Raiders Knock Out Bills With 26-24 Win
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — With their playoff hopes at stake, the Buffalo Bills couldn't manage to stop Derek Carr and the lowly Oakland Raiders.
Carr threw two touchdown passes and Sebastian Janikowski kicked four field goals to help the Raiders knock the Bills from playoff contention with a 26-24 victory Sunday.
The Bills (8-7) needed to win their final two games and get some help to end the NFL's longest active playoff drought at 14 seasons. But they failed at the easiest part -- beating the lowly Raiders (3-12) -- and will miss the playoffs for a 15th straight year.
Oakland has the second longest active postseason drought at 12 but has done a good job of playing spoiler in the past five weeks, beating Kansas City, San Francisco and Buffalo.
Carr wasn't that sharp, completing just 17 of 34 passes for 214 yards, but the rookie did what Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers couldn't: throw a touchdown pass against Buffalo's stout defense.
He tied the game with a scoring throw to James Jones in the second quarter and then sealed it with a 1-yarder to Jamize Olawale with 2:51 to go.
That came after Oakland stopped Buffalo on a third-and-1 near midfield when Ray-Ray Armstrong deflected a pass to Chris Hogan and Carr converted a third-and-22 with a 51-yard pass to Andre Holmes.
Darren McFadden then ran it 25 yards down to the 1, and Carr hit Olawale two plays later to seal Buffalo's fate.
After Janikowski missed a 48-yard field goal attempt, Orton threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Robert Woods with 1:09 to play to cut it to 26-24. But Charles Woodson recovered the ensuing onside kick to end it.
The Bills came into the game vowing not to overlook the two-win Raiders. But Orton struggled after an early touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins, throwing an interception and posting five straight three-and-outs on Buffalo's next six possessions to put the Bills in a hole they never could overcome.
Instead of having a playoff berth possibly on the line next week in New England, the Bills can start looking ahead to next season and figuring out what to do at quarterback. Orton failed to get Buffalo over the hump after replacing ineffective second-year player EJ Manuel.
Orton went 32 for 49 for 329 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
The Raiders got a pair of field goals from Janikowski in the third quarter to take a 19-10 lead, but the Bills managed to stay within striking distance by keeping Oakland out of the end zone.
Buffalo then got right back into it on the opening play of the fourth quarter when Orton connected on a 29-yard touchdown pass to Scott Chandler to make it 19-17.
But that was as close as it would get.
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