Las Vegas Raiders rookie Jackson Powers-Johnson appears to be the team’s starting center of the future. However, he’s making some critical errors early in his career.
With less than a minute left in the Raiders’ Week 13 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the rookie second-round pick snapped the ball too early when the offense was in field goal range, which led to Aidan O’Connell fumbling. The Chiefs recovered, ran out the clock and won 19-17.
It was an avoidable mistake for a team that is now on an eight-game losing streak and Powers-Johnson was clearly not happy at the end of the game. He made sure to take the blame for the loss.
“We didn’t come up short; I came up short … [expletive]’s on me,” Powers-Johnson said after the game, via ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
Kicker Daniel Carlson missed three field goals in the game so there was no guarantee he was going to hit the game-winner. That said, this would’ve been a closer attempt than the ones he missed as the Raiders were at the Kansas City 32-yard line. Powers-Johnson has shown some really good flashes this season but he’ll have to cut back on the pivotal mistakes if he hopes to be the starting center for a long time.
Aidan O’Connell Takes Blame for Play
While Powers-Johnson wants to be accountable for the botched play that caused the loss, O’Connell believes it was actually his fault that the center snapped the ball.
“It was completely my fault,” O’Connell said of the play in his postgame press conference. “I was looking out to the right to make sure guys were set and I started clapping … when I start clapping, that signals Jackson to basically snap the ball.”
This was the first time that O’Connell played with Powers-Johnson at center this season so the two haven’t had much of a chance to build a rapport. It’s possible that there were simply multiple parties at fault for the botched snap. Regardless, the Raiders lost and that’s all that matters in the end.
Antonio Pierce Is Still Proud of Team
Despite the loss, the Raiders were a few plays away from being only the second team to beat the back-to-back Super Bowl champions and the first to beat them on their home field this season. Las Vegas isn’t going to the playoffs but a win in this spot would’ve certainly helped Antonio Pierce’s chances of keeping the head coaching job next season.
He’s still proud of the team despite the outcome.
“I am proud of my team,” Pierce said in his postgame press conference. “We came up short again. The record is what it is, but this team is prideful. … I don’t know what to keep saying after losses.”
The Raiders drop to 2-10 and are tied for the worst record in the NFL. Pierce is going to be on the hot seat the rest of the way, especially if Las Vegas keeps losing games due to mistakes and sloppy play. While things have gone from bad to worse this season, the Raiders proved that they can still compete with the NFL’s top teams if they get out of their own way.
