The Oakland Raiders have survived a fourth-quarter comeback from the San Diego Chargers to claim a 37-29 win over their AFC West rivals.
The visiting side found the endzone on their opening drive of the game, with Derek Carr handing the ball off to Latavius Murray, leaving the running back to smash his way through from a yard out.
© Getty Images
Oakland were in again early in the second quarter as the Chargers struggled to get their offense going, with rookie tight end Clive Walford recording his first touchdown in the NFL.
Philip Rivers tried to find his receivers in a bid to get San Diego back into the encounter, but he was twice intercepted as DJ Hayden and Malcolm Smith picked the ball off.
Kicker Sebastian Janikowski extended the Raiders' lead further, kicking three field goals in the first half, before Carr completed his second touchdown pass of the game, throwing it short to Amari Cooper before the wide receiver ran it in from 52 yards out.
As the Raiders looked to see out their third win of the season, Carr got the visiting side back into a strong position early in the third quarter, before firing a pass to Michael Crabtree in the corner of the endzone for another touchdown.
Melvin Gordon had no carries for the Chargers in the first half, having fumbled twice last week, but the rookie running back came into the game in the third quarter to try to get the hosts back in the game.
However, it was a passing play that finally got the Chargers into the endzone as Rivers launched a high ball over the top to tight end Ladarius Green.
San Diego tried to get the ball back straight away, with kicker Josh Lambo attempting an onside kick, but it was Oakland who managed to recover it.
The Raiders were unable to add to their score with their next drive, allowing the Chargers to get the ball back quickly, before Rivers made a short pass to Danny Woodhead, who took it into the endzone for a second San Diego touchdown, while Green hauled in a two-point conversion catch, cutting Oakland's lead to 16.
The visiting side got the ball back though as Lambo's onside kick attempt failed for a second time, allowing the Raiders to run the ball to try to run down the clock, but Murray came up short while trying to get the ball into field goal range, forcing the visitors to punt it back to San Diego.
Rivers got the ball back in the Raiders' half, with Woodhead picking up some yards before being pushed out of bounds, before Keenan Allen thought he had a touchdown, but the receiver was penalised for pass interference, resulting in the score being ruled out.
Woodhead did get in the endzone again in the final seconds to cut the deficit to eight points, but the onside kick attempt failed again, denying the home side a chance to go for a last-gasp game-tying touchdown.
The result moves to Raiders to 3-3, leaving them second in the AFC West, while the Chargers sit bottom in the division with a 2-5 record.
Sian Cowper
