Josh McDaniels didn’t just make one questionable decision late in the Raiders’ “Sunday Night Football” loss to the Steelers.
He doubled down on it.
McDaniels made the choice not once, but twice, to kick a field goal down by eight instead of attempting to keep the drive alive late in the Raiders’ 23-18 loss to the Steelers at home.
Josh McDaniels explains field goal decision pic.twitter.com/Pu5R2Gjnzk
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) September 25, 2023
“You have two choices there,” McDaniels explained after the game. “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 then if you happen to convert, you have to make a two-point conversion … those are the decisions you got to make.”
With Las Vegas trailing Pittsburgh by eight and less than four minutes to go, the Raiders head coach made the curious decision to attempt a field goal to make it a five-point contest instead of going for it on fourth down and keeping the drive alive.
Daniel Carlson knocked the 48-yard attempt through, but a flag was thrown on the play against the Steelers. Pittsburgh defensive end Demarvin Leal was called for leverage, which is when one player uses another to assist jumping up.
Despite the second chance, Jimmy Garoppolo and the offense could not connect for a first down, setting up a 4th & 4 at the Steelers’ 8-yard line with 2:22 remaining in regulation. Once again, McDaniels surprisingly elected for the three points, sending Carlson out for the 26-yard chip shot.
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McDaniels was asked about if the decision was due to a lack of confidence in the offense, who struggled against a tough Steelers defense for a good portion of Sunday night’s contest. However, he shot down that hypothesis quickly.
“No, you’re gonna need another possession anyway,” McDaniels said. “It’s not a lack of confidence, we went for it multiple times.”
The decision made little sense in either circumstance. Regardless if the team was down eight or down five, Las Vegas still needed to score a touchdown in order to stay alive in the contest.
McDaniels reiterated multiple times throughout his postgame press conference about having “confidence” in the defense to come up with a stop after the field goal, allowing the offense the chance to drive down and score a game-winning touchdown.
“It doesn’t matter what the decision is if we don’t execute well,” McDaniels said. “If you choose to kick it there, you’ve got to play defense. I have confidence in our defense. They’ve been playing well and I thought we had an opportunity to get the ball back there with maybe a couple of minutes to go and have a shot to go down there and win it with a touchdown. That was the thought process.”
While the defensive unit was able to give the Raiders’ offense the ball back one more time, it wasn’t until there was 12 seconds left in the game, and with the drive starting at their own 15-yard line. One play later, Garoppolo was picked off by Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace for the second time, sealing the win for Pittsburgh.
Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams was asked about the fourth down play calling after the game. The Las Vegas star, who finished with 13 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns, gave a non-answer that spoke volumes.
Adams wouldn’t touch the 4th-down FG decision. He doesn’t discuss play-calling, he said.
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 25, 2023
Whether McDaniels still believes it was the right decision or not, there’s no denying that the end result was not what the Raiders were looking for, as the team dropped to 1-2 on the year.