The Las Vegas Raiders are one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ oldest rivals. In the 1970s, when they were the Oakland Raiders, they were a perennial Super Bowl contender in the AFC. That often brought them into conflict with the Steelers, who were building a dynasty during that decade. In recent years, that rivalry has been less fierce, but some of the games have still been competitive. Former Raiders quarterback Derek Carr recently shared that his team’s win over the Steelers in 2018 contained one of the top five moments of his career.
“Number five, I’m gonna go with the Pittsburgh Steeler game at home in 2018 in the Oakland Colosseum,” Carr said recently on the YouTube channel Home Grown Network. “Black Hole, it was rocking. It was unbelievable, and I’ll never forget, we were in Topeka. I told Seth Roberts, there was a TV timeout, I told him, ‘If we get this play, I know it’s a deep cross, but if we get two high, I want you to take the middle.’ Seth didn’t care.
“He knew all week he was supposed to run deep cross, but anytime the quarterback says something, he’s like, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ So late in game, for whatever reason, I always found Seth Roberts. They played two high. They had a safety running down the middle with him. And Seth took Topeka right down the middle. We hit it. We just hit Seth Roberts down the middle. It’s one of my favorite throws of my life.”
That game came in Week 14 of the 2018 season, and it was a heartbreaking loss for the Steelers. They were up 21-17 late in the fourth quarter, but Carr helped the Raiders drive down the field to score a touchdown with around 20 seconds remaining. The Raiders ultimately won 24-21, thanks in part to a strong performance from Carr.
After that incredible drive by the Raiders, the Steelers almost completed a comeback of their own. Ben Roethlisberger completed a pass to James Washington, who lateraled the ball to JuJu Smith-Schuster. Smith-Schuster proceeded to rip off an incredible 43-yard run to give the Steelers great field position.
Unfortunately, Chris Boswell’s 40-yard field goal was no good, keeping the Steelers from tying the game up. That was Boswell’s roughest year in Pittsburgh, but he’s more than made up for that failure since then.
The Steelers would go on to finish that season 9-6-1, missing the playoffs. In the end, that loss to the Raiders loomed large. Meanwhile, Oakland would end the year at 4-12, one of the worst teams in the league. In hindsight, Pittsburgh probably should’ve won, but Carr and the Raiders were the better team that day.
In a surprising move, Carr retired this offseason after two seasons with the New Orleans Saints. He explained that his retirement was due to injuries. While it’s the right move for his health, it’s a shame to see Carr’s career end. He was a great quarterback for the Raiders for several years, helping to occasionally reignite the rivalry between the Raiders and Steelers.
He had multiple great battles against the Steelers, going 2-2 in matchups against them. That 2018 win was actually Carr’s first against the Steelers, which likely makes it sweeter. Hopefully, he can enjoy his time in retirement and rehab his health.
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