Raiders top rival Broncos in possible final game in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It turned out to be more a celebration than a funeral.

Maybe.

Marshawn Lynch, Oakland's favorite son, who may or may not have already played his final NFL game, lit the Al Davis Torch to wild applause.

Doug Martin, who was born in Oakland, scored untouched on a 24-yard run before throwing up an "O" with his outstretched hands to the hometown crowd.

And the Oakland Raiders, who may or may not have played their final game in the Oakland Coliseum, gave their fans a thrill to last -- well, at least until a decision is made on where the Raiders will play home games in 2019 -- in a 27-14 defeat of the rival Denver Broncos on ESPN's Monday Night Football.

This much is known -- the Raiders (4-11) will be in Las Vegas in 2020, and the NFL wants to know where they plan to play next year by early February, at the latest.

So with so much uncertainty in the air -- and rain showers before the game that turned the field into a mud bog -- it was a sublime Christmas Eve in the Coliseum, the Raiders' home from 1966 through 1981 and again from 1995 through now, with a 13-season sojourn in Los Angeles in between.

The game began with a Christmas miracle of a play: Raiders punt returner Dwayne Harris got things going for the Raiders when he picked up a ball the Broncos tried to down at the 1-yard line. Harris bobbed and weaved his way through Denver's coverage team and went on to score on a 99-yard return, the second-longest punt return in NFL history, tied with Patrick Peterson's 99-yarder in 2011 and trailing only Robert Bailey's 103-yarder in 1994.

According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Harris ran 157.5 yards on his TD return, the longest distance covered by any ball carrier in the past three seasons.

The win also featured another efficient game by Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, whose understanding of Jon Gruden's offense continues to grow. Carr completed 19 of 26 passes for 167 yards, and his streak of consecutive passes without an interception reached 325; he hasn't been intercepted since Oct. 7.

Fans held up signs throughout the game, imploring the Raiders to stay for one last season.

But after the City of Oakland announced on Dec. 11 that it planned on filing a federal lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL over the team's move to Southern Nevada, the Raiders pulled their lease offer of $7.5 million to stay at the Coliseum off the table.

And while both sides have been at a stalemate since, the San Francisco Giants acknowledged last week that they were open to letting the Raiders play next season at their waterfront baseball stadium, AT&T Park.

San Diego has also been mentioned as a possible one-year home, as have Santa Clara; Reno, Nevada; and Glendale, Arizona.

Oakland city councilmember Rebecca Caplan posted on Twitter during Monday's game that the Raiders "don't need to make this [their] last game" at the Coliseum and that they have the option to play their final year in Oakland before moving to Vegas.

"Instead they are trying to play somewhere harder to access just to punish Oakland and their fans for challenging the NFL's wrongful relocation bribe system," Caplan tweeted.

Raiders owner Mark Davis has told ESPN.com that "all options are open" and has also said that he would not want to do business with an entity that is suing him.

On this night, though, it was about what happened on the field, at a stadium that remains the only one shared by both an NFL team and an MLB team. One that has played host to some of the more memorable games in NFL history, from the Heidi Game to the Sea of Hands, and one that saw unbelievable highs for the Raiders, from finally beating the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC title and claiming another conference title by beating the Tennessee Titans, to unbelievable lows, Carr breaking his leg two years to the day.

Gruden, who rushed to the Black Hole section of fans to celebrate after the game, said on Saturday he was holding out hope to return to the East Bay next year.

"If it is the last game, it will certainly be a sad day," he said.

"It's Christmas Eve and the end of the season, we have a lot to be thankful for. We haven't won many games, but the people that know this football team know what is going on inside here and know that there has been some really cool foundation that has been laid. I think the fans appreciate the effort and they know we appreciate them."

Carr, meanwhile, made a Cal Ripken-like circle of the entire Coliseum to slap hands with fans, who did not rush the field en masse. Rather, at least half a dozen individuals making runs on the field were taken down by security as fans danced on the dugouts to the sounds of Oakland rappers Too $hort and MC Hammer.