These Raiders have been The Cardiac Kids this season

When Daniel Carlson calmly trotted on the field and booted the ball through the uprights for a game-winning field goal on Sunday in Indianapolis, it may have felt like deja vu for Raiders’ fans.

Dramatic last-second victories, particularly those decided by the foot of Carlson, have become almost routine with this year’s team.

They have now won five times on the last meaningful play of the game, including four times on Carlson field goals.

They are 3-0 in overtime and 6-2 in one-score games on the season.

Those statistics tend to have a high variance and usually even out over time. But the Raiders have ridden the wave to the doorstep of the postseason.

There’s certainly no magic formula. The wins have come in all different shapes and sizes, each just as important as the next.

One constant has been the clutch play of quarterback Derek Carr. He has 29 game-winning drives in his career, a remarkable stat interim coach Rich Bisaccia credits to his experience.

“He’s done it a lot,” Bisaccia said Monday. “He’s been in those situations a bunch of times. He’s really athletic. He has a tremendous vision of the field, how he sees it. And I think he’s very confident since he’s done it so many times that he knows the plays that are going to be called, he knows the situation that he’s in, he understands the coverages he’s going to get.

“I think the game probably slows down for him a little bit in that particular situation and you see him usually rise to the top.”

As clutch as Carr has been, so has Carlson.

“He’s proven it over and over again,” Carr said after Sunday’s win in Indianapolis. “All those comebacks … none of that matters unless these guys go out and make kicks and catches. It’s just cool that I can be a part of something like that with Daniel, just getting him in a position for him to win the game for us and he does it.”

Not be forgotten by Carr are the holder AJ Cole and snapper Trent Sieg. “Those two guys, they’ve been a part of them too. They do a great job.”

Season-opening magic

The Raiders’ late-game heroics started with the season opener against Baltimore.

The Raiders tied that game with 3:44 left only to fall behind again when Justin Tucker put the Ravens up 27-24 on a field goal with 37 seconds remaining in a prime-time game at Allegiant Stadium.

Carlson connected from 55 yards out to force overtime. In the extra session, Carr was intercepted in the end zone and Lamar Jackson fumbled before Carr hit Zay Jones for a 31-yard touchdown to end the game.

It set the tone for the season and was a sign of things to come.

A road win over the Steelers the following week was a one-score game until Carlson made a field goal with 20 seconds remaining to seal a 26-17 victory.

The Raiders would then improve to 3-0 with another overtime home win over Miami, an extra session forced by the Dolphins with a touchdown and 2-point conversion with just 2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

Carlson would make a 38-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime only to have Jason Sanders answer with a 50-yarder for the Dolphins with 2:54 remaining.

The next drive started with a 34-yard completion to Edwards and ended with a game-winner from Carlson with 3 seconds remaining in overtime.

A rough patch

After a 2-2 stretch of games decided by 10 or more points, the Raiders would come up short in a close game for the first time this season.

There were no heroics in a lackluster 23-16 road loss to the Giants, which took place just days after receiver Henry Ruggs was dismissed from the team for his involvement in a crash that left a woman and her dog dead.

The loss and the emotions around it appeared to trigger a series of disappointing performances in the Raiders as the team entered a stretch of games that saw them drop five of six and raise serious doubts about their ability to achieve the goal of making the postseason.

Of course, the one win in that stretch was a dramatic one.

Carlson made a 56-yarder to give the Raiders a 33-30 lead over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day before Dallas answered with a 45-yarder to force overtime.

On a third-and-18 play in the extra session, Anthony Brown was flagged for a 33-yard pass interference penalty on Jones to set up a 29-yard walk-off kick from Carlson.

The Raiders would rally from a 14-6 fourth-quarter deficit the following week against the Washington Football Team only to take a 17-15 loss when Brian Johnson made a 48-yard field goal with 42 seconds remaining.

A strong finish

Since then, Carr has risen to the occasion. The Raiders have gone from 6-7 and in danger of yet another season spiraling in the wrong direction to 9-7 and in control of their postseason fate with just one game to play.

It started with a trip to Cleveland to play a Browns team with more than 20 players out due to COVID in a game delayed by two days.

The Browns scored with 3:45 to play to take the lead and send the crowd into a frenzy on a cold night in Cleveland. Carr then took a deep shot to Zay Jones and had it intercepted with 2:59 to play, igniting a premature victory party in the stadium.

After the Raiders’ defense forced a three-and-out, Carr hit five passes to three different receivers before Carlson went out and delivered once again on a 48-yard game-winning field goal on the final play.

The Week 16 win over Denver may not have had as much drama, but the same elements were at play. Carlson made a 41-yard field goal with 7:35 remaining before the defense kept the Broncos from crossing midfield. Carr and the offense got the ball back and successfully ran the final 3:54 off the clock to put away another win.

That set the stage for Sunday’s win over the Colts, a game between NFL teams fighting for their playoff lives in the last two minutes of a pivotal contest.

That’s the 2021 Raiders.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.