Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Raiders’ hopes of salvaging season dashed in Rams self-destruction

Penalties, ineffective offense contribute to latest, and potentially fatal, meltdown

Raiders Rams

Mark J. Terrill / AP

Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr looks up after a throw during the first half against the Los Angeles Rams, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif.

Edge rusher Maxx Crosby was too busy looking towards the Raiders’ sideline celebrating a late-game split-sack with Chandler Jones to realize what happened behind him. Raiders coach Josh McDaniels missed it too.

Once Crosby turned around, he saw a penalty flag and raised his arms in disbelief. McDaniels presumably had a similar reaction when he peered out closer onto the field and saw the officials huddling.

Raiders defensive tackle Jerry Tillery had slapped the ball out of Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield’s hands, drawing an unsportsmanlike-conduct call and wiping out a nine-yard loss with 1:30 remaining in the game. Instead of facing a 2nd-and-19 at their own 13-yard line, the Rams would have a 1st-and-10 at the more manageable 28-yard line for a potential game-winning drive.

“I didn’t get any communication as to what was said or what was done, but I thought we had them in second-and-long at that point,” McDaniels said in his postgame news conference. “To give them a first down in that situation is obviously not an ideal scenario … I don’t know exactly what happened.”

It’s hard to imagine McDaniels wouldn’t get some explanation for such a game-altering moment, but perhaps it’s slightly believable in this case given how quickly the resulting dominoes began to tumble.

Five plays later, perhaps before Crosby and McDaniels could even comprehend the call, Rams receiver Van Jefferson was on the receiving end of a 23-yard touchdown pass from Mayfield with 10 seconds left in the game.

Rams 17, Raiders 16.

“Not disciplined in big moments,” Crosby said in his first words after the game. “We had every opportunity to close the game out, and we didn’t so it’s beyond disappointing.”

‘Tis the story of the Raiders’ sunken season as the team pulled off its most remarkable collapse yet to snap a three-game win streak and fall to 5-8 on the year.

ESPN Stats & Information gave Las Vegas a 94.6% win probability at the start of the aforementioned drive after punter A.J. Cole pinned Los Angeles at the 2-yard line. The Raiders’ expectations were even higher, at 98.8%, after a 3rd-down stop at the goal line with four minutes remaining holding a 16-3 lead.

The Rams scored two plays later, on a one-yard run by running back Cam Akers, to cap a 17-play drive that was twice extended by Raiders’ penalties — a Crosby neutral-zone infraction on a 3rd-down near midfield and an offsides by cornerback Sam Webb on a punt.

“We shot ourselves in the foot with penalties,” linebacker Denzel Perryman said. “The less penalized team will win the game, but they’re a good team. They made some plays and capitalized on our mistakes.”

But the Rams have by no measure been a good team throughout the season despite winning the Super Bowl last year. They had the league’s second-worst point differential largely because of a wave of injuries that had struck every position group on the roster.

Los Angeles was so desperate for a quarterback with Matthew Stafford on injured reserve that they turned to Mayfield, who only came to the team two days ago via waiver claim after being dropped by Carolina. Mayfield said he had practiced a total of 10 plays in the Rams’ playbook, and his unfamiliarity showed for 90% of the game.

The Rams couldn’t move the ball on what had been a league-worst Raiders’ defense with their only points coming on a 55-yard field goal from kicker Matt Gay. Problem was, the Raiders’ own anemic offense didn’t take enough advantage.

They found the end zone on a game-opening 70-yard touchdown drive capped by a one-yard Josh Jacobs touchdown run, and then never again. Las Vegas otherwise settled for three Daniel Carlson field goals — from 52, 36 and 31 yards — and saw a drive to the 10-yard line thwarted when quarterback Derek Carr threw into a triple coverage for an interception by linebacker Ernest Jones shortly before halftime.

Carr threw another interception in the game’s final seconds, to safety Taylor Rapp, to finish with a career-worst passer rating off a statistics line of 137 yard on 11-for-20 passing.

“Something didn’t feel off or anything like that,” Carr said. “It felt like we had a good control of what we wanted to do. I think it just came down to execution of the plays. Some of the things that hurt us in past games that’s what it came down to at the end.”

The Raiders have a large share of losses this season, but three stood above the rest as the worst coming into the game against the Rams — a Week 2 overtime collapse to Arizona, a blowout 24-0 defeat at New Orleans and a listless 25-20 loss to Indianapolis. Thursday’s loss had shades of all three.

From the Colts’ game, they allowed a completely green opponent at a key power position to overwhelm them. Mayfield was akin to Indianapolis interim coach Jeff Saturday, who won in his debut at Las Vegas and hasn’t done so since.

From the Cardinals’ game, they blew a lead in a fashion difficult to comprehend. The penalties and mental errors against the Rams were akin to the turnovers and breakdowns that marred the endgame against Arizona.

And from the Saints' game, an ultravanilla offensive game plan backfired. Once again versus the Rams, the Raiders showed an inability to get star receiver Davante Adams the ball.

Adams had three catches for 71 yards — including two highlight-reel long completions — but otherwise disappeared with Jalen Ramsey covering him tightly and Carr not often looking his way.

“Coach McDaniels says it best, ‘You’ve got to treat every single play like it’s the end of the game, like it’s the most important play on the planet. You can’t take your foot off the gas,’” Crosby said afterwards.

Maybe McDaniels needed to take his own advice. He showed little aggression and appeared to want to drain the clock the whole second half with a beaten-up Jacobs, who briefly went to the locker room with a hand injury to add to existing calf and quad ailments.

Los Angeles was determined not to give up big plays to the NFL’s rushing leader though and held him to a relatively uneventful night with 99 rushing yards on 27 carries. The Raiders needed one first down to ice the game late before the two-minute warning, but McDaniels showed no creativity in running Jacobs up the middle on three straight plays then punting.

“You always play to win,” McDaniels said. “You are aggressive and those type of things, but we are one yard shy of a first down on 3rd-and-1. They make a stop there, and if we get it, the game is done. There are a lot of things we could have done to end the game.”

But McDaniels trusted a defense that has repeatedly shown it can’t be trusted throughout the year. It wasn’t only Tillery who destroyed their chances on the decisive drive.

Top cornerback Nate Hobbs gave up a pair of completions for a total of 40 yards to receiver Ben Skowronek to get the Rams just outside of the red zone. On the game-winning touchdown play, Mayfield said he was shocked to notice the Raiders were lining up in press coverage.

He took advantage by picking on undrafted rookie free agent cornerback Sam Webb in a matchup against Jefferson.

“We’ve got to be a lot smarter,” Perrymaan said. “We left plays out there on the field, and they made plays. I don’t think nobody expected that at the end.”

Crosby described the Raiders’ situation going forward as containing “zero breathing room” while McDaniels and Carr referred to as having “little margin for error.” That all might be overstating it though.

The Raiders’ playoff chances are likely to be around 1% with the loss to the Rams. They could win their final four games — starting next Sunday at home against the New England Patriots — to bank a winning record but still would need help from multiple other teams to reach the postseason.

Making an improbable surge to the postseason was the talk of the week among the fan base riding the winning streak. But much like the rest of the season, the Raiders couldn’t help but critically hurt themselves and, in turn, any grandiose visions of a turnaround.

“I’m just sick about it,” Crosby said. “It’s tough. We played good football for most of the game but just didn’t close the game. It’s happened before….. It sucks because when you’re in a game and you feel like you’ve done enough to finish it and then we just keep giving them chances. It’s all self-inflicted.”

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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