EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The game appeared all but over and the Raiders were about to lose to the lowly Jets.

Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr and his teammates refused to be embarrassed.

Carr threw a perfectly placed 46-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III with five seconds left, lifting the Raiders to a wild 31-28 victory over the winless Jets on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

“Once I looked back, it felt like the ball was in the air forever, like it couldn’t come down,” Ruggs said. “I just had to find it and make the play.”

The Jets took a 28-24 lead with five minutes, 34 seconds remaining on Ty Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown and the defense came up with a big fourth-down stop that appeared to put the Jets (0-12) on track to end their season-long losing streak.

But the offense went three-and-out with a chance to seal the game, leaving Carr and the Raiders 35 seconds to try to come back. Four plays later, the Jets blitzed Carr, who found Ruggs streaking downfield after beating rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson.

“I couldn’t believe they all-out blitzed us,” Carr said. “As soon as I saw it, I was thankful.”

It set off a wild celebration for the Raiders (7-5).

“It didn’t feel real to me,” said tight end Darren Waller, who had two touchdown catches. “I didn’t know what was going on. I sprinted full speed to Henry.”

Meanwhile, the deflated Jets could only imagine what could — and maybe should — have been.

“Our players work way too hard to go through this,” Jets Coach Adam Gase said, using an expletive at the end of his sentence.

After a squib kick by Las Vegas, the Jets had one final chance but Sam Darnold’s Hail Mary throw was batted down in front of the end zone.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Johnson, who ran for a career-high 104 yards and a touchdown.

Carr threw for 381 yards and three touchdown passes, and ran for another score. Waller had 13 catches for 200 yards, becoming the 12th tight end since the 1970 N.F.L.-A.F.L. merger with 150 or more yards receiving and two or more touchdown catches in a game.

The Raiders’ Clelin Ferrell had two strip-sacks in his return from the Covid-19 list as Las Vegas bounced back from a blowout loss to Atlanta last week to stay in the middle of the A.F.C. playoff hunt.

Barely.

“It was so hard to really enjoy it because the game was so much a sway of emotions the whole game,” Ferrell said. “I know the Raiders fans were really, really trippin’ the whole game. Up and down, up and down — it was crazy.”

On the drive before the winning possession, it appeared the Raiders had the go-ahead touchdown on fourth down when Hunter Renfrow caught a pass in the end zone — but the teams had offsetting penalties. Given one more chance, Carr’s pass to Nelson Agholor fell just short in the end zone and the Jets’ defense raced off the field, arms raised in celebration.

But it was only momentary.

The Jets lost their 12th consecutive game and tied the franchise mark for the longest losing streak, which spanned the 1995 and 1996 seasons under Coach Rich Kotite. The Jets remain on pace to join the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2017 Cleveland Browns as the only N.F.L. teams to go 0-16.

“We should’ve won,” said Darnold, who had two lost fumbles and an interception.

Darnold ran it in from 4 yards to cap a run-heavy 96-yard touchdown drive that began the Jets’ fourth-quarter comeback. A pass-interference penalty gave the Jets another chance at a 2-point conversion, and Darnold threw to Denzel Mims to get the Jets within 24-21 with 10:22 left.

The Jets got the ball back three plays later when Javelin Guidry forced the ball out of Ruggs’s hands after a 12-yard catch and Marcus Maye recovered the fumble.

The Jets took advantage with an 18-yard catch by Griffin sandwiched by a few runs — and a personal foul penalty on Ferrell — to put the ball at the Raiders’ 1-yard line. Johnson pushed his way up the middle for the go-ahead score with 5:34 left.

In the loss, Darnold threw his first touchdown pass since Week 3, having had two separate two-game stints on the sideline with shoulder injuries. He capped an opening 12-play, 74-yard drive with a 3-yard touchdown toss to Jamison Crowder. He also had his first game with at least two touchdown passes since Dec. 12, 2019, against Baltimore.

The Jets will face Seattle on the road next Sunday, while Las Vegas hosts the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.