The Raiders And Chiefs Gave Us The NFL’s Craziest Final Minute Of The Year

The Oakland Raiders scored three touchdowns in the final minute to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday Night Football. Only one of them counted. They only needed one, though, and the final score was enough to beat the Chiefs and potentially save their season in the AFC West.

Michael Crabtree made a diving catch in the end zone on the third straight final play of the game, tying the game at 30 and setting up an extra point that gave Oakland a 31-30 win to cap a wild fourth quarter comeback.

That it came down to that catch, though, is an incredible fact that only the National Football League can manufacture. The final play of the game was arguably played three times — the first was a play that was set up by a defensive holding penalty called with no time left on the clock.

That play was set up on a defensive holding penalty that came when Derek Carr tried to throw to Cook over the middle with three seconds left.

https://twitter.com/ClayWendler/status/921226575261048832

And that play only came after the first Crabtree touchdown was ruled offensive pass interference after he pushed off a Chiefs defender on a play that started with eight seconds left on the clock.

https://twitter.com/ClayWendler/status/921221577693306880

AND THAT PLAY was set up after Jared Cook made an incredible catch down the left sideline that was initially ruled a touchdown.

That triggered an automatic review, and Chiefs fans hoped the catch would be ruled incomplete. It wasn’t, which spoiled this pretty tremendous Mark Davis celebration.

https://twitter.com/cjzero/status/921223379864076288

Instead, Cook was ruled down at the 1, setting up the final wild sequence that was full of drama and a bit of absurdity. Check out how many plays they squeezed into the last 23 seconds of a professional football game.

The only thing missing for Oakland was a call for a goal line carry from Marshawn Lynch: he got ejected from the game before it even reached the half.