullah but S Christian Izien closed on him immediately for a loss of four. The Raiders sent Carlson out to make it an eight-point gain and he hit his 24-yard try.
Another bouncing ball into the end zone created a touchback at the 20-yard line and White got three yards on first down before the Raiders used their first timeout at the 3:01 mark. Mayfield hit Otton on a flag route on the next play and the tight end broke away from a defender and rumbled down the sideline for 44 yards to the Las Vegas 33. Runs of three and one yards led to the Raiders using their last two timeouts just before the two-minute warning. On third-and-six, Mayfield threw a short pass to McMillan at the sticks and the receiver broke free for a 29-yard touchdown.
The Raiders had just under two minutes left when they got the ball back for the last time. A series of short passes got them down to the Bucs’ 30 but time ran out on Ridder’s attempted deep ball to Meyers.