Gruden: 'Felt like I died and woke up' during Raiders' thrilling win
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden can't explain exactly how he felt after the wild sequence of events that ended with his team beating the Baltimore Ravens 33-27 in overtime on Monday Night Football.
"Felt like I died and woke up. And died. And woke up again. I was like a cat, I had multiple lives tonight," Gruden said postgame, according to ESPN's Paul Gutierrez. "We did a lot of good things to win that football game."
Raiders wide receiver Zay Jones scored a 31-yard, walk-off touchdown in overtime that gave the 65,000 fans at Allegiant Stadium the excitement they deserved after being unable to attend the new venue last year due to the pandemic.
Jones' score came just minutes after Las Vegas blew an opportunity to win the contest with a touchdown in the first possession of overtime. Baltimore cornerback Anthony Averett intercepted quarterback Derek Carr in the end zone on a third-and-goal that started at the Ravens' 5-yard line.
Minutes after Averrett's interception, however, Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib forced a fumble off quarterback Lamar Jackson that left Las Vegas just 27 yards away from Baltimore's end zone and eventually led to Jones' touchdown reception.
Carr praised his defense after the contest.
"The thing that I love the most: To everyone that talked crap about our defense for 12 months, they stepped up when we needed them most to get us the ball back so we could win it," the signal-caller said.
Carr finished the night with 435 yards and two touchdowns against one interception on 34-of-56 passing.