Four yards. That’s how far away the Raiders were from having a shot at tying up their game against the Rams Sunday. That in and of itself is pretty shocking considering how many mistakes and miscues the Raiders had in the game.
They turned the ball over three times in the game and each of those turnovers led to touchdowns. Meanwhile they hadn’t gotten in the end zone all day themselves.
But despite it all, they had a legitimate shot to clean the slate. They were down 20-12 which means a touchdown and a two-point conversion and they tie it up. And when the chips were down, Antonio Pierce made the wrong call, pulling the rug out from underneath them.
Three straight passes from the four probably wasn’t the wisest decision for starters. Mainly because it was the run game that was actually doing the best work for the Raiders in the game.
Two of those passes fell incomplete and the third was stopped for no gain to bring up fourth and goal at the four. And, as it should be, the Raiders went for it.
But then DJ Glaze was flagged for a false start. And suddenly Pierce had second thoughts. For some reason, scoring from nine yards versus four yards changed everything. He. then opted to have Daniel Carlson come out and kick his fifth field goal of the day.
“We had three timeouts,” said Pierce when explaining his decision. “So we figured we’d get the ball back for those guys with a minute forty or whatever it was on the clock and give our offense a chance again in the two-minute drill with no timeouts. That was the thought process.”
Having all your timeouts isn’t nearly a good enough reason to make that decision. Even if you fail, you still have your timeouts. And even with the field goal, you still need a touchdown.
When you think about it is the worst of all possible scenarios. Even worse than going for it and failing. It was simply the wrong call by Pierce. And it killed their best chance late in this game.
Best case scenario is you go for it, make it, convert the two points and tie it up. Then you’re just a defensive stop away from a chance to win it or head to overtime.
Next best case is going for it, making the touchdown, failing on the two-point conversion, getting a defensive stop, and then needing only to drive for a field goal to win it.
Next best is going for it, failing, turning it over on downs near the goal line, getting a stop, and then another chance to tie it up with decent field position.
Worst case is settling for a field goal, setting them up at their own 30 off the kickoff, getting a defensive stop, and starting your drive deep in your own territory off the punt with just over a minute with no timeouts left. That’s just what happened.
The result was the Raiders were forced to be one dimensional — the dimension that they had struggled with all day with a leaky offensive line and practice squad receivers — and the Rams easily knocked down the first two passes and picked off the third to end the game.
Let’s be clear here. This Raiders team had no business being still in this game late. They did everything in their power to be blown out. But the reality is, they were in that position. And that call on fourth down squandered their one shot to pull out an unlikely win. That falls no Pierce.
Two weeks ago in Denver, he called for a punt on fourth and two at the Denver 42. In the opener — also in LA — he went for it on fourth down at his own 41 early in the game and then late in the game, down a score, a punted on fourth and one from the Chargers’ 41. Make sense out of that. Make sense out of any of his 4th down decisions. I dare you.
And all this is to say nothing of the utter lack of discipline on this team that has had them in a steady, slow motion implosion the past three weeks. It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot. It’s another to have the wind taken out of your sails from a lack of aggressiveness in those times when aggressiveness is called for.
