Kenny Pickett led the Pittsburgh Steelers on a come-from-behind scoring drive in the final minute to beat the Las Vegas Raiders, 13-10.
Pickett took the ball with 2:55 to play and drove 76 yards to pay dirt, hitting fellow rookie George Pickens on a 14-yard touchdown to put the Steelers ahead for the first time in the game with 46 seconds left to play.
Cam Sutton intercepted Derek Carr on the Raiders final possession. Connor Heyward ran for a first down to secure the win.
The Steelers improved to 7-8 with the win and remained eligible in the AFC playoff picture. They need one of the Los Angeles Chargers or Miami Dolphins to lose later this weekend in order to stay in the hunt.
The Raiders started the game strong and drove down the field on the opening drive of the game, with Carr converting on multiple long third down to lead the Raiders on a 72-yard scoring drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow.
After that? The Pittsburgh defense took over. On the ensuing eight possessions, Las Vegas got into field goal range just once, Carr threw two interceptions, and the Raiders punted five times.
Cam Heyward was a one-man wrecking crew in the middle of that defense. He had seven tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries and knocked down a pass on a third down.
Minkah Fitzpatrick and Arthur Maulet had the interceptions, both coming on passed that were tipped by their intended receivers.
The Steelers offense struggled to get much going at all throughout the game. Najee Harris was held to 53 yards on 16 carries. To make matters worse, Chris Boswell missed field goals from 44 and 52 yards.
Until the last drive, it wasn’t looking like a good night for Pickett, either, who missed some open receivers and threw his first interception in six games, snapping a 145-pass streak.
But he came through in the clutch on the final drive and ended up with a solid statistical line, completing 26 of 39 for 244 yards, one touchdown and one interception and an 81.6 passer rating.
The Steelers will go back on the road for Week 17, with a New Year’s Day visit to the Baltimore Ravens on tap for next Sunday.