Down eight with 2:22 seconds to go, Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels went for three.<\/p>\n
Not long after, the Raiders lost to the Pittsburgh Steeler by five, 23-18, and the math added up to a 1-2 start to the Silver and Black’s season.<\/p>\n
It was a confounding decision — even more so considering McDaniels made the choice to go for a field goal twice<\/em> on his team’s penultimate possession. He stood by his call, however.<\/p>\n “You have two choices there,” McDaniels said. “You try to make it a five-point game where you have an opportunity to win it with a touchdown if you get the ball back. Or you try to go for it there, and if you happen to convert you have to make the two-point conversion, all the rest of it. So, those are the decisions you’ve got to make. I thought we did a decent job putting ourselves in third down there the next series with the defense to try to have a play to get off the field, and we just didn’t handle that play very well.”<\/p>\n As it played out, Daniel Carlson\ufeff’s 26-yard field goal trimmed the Raiders’ deficit to the final score with 2:22 to play. However, while McDaniels’ decision cut the deficit, it also cut the Raiders’ win probability by 5.4%, per Next Gen Stats. Had Las Vegas rolled the dice on fourth down, its win probability was 13.9% in comparison to 8.5% kicking a field goal. Odds are big in Vegas, but McDaniels didn’t see it that way.<\/p>\n Asked if bringing on Carlson was an indictment of his confidence in the office, McDaniels replied, “No. No.”<\/p>\n Asked to explain, things got a bit more muddled.<\/p>\n \u00a0“You’re going to need another possession anyway; you know what I mean?” McDaniels said. “So, it’s not a lack of confidence. We went for it multiple times.”<\/p>\n McDaniels went for it twice on fourth down and the Raiders were 1 for 2 in the game. This time out, he didn’t go for it, because, per his explanation, he needed two possessions to win it.<\/p>\n Had the Raiders scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion, yes, they would’ve needed another possession to win it. But overtime obviously would’ve sufficed. Had they scored six and failed on a two-point attempt, they would’ve needed to get the ball back for a chance to score a game-winner — just as was a given to happen with a field goal. And had they failed going for it on fourth, they would’ve been in a similar situation of needing to get the ball back in an attempt to tie it with the same eight-point deficiency.<\/p>\n The odds weren’t great for the Raiders, but a field goal attempt was puzzling in the category of conventional wisdom. All the more so when adding the offense’s turnaround after sputtering through the first three quarters.<\/p>\n Trailing, 23-7, in the fourth quarter with 11:32 remaining, the Raiders made a game out of it when \ufeffJimmy Garoppolo\ufeff connected with \ufeffDavante Adams\ufeff for a 1-yard touchdown and then hit \ufeffMichael Mayer\ufeff on the ensuing two-point conversion.<\/p>\n Las Vegas’ defense subsequently forced a second straight three-and-out and the Raiders offense was back at it. Stalled at the Pittsburgh 29-yard line, McDaniels elected to go for a 48-yard Carlson field goal with 3:11 to go. The choice seemed stunning at the time, but it made no matter as the Raiders received renewed hope when Pittsburgh was flagged for leverage on the FG attempt.<\/p>\n With a fresh new set of downs, Garoppolo and Co. gained just six yards to set up fourth-and-4 from the Pittsburgh 8.<\/p>\n Carlson trotted back out, did his job and left the Raider Nation scratching its collective spiked helmet.<\/p>\n The Raiders’ last gasp came with possession from their 15-yard line with 12 seconds to go after the Steelers were able to get a first down before a marvelous \ufeffPressley Harvin III\ufeff punt.<\/p>\n Las Vegas’ faintest of final hopes were officially dashed when Garoppolo threw an interception.<\/p>\n Carlson’s field goal stood as the game’s final score, the Raiders having brought three points to an eight-point fight.<\/p>\n Related Links <\/span> <\/h2>\n
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