The Las Vegas Raiders had a golden opportunity to beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday, but mistakes got the better of them in the end. With less than a minute left in the fourth quarter, the team drove down to field goal range.
Head coach Antonio Pierce elected to run a play on third down instead of kicking the field goal. Center Jackson Powers-Johnson ended up snapping the ball too early, which led to quarterback Aidan O’Connell fumbling the snap and the Chiefs recovered.
They subsequently ran down the clock and Kansas City won. The Raiders had many opportunities to win this game, but they squandered them. In fact, they did something in this loss that hasn’t been done in at least 24 years. According to the Associated Press’s Josh Dubow, the Raiders were the first “team since at least 2000 to turn it over in final 30 seconds when in FG range (35 or closer) and trailing by 1 or 2 points.”
This stat only goes back to 2000 so it’s possible that a team has never turned the ball over in this situation. This certainly isn’t the kind of history the Raiders were hoping to make against their archrival. Kicker Daniel Carlson had missed three field goals prior to that final drive so there’s no guarantee the Raiders would’ve won but they essentially handed the game away in the end.
Antonio Pierce Could Be in Trouble
While Carlson and Powers-Johnson will likely get much of the blame, this wasn’t a great game for Pierce. On the Raiders’ second-to-last drive, the team reached a fourth down at the Chiefs’ 40-yard line.
Originally, Pierce sent out punter A.J. Cole but changed his mind. He then used one of the team’s timeouts so that he could instead send Carlson out there for a long field goal attempt despite having two prior misses.
Carlson missed the field and Pierce was almost bailed out in the end. However, the lack of an extra timeout loomed large as the Raiders may have been able to use that to get organized before the play that ultimately cost them the game.
Raiders in Dead Heat Heat for No. 1 Pick
The only silver lining for the Raiders in the loss is that they’re still in the mix to get the No. 1 pick. According to Tankathon, the team is tied with the New York Giants for the top pick. They have the same strength of schedule and the same record.
Even if both teams lose the rest of their games, it’s impossible to know who will have the No. 1 pick right now but the Raiders are at least in the conversation. The Giants also need a quarterback so leap-frogging them would be huge.
While Las Vegas would’ve loved a win over the defending Super Bowl champions during the holiday weekend, a loss is better for the team in the long run. O’Connell played well in the loss but he’s not a long-term option at quarterback. If the Raiders are able to get the No. 1 pick, it’s very likely that they’ll take a quarterback. It just remains to be seen which one they might prefer.
