New Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels was on the sideline as Derek Carr hit Davante Adams for what seemed to be a game-tying touchdown with 4:27 remaining in the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night.
With Vegas down 30-23, Carr threw an absolute dime to Adams, who had caught a touchdown earlier in the game. It set up a game-tying extra-point attempt from Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson. Or not.
Seemingly watching something different than everyone else, McDaniels opted to go for two and the lead. In the midst of a big game, running back Josh Jacobs was stuffed to help Kansas City preserve a 30-29 lead.
Analytics might have told McDaniels that it made sense to go for it given that the Chiefs had scored on five consecutive possessions to overcome a 17-0 first-half deficit.
Even then, it just didn’t make any sense on McDaniels’ part. Either way, Vegas was going to have to stop Kansas City to get the ball back before the end of regulation.
Shockingly, that’s what the Raiders defense did. They held Kansas City to a punt and got the ball back to Derek Carr and Co. with roughly 2:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. Would the Raiders be able to overcome the bad decision Josh McDaniels made?
Nope. Vegas seemingly found itself in field goal range when Carr hit Adams for a 16-yard gain on third-and-1 with under a minute remaining in the fourth quarter. Officials on hand overturned the call on the field, indicating that Adams didn’t have control before going out of bounds. It was an actual good call in this otherwise dumpster fire of a performance from the zebras in Missouri.
On the very next play, Adams and Hunter Renfrow collided on their routes as Carr overthrew both wide receivers. That was all she wrote with the Raiders dropping this game by the score of 30-29.
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By virtue of going for two, the Raiders lost this game by one point. We can look at Vegas’ defense stopping the Chiefs’ high-octane offense and getting it back for a chance to win the game. We can talk about the analytics all we want.
But when you have a chance to tie the game at that point in the fourth quarter, you simply have to do it. McDaniels went against the grain, and it led to the Raiders falling to 1-4 on the campaign.