NASHVILLE — Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. The weather. The ambiance. The performance of both teams. All ugly.

Yet it turned out pretty for the Raiders. A rose that grew from concrete. Having lost three straight, even these wins are gorgeous. When your playoff hopes are on life support, there is beauty in staying alive.

Quick thoughts from Nissan stadium:

Derek Carr was as impressive as he was frustrating. Overall, his ability to capitalize at the end makes this a good performance by him. Quarterbacks are judged by wins, and he pulled it out. But he needed a couple bailouts from the Tennessee defense to avoid being the goat. Carr made some questionable throws, none more than a 4th down decision he made late in the game. The Raiders were down to their last play, trailing by four. Carr throws a relative jump ball into traffic, his one receiver surrounded by three Titans. It fell incomplete. The game was over. Except, the Titans were called for holding on the other side of the field. Whew. Carr rebounded with two great throws: one to Seth Roberts sitting down on the zone, and the other a perfectly placed post to Roberts for the game-winning touchdown. Carr made some great throws Sunday. He also made some head-scratching mistakes. His inconsistency was a big reason this Raiders game was a nailbiter. Good take-away: he isn’t afraid to make tough throws. Even if he pays for them. That’s something you can work with.

The Raiders had a harder time than they should have against a Titans squad that doesn’t pose much of a threat. Which means, 11 games in, the Raiders are still not clicking on all cylinders. The sloppy performance by the visitors nearly led to a fourth straight loss. If not for Tennessee doing all it can to lose, this season would be done for the Raiders. For that lack of refinement, we’ve got to look towards the coaching staff. Jack Del Rio has turned this thing around, for sure, but the next step is getting this machine running smoothly. Some weeks, the defense looks bush league. Some weeks, the offense looks surprisingly impotent. Some weeks the coaching staff is ultra conservative. It seems each time out, something with the Raiders is out of sync. This is all part of the growing process, for sure. But the challenge is on Del Rio to tighten this ship. It may be too much to expect the Raiders to be that advanced at this stage, and still needing more talent. But it’s hard not to imagine where they’d be if they were running like a well-oiled machine.

After the performance by David Amerson on Sunday, one obvious question jumps out: What took them so long to bench D.J. Hayden??? Amerson was spectacular on Sunday. To the point it behooved Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota not to even throw to his side.

And when did Roberts become the go-to receiver?