Question: What do you do if you find yourself down eight points on your opponent’s ten-yard line with 2:31 remaining in the game, fourth down, and four yards to go? Would you go for it, or would you do what Las Vegas Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels did?
The #Raiders are the only NFL team to attempt a FG in the last 3:00 of the 4th quarter when down by exactly 8 points with less than 5 yards to go for a first down/TD – since the 2-point conversion was adopted in 1994.
(via @OptaSTATS) https://t.co/0GVkEBzCMe pic.twitter.com/5G4OPldt79
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 25, 2023
Raiders fans, which decision was worse?
McDaniels provided an NFL first on Sunday Night Football in a primetime game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the first time since the two-point conversion rule was adopted in 1994, a team trailing by eight with under three minutes remaining in the game opted to kick a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown and getting a game-tying 2-point conversion.
This decision has never been made before; not in 29 years.
It’s Week 4, and McDaniels and the Raiders travel to Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles for a showdown with the hated rival Chargers. What is sure to entice a hold-my-beer competition centers around who can commit the most fireable offenses and keep their job.
Raiders coach Josh McDaniels overtook Chicago’s Matt Eberflus as the 2-1 favorite to be the first NFL coach fired this season at BetOnline, an offshore sportsbook https://t.co/Y0d6JAkj3g pic.twitter.com/j4EThofW3i
— Las Vegas Review-Journal (@reviewjournal) September 26, 2023
Last week, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley was up four points with 1:51 on the clock from his own 24-yard line, and this analytical mastermind went for it. Unsuccessfully, might I add? Giving the Minnesota Vikings an extremely generous assortment of great field positions and plenty of time.
What Do You Do If You’re Mark Davis? Clean House Or Sit Tight?
Def Con 4: Black Alert
There’s an age-old saying, “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” There is a lot of smoke coming from the Raiders. Things are not right with the offense, none more so than an inability to score the football. The Miami Dolphins scored 70 points against the Denver Broncos, the same team the Raiders struggled to beat by a point.
Prior to the 11-point 4th quarter, the offense had scored 17, 10, and seven points in succession over the course of the first three weeks of the season. McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler ran Derek Carr out of town after offering a couple of million dollars for an out-clause in his contract. Then the duo signed “their guy, Jimmy Garoppolo.”
Garoppolo knows the offense, and the team loves him. That’s fair, but against the Steelers, he threw 44 passes, 32 of which went to Davante Adams or Jakobi Meyers. In the first two games of the season, former 100-reception, 1,000+ yard receiver, and Pro Bowler Hunter Renfrow saw only one target. Why is he not scanning the field and finding the open guys? It’s almost as if his throws are predetermined.
Josh Jacobs had a nine-carry, negative two-yard rushing day against the Buffalo Bills defense in Week 2. Rust may play a huge factor in some of the early-season sluggishness, but Jacobs did start to get into a groove and hit some much more effective runs as the game progressed.
Eisen Calm Amid Raiders’ Woes; Orlovsky’s Critique of McDaniels
What is the bigger picture for the Raiders?
Without Tom Brady manning his offense, Josh McDaniels isn’t getting the execution he needs from the quarterback position. Embarrassment is becoming a regular moniker, embodying the Raiders’ young 2023 season — from an embarrassing loss to the Bills to an embarrassing decision to essentially set the defense up to fail due to a lack of faith in the offense.
Any professional football coach, let alone an ‘offensive genius’, would have to play to get a guaranteed 4-5 yards inside an opponent’s 10-yard line in a one-score game. A loser’s mentality is essentially conceding the game without opting for the higher percentage path of success. Never mind doubling down on one foolish decision with an even worse explanation.
“Of course. I mean, you have two choices there. You try and 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 them if you happen to convert, then you have to make the two-point conversion and all of the rest of it…I thought we did a decent job of 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.” -Josh McDaniels
Let’s look at the facts, folks…
First and foremost, this is partially correct and if this is his attention to detail prowess, it would explain a lot.
- The fact that his first thought is about making it a five-point game and not a tie game is a problem.
- If is a very operative word, and Josh McDaniels doesn’t use it in the affirmative sense. Only one outcome had the greatest potential to extend play within his control, and he chose not to do it.
- The defense gave up a first down, yet still managed to get off the field without surrendering points. Throwing your defense under the bus after committing three turnovers on offense isn’t a good look dude.
- Sidenote: McDaniels tried to kick the field goal initially with 3:15 remaining (much better timing) and was blessed with a defensive leverage call. This gave the Raiders a first and ten at the Pittsburgh 14.
- McDaniels got two of his guys, one vet and one rookie, and yet his offense has regressed.
Josh McDaniels has a losing record as a head coach and doesn’t appear to be in danger of rectifying it. Davante Adams expressed frustration after the game. Winnable games are being squandered. It’s early in the season, but we’re seeing the same old signs from the same old Raiders.
*Top Photo: Fox News Today
