Baker Mayfield must have gotten up Thursday feeling dangerous.
Two days after the Rams claimed him off waivers, Mayfield led them to an improbable, unbelievable last-second, 17-16 victory over the Raiders.
Welcome to Hollywood!
The Raiders snapped their three-game winning streak, as they blew another double-digit fourth quarter lead. Seven of the Raiders’ eight losses were by one possession.
This one was a big blow to the Raiders’ playoff hopes -- or what they had left of them -- as they fell to 5-8.
The Rams broke their six-game losing streak with a quarterback who is on his third team this year. The Browns traded Mayfield to the Panthers this summer, but he lasted only five months there before Carolina waived him. The Rams were the only team that claimed him as they have been hard hit by injuries at the position.
The script wrote itself Thursday.
Los Angeles trailed 16-3 in the fourth quarter but scored two touchdowns in the final 3:19. Cam Akers scored on a 1-yard run, and, after the Raiders punted on fourth-and-one, the Rams took over at their own 2-yard line with 1:45 left.
No timeouts. Ninety-eight yards to go. No problem.
Mayfield completed the eight-play drive with 10 seconds left, throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson.
The Raiders helped with two costly penalties on back-to-back plays. Cornerback Amik Robertson was penalized for a 12-yard pass interference that negated an interception by safety Duron Harmon. Then, on the next play, Jerry Tillery was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for slapping the ball out of Mayfield’s hands with the clock running on a sack by Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones. It not only gave the Rams 15 yards but stopped the clock.
Mayfield finished 22-of-35 for 230 yards and a touchdown. Ben Skowronek caught seven passes for 89 yards, including a 32-yarder following the Raiders’ back-to-back penalties that had the Rams believing.
Mayfield didn’t start -- otherwise, he would have been the team’s fourth starter in four weeks -- but John Wolford played only the opening series. Wolford entered questionable with a neck injury.
Despite suffering a hand injury early on in the second half, Josh Jacobs carried the load for Las Vegas. He was able to return after briefly going to the locker room for further examination and finished with 99 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown.
Jacobs opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter. The Raiders then added a pair of field goals on their next two drives. While they had a shot at scoring again before halftime, a Derek Carr interception in the end zone kept them off the board.
Carr ended the game with an interception with two seconds left.
He went 11-of-20 for 137 yards and a 36.9 passer rating, with Davante Adams catching three passes for 71 yards.
The Raiders had 20 yards in the fourth quarter, including only 4 passing yards, and one first down. The Rams had 144 of their 282 total yards in the fourth quarter.