It wasn’t that Josh McDaniels couldn’t count to eight.
It wasn’t that McDaniels’ didn’t know that with a touchdown and a two-point conversion, his Las Vegas Raiders could have tied the Pittsburgh Steelers at 23-all.
Yes, it looked like that with the pull quote.
"We needed multiple possessions." #Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, on why he kicked the FG down 8 points. pic.twitter.com/rIvIWlYQyu
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) September 25, 2023
“Of course. I mean, you have two choices there,” McDaniels said about going for it on fourth down, for full context. “You try and 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, then you have to make the two-point conversion and all the rest of it. So, just those are the decisions you have to make. I thought we did a decent job of putting ourselves in third down there the next series with the defense to try to have a play to get off the field and we just didn’t handle that play very well.”
Here was the situation. With 3:15 left in the game, and the Raiders at the Steelers’ 29-yard line after a false start, McDaniels sent Daniel Carlson out to make a 48-yard field goal — which Carlson made, but a leverage penalty on the Steelers gave the Raiders a new set of downs. On first-and-10 from the Pittsburgh 49-yard line, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw a quick pass to running back Josh Jacobs, which he had to do because he was getting pressure from his front side, and the Steelers did a great job of matching the Raiders’ receivers across.
Then, on second-and-4 from the eight-yard line, Garoppolo flat-out missed Davante Adams on a simple swing pass. Cornerback Levi Wallace was all over the play, so maybe that wasn’t going to be a touchdown, but this is not how you rep things in the red zone.
And then, third down had Garoppolo throwing a fade ball to receiver Jakobi Meyers that was juuuuust a bit outside.
With all that going on, and with the Monday news that Garoppolo is in the concussion protocol, McDaniel likely felt trapped in an impossible situation. The Raiders’ defense is not one that inspires a ton of confidence… but no matter what McDaniels said after the game, he just had less of a belief in his offense.
“We would’ve needed another possession anyway,” McDaniels said. “It’s not a lack of confidence. We went for it multiple times.”
That is a coach telling you that he didn’t believe his quarterback, and his offense, could get it done. Right or wrong, McDaniels had a point based on the situation.
