Welp, that’s it for this season. It was a good run, but the Las Vegas Raiders just didn’t have enough magic left in the tank to get through to the next round of the playoffs.
Mistakes ultimately do the Raiders in…
This just in, we have several breaking news headlines today.
Water: Wet
Sky: Blue
Raiders Shoot Themselves in the Foot Repeatedly.
It was honestly fitting. The Raiders had managed to somehow sneak into the playoffs despite committing an avalanche of mental mistakes this season, both on and off the field. It makes sense that it finally came back to haunt them in the postseason.
This game featured all the greatest hits. We saw several drops in crucial situations. Then, there were the classic drive-killing false starts, coupled with three holding penalties on one drive. Also, we had a double-feature in this week’s edition of Raiders Players Do Inexplicable, Dumb and Costly Things. First, we saw Peyton Barber decide to catch a kickoff just before it bounced out of bounds for a penalty that would have given the Raiders excellent field position and then step out with the ball himself at the freaking two-yard line. That was about a 38-yard swing in field position.
Later on in the game, Greg Olson dialed up the most perfectly timed screen for a huge gain. Of course, it came back because of an Alex Leatherwood penalty. Instead of reaching into his usual bag of mistakes like holding or jumping offsides, Leatherwood decided to run ten yards down the field before the ball was even thrown. These mistakes are the biggest reason why the Raiders will be watching the rest of the postseason at home.
Should Mayock and Bisaccia return?
I’m still not sure how I feel about whether or not the Raiders should retain guys like Mike Mayock and Rich Bisaccia. However, if Mark Davis does decide to clean house, these mistakes would be the best justification for doing so. Good coaches do not let the same mistakes perpetuate all season long. This is especially true when it’s the same players over and over again. This is also where Mayock shoulders a lot of the blame. His revamped offensive line, headlined by a first-round pick widely considered to be a reach, has been a disaster.
Finally, the Raiders were hurt this year by several off-field issues. That can be attributed to Mayock’s inability to properly vet players. Good organizations that have sustained success do not constantly self-sabotage the way the Raiders do.
Awful Officiating
While the Raiders certainly didn’t help themselves, the officiating crew didn’t do them any favors either. Both of Cincinnati’s touchdowns had questionable calls. The first touchdown pass appeared to be dropped. The second one should have been replayed due to an erroneous whistle. If either one was called back and the Raiders got a stop, the game could have gone drastically different.
There were several other calls both ways that seemed ticky-tacky, as well as some bad no-calls. I’ve never seen a game where the officials had so many lengthy discussions about what are normally routine situations.
I think a big part of it was that crew not having experience working together. The NFL tries to use hybrid crews in the postseason in order to get the best officials. Unfortunately, it seems to have backfired. Funny enough, as I’m writing this, the news has just broken that the crew from this game will not work again for the remainder of the postseason.
The Raiders fought to the end
After a disastrous start to the game, things could have easily snowballed into a blowout loss for the Raiders. I think that it is safe to say that the teams of the last two years would have folded. I think that’s what Derek Carr meant when he said this team was “different.” Despite all the mistakes and bad calls, the Raiders kept scrapping. Eventually, they found themselves a play away from going to overtime.
The way this team has fought through adversity all year is the biggest reason to keep Bisaccia. Not many coaches would have been able to keep the team together and keep the team focused on the task at hand like that. Bisaccia has clearly won over the locker room. Ousting him in favor of a more proven coach might do more damage to the culture that has been built than it’s worth.
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*Top Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
