OAKLAND, Calif. -- About 30 minutes after Thursday night's game had ended and the longest active losing streak in the NFL was snapped, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr -- still in his full uniform, pads and all -- made his way around the locker room slapping his teammates on the back and exchanging high-fives.
The rookie had just engineered a fourth-quarter comeback that catapulted the Raiders to a 24-20 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and he wanted to soak it in for just a few moments more.
"Amazing," Carr said with a grin. "Hopefully there's many more to come, because I like this feeling better than the other one, that's for sure."
Carr had not tasted victory since Dec. 7, 2013, when he led Fresno State to a 24-17 win over Utah State in the Mountain West Conference championship game. He had suffered through 11 consecutive losses -- one with the Bulldogs in the Las Vegas Bowl and 10 with the Raiders -- before leading Oakland on a monumental game-winning drive.
The Raiders had squandered all of a 14-0 lead and trailed 20-17 after Cairo Santos' 25-yard field goal gave the Chiefs their first lead of the game.
After Darren McFadden bobbled the ensuing kickoff in the end zone and kneeled down for a touchback, Oakland got the ball at its own 20 yard line with 9:03 left to play.
Fullback Marcel Reece got the ball on the first four plays of the drive and provided just enough of a balance to keep Kansas City's defense honest. He carried seven times for 34 yards and added an 8-yard catch on the final drive.
Carr did the rest and took a gigantic leap forward in his learning process.
He danced around in the pocket long enough to find Brice Butler for an 11-yard reception on second-and-12 and then gained the first down on a quarterback sneak. He later found tight end Mychal Rivera for 8 yards on a third-and-6 play and drew a defensive pass interference penalty against the Chiefs three plays after that.
Another quarterback sneak by Carr later in the drive netted another first down, and on the following play, the Oakland quarterback found wide receiver James Jones in the end zone for a 9-yard score.
It's the sixth touchdown the Carr-led offense has scored in the final two minutes of games this season. The difference? The others came in what is fondly referred to as garbage time -- when games are well out of hand and the losing team scores late, meaningless points.
This one sent the crowd of 52,865 at O.co Coliseum into a frenzy.
"To go 17 plays on the winning drive, that's impressive, man," Raiders defensive end Justin Tuck said."That lets you know a little bit of the moxie of No. 4."
Several Oakland offensive linemen praised Carr's poise on the game-winning drive. Defensive lineman Antonio Smith, who had lost 24 consecutive games dating to his days with the Houston Texans last year, called it inspiring.
"Because to be perfectly honest, we had hit a dead point," Smith said."Not as far as the play. The energy like it was in the first half wasn't there. The energy that the offense gave us in the last drive just fueled us for that last drive."
For Carr, it was a long time coming and a moment he wanted to relish.
The man many are already calling the franchise quarterback smiled and pumped his arms high in the air after his game-winning throw, kept that same smile on his face as he congratulated his teammates in the locker room and was still beaming when speaking with reporters.
"Absolutely. I know how much effort, how much fight, how much toughness physically, mentally, spiritually that this game has taken a toll on us this year," Carr said."I know how hard it is. It made my day to see those guys celebrating."