OAKLAND — Andre Holmes was being pushed aside by newcomers Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. Taiwan Jones was considered an afterthought on offense after spending the last two seasons trying to learn how to play cornerback.

Yet there were Holmes and Jones, turning in some of the most explosive plays of the day Sunday in the Raiders’ 34-20 win over the New York Jets at O.co Coliseum.

Holmes caught a 5-yard fade from quarterback Derek Carr for the Raiders’ first touchdown and later caught a 49-yard strike on a go-route from Carr as the Raiders went up 21-3.

In the third quarter, Jones caught a simple dump-off from Carr and raced 59 yards down the right sideline for his first career touchdown.

“We’ve got a lot of depth on this team, a lot of players that are capable of making plays at any time,” Jones said. “You see Andre, every time he goes out there, he makes plays.”

Holmes led the Raiders with 693 receiving yards last season, but in most games this season has been on the field for 15 snaps or less. He had nine last week in a 37-29 win over San Diego.

Instead of sulking, Holmes has filled in on special teams — he assumed Jones’ role as a gunner when Jones missed two games with a foot injury — and has concentrated on making the most of his chances.

“I was happy to get the opportunities and happy I made plays out of those opportunities,” Holmes said. “The first one was a fade, a play we work on. No one got a hand on me, and D.C. know where to put it.”

Holmes wasn’t the primary receiver on the second score but said, “It was a go-route, and I knew D.C. has a lot of confidence in me on that route.”

On his touchdown, Jones said he initially thought of turning the ball back inside but then had second thoughts.

“Part of me thought, ‘Cut it back,’ but I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go,’ ” Jones said. “Once I hit that gear, I was gone.”

Carr played with Holmes last season enough to carry over some chemistry and was thrilled to see Jones break free and show the speed he demonstrates daily in practice.

“I’ve thrown (Andre) a ton of passes. I know where he likes the football,” Carr said. “(Taiwan), as soon as I saw no one bounce back there, there’s no one catching him.”

The Jets lost starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a thumb injury on the first drive of the game when he was tackled after scrambling for 12 yards. Jets coach Todd Bowles said he has torn ligaments in his left thumb and will have an MRI on Monday. That led to Geno Smith making his season debut. The team’s starter entering the year, he suffered a broken jaw in the preseason when he was punched by former teammate IK Enemkpali. Smith was briefly knocked out of Sunday’s game as well in the final minute after taking a big hit from Ray-Ray Armstrong, which forced Fitzpatrick to return for two plays of emergency duty. The Raiders said the quarterback shifting didn’t affect them. “They’re both similar,” defensive end Khalil Mack said. “We knew Fitzpatrick probably had a little bit of a stronger arm, but we knew we needed to cover the same way and cover (Brandon Marshall).” Marshall had nine catches for 108 yards, but that came on 18 targets. Smith threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. Both of Smith’s touchdowns came after the Raiders took a 28-6 lead after the first drive of the third quarter. New York pulled within 14 points with 8:37 to play and got the ball three more times, but the Raiders showed a better finishing touch than last week to maintain the lead. “I think we did a really good job finishing against a really good football team,” coach Jack Del Rio said. Mack appreciated the immediate second chance to close out a game after taking a big lead. “We wanted to learn from our mistakes last week,” Mack said. “That was the focal point throughout the whole defense. We can’t let them get back in this game.”

The Raiders have taken leads of 15-plus points into halftime the past two weeks, the first time they’ve done that since 1991.

Carr became the first Raider since Kerry Collins in 2004 to throw at least three touchdown passes in back-to-back weeks. He has completed 70.1 percent (47 of 67) the past two weeks for 622 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions and been sacked just once.

Charles Woodson’s interception was the 65th of his career, tying him with Ken Riley for fifth place on the all-time list.