LAS VEGAS — (AP) — Aidan O’Connell returned from an injury and passed for 257 yards, and the Las Vegas Raiders ended a 10-game losing streak with a 19-14 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
The Raiders, whose skid was the longest active streak in the NFL, won for the first time since beating the Cleveland Browns 20-16 on Sept. 29. The victory, however, means the Raiders (3-12) moved ahead of the league-worst New York Giants (2-13). The team with the worst record is in line for the top pick in next year's draft.
Jacksonville (3-12) has lost seven of its last eight games and is 2-9 in one-score contests.
O'Connell made his first start in two weeks. He didn't play in Monday night's 15-9 loss to Atlanta because of a left knee injury.
Las Vegas’ Brock Bowers caught 11 passes for 99 yards, leaving him 10 yards away from breaking Mike Ditka’s 63-year-old NFL rookie record for tight ends. Ditka had 1,076 yards in 1961. Bowers did become the third rookie tight end to reach 1,000 yards in a season, joining Ditka and Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts in 2021.
Jacksonville's Brian Thomas Jr. caught nine passes for 132 yards and a touchdown, giving him 73 catches this season and breaking the rookie club record of 64 set by Justin Blackmon in 2012. Thomas also is the Jaguars' rookie record holder for receiving yards (1,087) and touchdowns (nine).
Mac Jones passes for 247 yards and a TD for the Jaguars.
This is the first game this season in which the Raiders did not trail by double digits. Their 14-game streak to open a season was second only to the Indianapolis Colts' steak of 16 games in 1986.
The Raiders’ 10-game losing streak was the fifth-longest in franchise history, and their longest since dropping 16 in a row between the 2013-14 seasons.
Las Vegas even had a chance to go up two possessions late in the third quarter, but Daniel Carlson missed a 46-yard field goal to the left with 2:18 left. Jacksonville capitalized when Jones found a wide-open Thomas deep on the left side of the field for a 62-yard touchdown and 14-13 lead with 54 seconds left in the third.
Las Vegas answered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that culminated in Ameer Abdullah's 7-yard scoring run less than four minutes into the fourth quarter. O'Connell's pass on a 2-point conversion was overthrown, leaving the Raiders with a 19-14 lead.
Jaguars: LT Walker Little (ankle), RT Anton Harrison (shoulder), S Darnell Savage (concussion) and LB Ventrell Miller (ankle) were hurt.
Raiders: CBs Nate Hobbs (illness) and Sam Webb (back/illness) and G Jordan Meredith (ankle) did not play.
Jaguars: Host Tennessee on Sunday.
Raiders: Visit New Orleans on Sunday.
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