October 30, 2016: The Raiders commit a record 23 penalties and still beat the Buccaneers in overtime

Ten years ago this week, on Sunday, October 30, 2016, the Oakland Raiders did something no NFL team had managed before: they were flagged 23 times in one game. They also won it. Behind 513 passing yards from Derek Carr, the most in franchise history, Oakland beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-24 at Raymond James Stadium when Carr hit Seth Roberts for a 41-yard score with 1:45 remaining in overtime.

The two numbers sum up the afternoon. Oakland gave away 200 yards in penalties and still moved the ball almost at will, because its quarterback kept erasing the damage. The victory lifted the Raiders to 6-2 and 5-0 away from home, their best road start since 1977.

Twenty-three flags, 200 yards

Before that day the single-game mark was 22 accepted penalties, a figure three different teams had shared. The Raiders broke it with a mix of the routine and the painful. Some were pre-snap: a delay of game arrived on first-and-goal. Others cost points outright, none more than an offensive pass interference call on Michael Crabtree that took a touchdown off the board.

Two hundred penalty yards is the length of two full fields. Most teams that hand an opponent that much ground lose by a wide margin. Oakland instead spent the afternoon converting long-yardage situations created by its own mistakes.

Carr’s 513 yards

Carr completed 40 of 59 passes for 513 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. No Raider had ever thrown for that many yards in a game. His scoring passes went to four different targets, including one to Donald Penn, a left tackle by trade. Amari Cooper and tight end Mychal Rivera caught the others in regulation before Roberts finished it.

Tampa Bay controlled the early going. The Buccaneers went ahead 10-0 in the second quarter and led 10-3 at halftime, and Jameis Winston, who finished with 180 passing yards and two touchdowns, kept them within reach all day. Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 69 yards while making his third straight start in place of the injured Doug Martin. Oakland had also lost cornerback Sean Smith to a shoulder injury on the second snap of the game.

How it ended

The Raiders put up 14 points in the third quarter to go in front, and the Buccaneers answered with 14 fourth-quarter points to retake the lead. Carr’s touchdown to Rivera tied it at 24 with 1:38 to play. Oakland still had a chance to win in regulation, but Sebastian Janikowski’s 50-yard field goal try at the final whistle missed. He missed again from 52 yards on the first possession of overtime, which at the time ran a full 15 minutes.

Tampa Bay could not take advantage. When Oakland got the ball back, Carr found Roberts for 41 yards and the walk-off score, the receiver’s third game-winning touchdown from Carr in two seasons. The Buccaneers fell to 3-4 and 0-3 at home.

Why it still matters

The game became a calling card for the 2016 Raiders, a young team that kept finding ways to win close games despite its flaws. It is also a standing lesson in why penalty totals alone rarely decide a game: what matters is when the flags come and whether an offense can climb out of the holes they dig. Oakland, on that afternoon in Tampa, climbed out of 23 of them.