Ten years ago this week, on Monday, November 21, 2016, the NFL went back to Mexico City for the first time in 11 years. The Oakland Raiders, 7-2 and coming off their bye, played a home game against the 6-3 Houston Texans at Estadio Azteca, more than 7,000 feet above sea level, in front of 76,473 people. Oakland was a 6.5-point favorite.
For three quarters the Raiders could barely move the ball. Then Derek Carr threw touchdown passes of 75 and 35 yards in the fourth quarter, the Texans were stopped twice on spots they insisted were wrong, and Oakland won 27-20. The league returns to the same stadium, now called Estadio Banorte, on Sunday, November 22, when the Vikings play the 49ers.
A touchdown taken away on the first drive
The arguments started on Houston’s opening possession. On third-and-7 from his own 40, Brock Osweiler threw a short pass to DeAndre Hopkins, who ran down the left sideline into the end zone. The line judge ruled that Hopkins had stepped out at the Oakland 36 after 24 yards and blew the play dead. Replays did not clearly show otherwise, and the league’s head of officiating, Dean Blandino, stood by the call afterward. The Texans drove to the 14 and settled for Nick Novak’s 32-yard field goal.
Oakland’s offense had 81 yards in the first half, slowed by a slippery grass field, dropped passes and Jadeveon Clowney. It still scored 10 points. Carr hit running back Jalen Richard for a 17-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, and on the kickoff that followed, Tyler Ervin muffed the catch and Taiwan Jones recovered at the Houston 19. The Raiders got to the 1 but no further, and Sebastian Janikowski kicked a 19-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.
Houston’s answer included another reversal. Lamar Miller ran 34 yards down the right side for what was called a touchdown, but the replay official found he had gone out of bounds at the 1. On the next snap, Osweiler’s pass was batted back to him by Denico Autry, and Osweiler caught it himself for a 6-yard loss. After a false start, he threw 12 yards to rookie Braxton Miller for the touchdown. It was 10-10, and it stayed that way at halftime after Malcolm Smith intercepted Osweiler and Khalil Mack sacked him on the last play of the half.
Lasers, a long drive and a 20-13 deficit
During the game, television cameras showed a green laser pointed from the stands at the field and at Osweiler’s face and helmet. “There was a couple times it definitely hit me in the eye and it was very noticeable,” Osweiler said afterward, calling it “disappointing” but not the reason Houston lost. “It was just one small factor, but it certainly affected how I was playing and able to see downfield and whatnot.” A league spokesman said during the game that stadium security was aware of it.
Carr’s first pass of the second half, a deep throw for Amari Cooper, was intercepted by A.J. Bouye at the Houston 35. The Texans then went 65 yards in 13 plays, helped by a pass interference penalty on D.J. Hayden that put the ball at the 1, and Lamar Miller scored to make it 17-10. Oakland reached the Houston 2 on its next drive and again kicked, a 20-yarder by Janikowski. Through three quarters the Raiders had 120 yards.
Houston opened the fourth quarter with a 12-play drive that ended in Novak’s 28-yard field goal and a 20-13 lead with 10:57 left. Osweiler finished the night 26 of 39 for 243 yards, and Lamar Miller ran 24 times for 104 yards.
75 yards on one play, then two spots
It took Oakland one snap to tie it. With Cooper lined up in the backfield, Carr faked a handoff and found fullback Jamize Olawale open down the right side, and Olawale ran the rest of the way for a 75-yard touchdown. “We felt like that was the momentum shifter,” Cooper said.
Houston drove right back, from its own 44 to the Oakland 16. On third-and-2, Lamar Miller ran left and was spotted short after a measurement. Bill O’Brien did not challenge, passed on a go-ahead field goal of about 33 yards and handed the ball to Akeem Hunt on fourth-and-1. Hunt was stopped at the 15 and measured short again. This time O’Brien challenged, and the ruling stood. Where officials place the ball after a runner is stopped is explained in our guide to forward progress.
“We went for it. Thought we had it. I thought it was clear that we had it,” O’Brien said. “They said the call on the field stands, so I don’t know.” He kept further criticism to himself: “I’m not going to stand here and get fined. I’m just a third-year coach. But with all these cameras and things we have and we can’t get that right?”
From his own 26, Carr threw a short pass to Latavius Murray, who took it 39 yards to the Houston 35. On the next play Cooper caught a short pass on the left side, got away from the defenders and ran 35 yards for the touchdown. Oakland led 27-20 with 4:43 left. Carr finished 21 of 31 for 295 yards, three touchdowns and an interception; more than 200 of the Raiders’ 327 yards came in the fourth quarter, and they ran for only 30 yards all night.
Del Rio goes for it, O’Brien punts
The Texans got one more possession and gave it back. Facing fourth-and-5 at their own 44 with 3:13 left and three timeouts, O’Brien punted. Houston never touched the ball again. Carr found Richard for 29 yards on second-and-7, and on fourth-and-1 at the Houston 39 with 1:04 left, Jack Del Rio kept his offense on the field. Murray ran for 6 yards, Vince Wilfork was flagged 14 yards for unnecessary roughness, and Carr knelt twice. Del Rio’s fourth-down habit was one of the stories of that season; how coaches weigh those calls is in our fourth-down guide.
“Raider Nation showed up tonight. Oh boy,” Del Rio said. “It was a great atmosphere to play in and tough environment to come down and play in the altitude and all that. I thought our guys handled themselves well.”
| Qtr | Time | Team | Scoring play | HOU-OAK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8:34 | HOU | Nick Novak 32-yard field goal | 3-0 |
| 2 | 14:54 | OAK | Jalen Richard 17-yard pass from Derek Carr (Sebastian Janikowski kick) | 3-7 |
| 2 | 12:48 | OAK | Janikowski 19-yard field goal, after a muffed kickoff | 3-10 |
| 2 | 7:59 | HOU | Braxton Miller 12-yard pass from Brock Osweiler (Novak kick) | 10-10 |
| 3 | 8:32 | HOU | Lamar Miller 1-yard run (Novak kick) | 17-10 |
| 3 | 2:39 | OAK | Janikowski 20-yard field goal | 17-13 |
| 4 | 10:57 | HOU | Novak 28-yard field goal | 20-13 |
| 4 | 10:44 | OAK | Jamize Olawale 75-yard pass from Carr (Janikowski kick) | 20-20 |
| 4 | 4:43 | OAK | Amari Cooper 35-yard pass from Carr (Janikowski kick) | 20-27 |
What came after
The win was Oakland’s fourth in a row, its first such streak since 2002, and moved it into sole possession of first place in the AFC West. The Raiders finished 12-4 and ended a 14-year playoff drought, but Carr broke his fibula in Week 16. With rookie Connor Cook making his first NFL start, they lost the wild-card rematch in Houston 27-14, with Osweiler back at quarterback for the Texans. It was the Oakland Raiders’ last playoff game before the move to Las Vegas.
The Mexico City game became an annual fixture. The Raiders came back a year later and lost 33-8 to New England, the 2018 game was moved to Los Angeles because of the condition of the field and became the Rams’ 54-51 win over the Chiefs, and after 2022 the league paused its Mexico City games while the stadium was renovated for this year’s World Cup. Its story fits into the league’s wider push abroad, traced in our international series timeline.
| Date | Game | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 2, 2005 | 49ers at Cardinals | Cardinals 31, 49ers 14 (crowd of 103,467) |
| Nov. 21, 2016 | Texans at Raiders | Raiders 27, Texans 20 |
| Nov. 19, 2017 | Patriots at Raiders | Patriots 33, Raiders 8 |
| Nov. 18, 2019 | Chiefs at Chargers | Chiefs 24, Chargers 17 |
| Nov. 21, 2022 | 49ers at Cardinals | 49ers 38, Cardinals 10 |
| Nov. 22, 2026 | Vikings vs. 49ers | Sunday night, Estadio Banorte |
Mexico City again next Sunday
The sixth regular-season game in Mexico City kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 22 (3:20 a.m. Monday in Cairo), the first Sunday night game played outside the United States. Minnesota is 7-2 after winning 30-10 in Green Bay on Sunday; San Francisco, the designated home team, was 7-1 going into its late game at Dallas. The 49ers played in the first Mexico City game in 2005 and won the most recent one. The week around the game, from the Barrio NFL fan house to a lucha libre night, is in our Mexico City game-week guide.
The two teams from that 2016 night play in Week 11 too: the Texans, 3-6 after Sunday’s 27-24 loss in Cleveland, host the Colts on Thursday night, and the Raiders, now in Las Vegas, visit Denver next Sunday. Spots and replay are still arguments ten years later, as Roger Goodell’s comments on officiating this week showed.
The scoring plays, clock times, drive details and player numbers above come from the official play-by-play and game data. The quotes are from postgame comments.
No published comments yet. Start the conversation.