The Las Vegas Raiders beat the New England Patriots 30-24 in one of the wildest finishes you’ll ever see at the NFL level.
Tied at 24, it appeared as though New England was content to run out the clock and head to OT. Patriots running back Rhamondre Steveson took a handoff and gained roughly 23 yards before he flipped the ball back to Jakobi Meyers.
Meyers then tried to keep the play alive by throwing the ball across the field, where Raiders edge rusher Chandler Jones was waiting for the ball. Jones caught the ball, stiff-armed QB Mac Jones, and ran the ball 48 yards for a touchdown that ended the game in a Raiders walk off win.
“The play call was just a draw play — nothing more, nothing less than that,” Stevenson said. “I’m supposed to know the situation. I’m supposed to know how much time is on the clock in critical situations and I failed to do that today.”
In true “Belichick-ian” fashion, the Patriots head coach had little to say to reporters about the ill fated play in his post game conference. “Obviously we made a mistake on it,” Belichick added. “Made a mistake on the play.”
Penalties
Las Vegas committed 13 penalties on the day for 90 yards continuing a theme that’s plagued them all season long. On their first drive, Las Vegas had a good drive going before penalties caused it to stall out, forcing the Raiders to settle for three points. It’s hard to win games when you commit that many penalties. Luckily New England gift wrapped this one for Vegas and served it to them on a silver platter.
Run Defense
The Raiders gave up 206 yards rushing, as Stevenson led the way with 172 yards. New England had no problem running the ball as Stevenson did a great job running through tackles, oftentimes requiring multiple defenders to bring him down.
With The Patriots down 17-16 with over three minutes left, Stevenson broke free for a 34-yard touchdown run, and it seemed like the Patriots were going to win. Instead, fans were treated to a highlight that’s likely to live in infamy for decades to come.
Waller and Renfrow are Back
Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow returned for the Raiders on Sunday. Waller had three catches, including a touchdown while Renfrow caught one pass for 14 yards. Las Vegas was happy to have them back in the fold, but it was clear they were easing them into action. Waller had missed eight games and Renfrow five, so it will take time for them to get back up to speed.
Keelan Cole’s Big Catch
With 32 seconds to go, Derek Carr hit Keelan Cole for a 30-yard touchdown pass. It appeared as though Cole’s foot was out of bounds, but it was close, and the referee elected not to overturn the call on the field. NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson told reporters there wasn’t a clear enough replay to change the call. “Had the ruling on the field been incomplete, we would not have been able to change that, either,” Anderson said.
Offensive Struggles
The Raiders offense did next to nothing in the second half due partly to poor offensive line play and equal parts poor decisions from Carr. On the Raiders’ first drive, Carr threw a pick-six that changed the game’s momentum. Las Vegas’s offensive line was banged up, and their personnel took another hit as they lost guard Dylan Parham during the game.
The offensive line missed some easy blitz pickups and were regularly getting pushed around by a Patriots’ defensive line that isn’t known for their ability to get to the QB.While the Pats did a great job at disguising coverages, Carr could have done his line a solid by using his feet more to extend plays.
“I made the most of the opportunities I had,” Darren Waller said after the game. “I ran efficient routes. The Patriots did a good job of disguising, so reading the coverage at the snap was a bit of a challenge. I feel like I did pretty well for the most part.”
Carr did make some clutch passes on the Raiders’ drive to tie the game. However, Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels and Carr need to do a better job getting Davante Adams the ball as he was limited to just 4 catches and 28 yards on the day.
Regardless of coaching decisions, or late game heroics however, Sunday’s contest will be forever remembered because of the bewildering final sequence which resulted in the Patriots loss.
-LaMarr Fields
Twitter: @raiderway83
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.