PITTSBURGH — The Raiders had no answer for Antonio Brown, and that offset an inspired offensive performance in a 38-35 loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Oakland (4-4) allowed a franchise-record 597 yards to the Steelers (5-4), and Brown caught 17 passes for 284 yards, including a 57-yard catch-and-run in the final minute to set up Chris Boswell’s winning 18-yard field goal with two seconds left.

That spoiled a valiant comeback by the Raiders, who roared back to life after falling behind by two touchdowns.

“I think we let the team down,” safety Charles Woodson said of the Raiders’ defense. “When your offense is able to put up the amount of points they did today, we were the weak link. That’s tough when you’re not carrying your weight.”

The Raiders came into the game occupying the AFC’s top wild-card playoff spot but now hit the halfway point looking up from the No. 8 spot in the conference. It was their first loss in three games.

Derek Carr passed for 301 yards and threw four touchdown passes for the second straight week, the first Raiders quarterback to do so in 41 years.

Carr connected with Michael Crabtree for a 38-yard touchdown with 1:15 to go that had him thinking overtime, but a Raiders defense that was torched most of the game couldn’t stop the Steelers, even with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger carted off the field with a left foot injury.

“We had a great opportunity, but we let them pop a little screen there,” Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said. “They did a good job executing the play and got themselves in position to kick the winner.”

Landry Jones was forced into the game after Roethlisberger was injured in the fourth quarter while being sacked by Aldon Smith, the only sack of the game by either team.

On the game’s biggest play, Brown cut in to catch a short pass, and Martavis Bryant’s route helped set a screen that took David Amerson and DJ Hayden out of the play. By the time Woodson could catch Brown, Pittsburgh had the ball at the 15-yard line and kicked the game-winner three plays later.

It was another game effort on the road for the Raiders, who brought an 11-game road losing streak into this season and had lost 16 straight in the Eastern time zone before winning at Cleveland on Sept. 27. The Raiders are 2-2 away from Oakland this year, with both losses coming on last-second field goals.

“It hurts to be so close,” Carr said. “It really does. We have a great group of guys, not just on offense. This team is a very resilient bunch. Things started to fall apart, and we just kept fighting. That’s good to see.”

The one play Carr would’ve liked to have back came with Oakland down 35-28 with 4:31 remaining. The Raiders had overcome a quick 14-point blitz by Pittsburgh, which scored twice in 53 seconds thanks to a Taiwan Jones fumble on a kickoff return that set up the second score.

Oakland’s initial response came with an explosive four-play drive, capped by a Jamize Olawale 19-yard touchdown run. The Raiders got the ball back, and their offense sputtered before catching a break. Brown, returning his first punt of the game, fumbled and Ray-Ray Armstrong jumped on it at the Steelers’ 39.

The Raiders got down to the 11-yard line and on third down, Carr tried to hit Clive Walford in the end zone. But Pittsburgh’s Ross Cockrell jumped in front of the pass for the interception.

“They gave us a look that we liked,” Carr said. “I tried to throw it in the spot for our guy to make a play. Their guy made the play.”

The Raiders’ hopes remained alive when an offensive pass interference call negated a Steelers’ third-down conversion and Pittsburgh had to punt with 2:22 to play.

Carr, with Oakland starting at its own 31, quickly hit Amari Cooper for 9 yards, then found Mychal Rivera for 8 yards on third down.

Carr converted another third down when he found Crabtree for 14 yards, and one play later, it was Carr to Crabtree up the middle of the field for the 38-yard tying touchdown.

But the Raiders defense couldn’t get the stop it needed. DeAngelo Williams, starting in place of the injured Le’Veon Bell, rushed for 19 yards on first down, although a holding penalty brought most of it back. Jones picked up 5 yards on a pass to Heath Miller, then threw incomplete on a deep shot to Bryant. The big play to Brown converted a third-and-2 and delivered the heartbreaking loss to Oakland.

“We’re doing a lot of good things,” Del Rio said of the comeback that fell short. “We’ll stick together. At the end of the day, we didn’t make plays when we had the opportunity to win the game.”

For more on the Raiders, visit the Inside the Oakland Raiders blog at ibabuzz.com/oaklandraiders. Follow Jimmy Durkin on Twitter at Twitter.com/Jimmy_Durkin.