Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels defended his decision to attempt a 2-point conversion rather than kick a game-tying extra point late in the fourth quarter Monday night, a call that his players supported, as well.
And they did so even as the attempt failed, with the Raiders ultimately losing to the Chiefs 30-29 to fall to 1-4 entering their bye week.
“I felt like in that situation, [Kansas City] had a lot of momentum offensively, obviously in the second half,” McDaniels said. “We had a play that we felt really good about. I thought we would get a look that gave us a shot at it.”
Josh Jacobs, who rushed for a career-high 154 yards with a touchdown on 21 carries, was stuffed just shy of the goal line with 4:27 still remaining on the game clock.
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“That’s what we wanted,” Jacobs said. “We knew we was going to be in that situation. It’s crazy, all week we were talking about third-and-1s, fourth-and-1s, 2-point play.
“When I got the ball and the safety shot the hole, I knew it was going to be hairy. I really blame myself because I could have reached the ball over. I know we harp on not reaching the ball, but that was a situation where it wouldn’t have mattered if I did. So, I’ll just put that on my shoulders. I could have reached the ball over.”
After the Las Vegas defense forced a punt, the Raiders took over with 2:29 to play and faced a fourth-and-1 at their own 46-yard line with 41 seconds left. With no timeouts, the Raiders attempted a deep throw rather than run the ball up the gut, and quarterback Derek Carr’s pass intended for Davante Adams fell incomplete as Adams and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow ran into each other down the field.
Jacobs said he had no issue with the playcall there, either, since Las Vegas was out of timeouts.
Carr said he knew the Raiders would attempt a 2-point conversion before they started the drive that pulled them within one point at 30-29.
“I liked it, I like being aggressive, especially on the road, I’m all on board,” said Carr, who passed for 241 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while completing 19 of 30 attempts.
“When we scored, I was excited, but I was already telling people, ‘Hey, 2!’ And then I looked at Josh [McDaniels], and he said it in my headset … from my view, I thought Josh [Jacobs] was in. I thought his knee stayed off the ground.
“I mean, we’re this close from being up 31-30,” added Carr, placing his hands inches apart.
Adams, meanwhile, said he was “all-in” on the call to go for 2.
“You’ve got to buy in; that’s the only way you can make a play work,” he said after catching three passes for 124 yards, with two TDs.
“You’ve got to be for it. That’s [the coaches’] job to make that call, so I was fine with it because I felt we had a shot to put it in.”
McDaniels is just 6-21 as a head coach since starting 6-0 with the Denver Broncos in 2009.
“We had a chance,” McDaniels said. “We had a fair fight in it. They played a little bit better than we did. We gave ourselves an opportunity to take the lead there and put a little bit more extra pressure when they had the ball, nothing more nothing less, just being aggressive and trying to win the game. I know it was 4:30 [remaining in the game] or whatever the time was, but our team felt good about it and felt like it was the right call at the right time.”
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