Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Despite ouster, Raiders say they ‘changed the culture’ and want another chance

Players short on excuses, heavy on support for Rich Bisaccia after loss to Bengals

Raiders fall at Bengals

AJ Mast / Associated Press

Las Vegas Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia leaves the field following an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, in Cincinnati.

Raiders battle Bengals in playoffs

Las Vegas Raiders' Hunter Renfrow (13) is tackled by Cincinnati Bengals' Jessie Bates (30) during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022, in Cincinnati. 


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Josh Jacobs lingered on the field postgame at Paul Brown Stadium despite the freezing temperature and piercing wind rolling in off the neighboring Ohio River.

First, the Raiders’ running back was in shock that his team couldn’t at least force overtime after getting inside the 10-yard line in the final seconds. Then, once the reality of the 26-19 season-ending defeat to the Bengals in the wild-card round of the playoffs started to set in, he sought friends from the opposing sideline for quick conversations.

“I didn’t want to go,” Jacobs said afterwards. “I didn’t want to leave.”

That sums up the collective attitude of the Raiders after they fell just short of extending their improbable late-season run. The fleeting nature of the NFL always strikes the hardest on a team when the season ends, but it may have carried a little extra punch on the Raiders this year.

There’s just so much unknown within the franchise as it’s immediately thrust into offseason mode, starting at the top.

The perception might be that owner Mark Davis will keep interim coach Rich Bisaccia after he reached the playoffs by leading the Raiders to their first winning season in five years, but it’s not guaranteed. Las Vegas only squeaked into the postseason after becoming the first team in NFL history to win their final four regular-season games by a total of 12 points, of course.

But where some may have seen that as a product of close-game luck, Bisaccia and his players interpreted as an example of their mental progress. They believed they kept showing their growth all the way through to the bitterly-cold end, when quarterback Derek Carr threw an interception on 4th-and-goal from the 9-yard line to Cincinnati linebacker Germaine Pratt with 17 seconds remaining.

“I think those guys in (the locker room) did a great job, and to some degree, changed the culture,” Bisaccia said. “They put the culture on a winning track — a winning mentality.”

That was evident to Bisaccia in the final minutes in all three phases of the game. Las Vegas’ defense had to force Cincinnati to a three-and-out, something it hadn’t accomplished all day, before the two-minute warning just to give the offense a chance.

The Raiders were down to one timeout when they kicked ball back to the Bengals with 3:29 remaining after kicker Daniel Carlson cut it to a 7-point game by knocking through his fourth field goal of the evening.

Edge rusher Maxx Crosby, the Raiders’ best player all year, made two straight tackles — one for a loss — to push the Bengals into a 3rd-and-11 they couldn’t convert. Jacobs remembered telling the defense, “if we get the ball back, we’re going to win the game.”

Everyone on the Raiders’ sideline believed that too, and their faith appeared to be rewarded immediately. They went from their own 35-yard line to the red zone in a minute, largely because of a roughing-the-passer flag Carr drew and also a 23-yard laser of a completion to tight end Darren Waller.

One more completion, from Carr to Zay Jones, got Las Vegas to first-and-goal but that’s where the comeback fell apart. Carr arguably made a gaffe by spiking the ball on first down, and then didn’t have any open receivers on second- and third-down when he tried to force throws into narrow openings before the game-clinching turnover on fourth-down.

“I didn’t expect it to go this way,” Carr said. “I didn’t feel like it was going to go this way all during the game at any point.”

“There was never any doubt from anybody on that sideline that we were going to win the game.”

That confidence could explain the state of the locker room afterwards, which Carr described as both hopeful and hurting.

Hopeful because the Raiders felt like they were right there and learned, “there's a feeling of we can really do this,” according to Carr. Hurting because they know no matter what they won’t have the opportunity to do it with the exact same team again next year.

“Obviously this is the NFL, it’s a business,” Crosby said as his voice subtly cracked throughout his postgame news conference. “Things are probably going to be a little different next year, but I’ll never take any of those moments for granted because I had so much fun this year and it sucks it’s over with.”

The fate of Bisaccia will almost surely be the first major decision made. Reports indicate Davis is interested in Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, but the players stood up for Bisaccia in the aftermath of the Cincinnati loss.

Crosby said “everyone in the world knows what my decision would be,” and the same message was echoed by his teammates.

“I think we can all say he’s the right guy,” Carr said. “I’ve never seen someone with the ear of the locker room, not just one player, not just one side, but everybody. He’s proven that people listen to him and not just people, but our team listens to him. I love him so much. I’m thankful for him.”

Perhaps the Raiders were following Bisaccia’s lead postgame when they stuck to a code of silence as pertained to a highly controversial non-call in the first half. The Bengals’ second and final touchdown came right after the second quarter’s two-minute warning when quarterback Joe Burrow scrambled and hit receiver Tyler Boyd with a 10-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone while nearing the sideline.

Replay confirmed one of the officials, perhaps thinking Burrow had stepped out, inadvertently blew a whistle while the throw was in the air, meaning it should have been a dead ball by the NFL rulebook. Several Raiders, including safety Tre’von Moehrig in coverage on Boyd, appeared to stop playing upon hearing the whistle.

But Bisaccia said he had “no problems” with a “good” officiating crew. No one else used the score that put the Bengals up 20-6 as an excuse, even though Crosby admitted he heard the whistle and didn’t understand why the play wasn’t reviewed.

“We were just like, ‘Alright,’ and just kept going,” Crosby said. “We had our opportunities. We just didn’t capitalize.”

The Raiders’ offense responded immediately, getting their only touchdown on a two-minute drill that culminated with Carr finding Zay Jones for a 14-yard touchdown. Carr paced the Raiders the whole game, finishing with 310 passing yards while completing 29 of 54 attempts, but the offense continually bogged down in the red zone.

Penalties were a part of the issue, as Las Vegas picked up several holding flags on the offensive line including one that wiped out an 8-yard run from Jacobs down to the 1-yard line in the third quarter. Carlson went a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals, but so did Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson.

The difference was Cincinnati, whose first touchdown came on its opening drive via a 7-yard pass from Burrow to C.J. Uzomah, finished one more possession with a touchdown. Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase, the likely NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year winner, took advantage of a Raiders’ defense that lost several players including cornerback Brandon Facyson to injury throughout the game with nine catches for 116 yards.

“Were we the most talented team in the world? No, probably not,” Carr said. “But this is the closest best team I’ve ever been on. I’ve had a lot of best friends on other teams, but I’ve never seen a team like this so it’s, ‘Hey I’ve got your back. Let’s move forward.’”

Not everyone was ready to start thinking about next season though. The Raiders were still processing a lot of, “what ifs,” after a loss that they felt they could have swung the other way.

Jacobs’ aimless postgame drifting only intensified those feelings after a few encounters.

“I even talked to their players after the game, and they were like on the sideline, 'We were like, ‘Here we go again,’'” Jacobs said. “Even they were kind of like on the fringe (on if they were going to win). If you would have asked me, I would have bet that we were going to come out with it.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or

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