HENDERSON, Nev. — Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was succinct in his one-word answer Saturday. He was asked whether there was anything he and his staff would have done differently on the fateful botched snap on third down that resulted in a lost fumble with the Raiders in position for a potential winning field goal at the Kansas City Chiefs the night before.
“No,” he said.
With the game clock stopped with 15 seconds to play and the Raiders at the Chiefs’ 32-yard line trailing 19-17, the plan was for quarterback Aidan O’Connell to take a snap to burn more time before throwing the ball away and sending place-kicker Daniel Carlson out for the 50-yard winner, Pierce said after the game. Carlson had previously missed three field goal attempts, from 56, 55 and 58 yards.
But the Raiders could have conceivably run more time off the clock one snap prior, when O’Connell spiked the ball relatively early in the play clock.
Instead, and after getting out of the huddle late and with the play clock winding down, O’Connell, in the shotgun, was not looking when rookie center Jackson Powers-Johnson snapped the ball after being tapped by right guard Dylan Parham. The football bounced off O’Connell’s upper right arm, and when he tried to dive on it on the frozen grass, the ball bounced off the left heel of right tackle DJ Glaze. Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton recovered the fumble.
O’Connell, who passed for a career-high 340 yards with two touchdowns, and Powers-Johnson, making his first start at center with O’Connell at quarterback, both assumed blame for the play.
“Completely my fault,” O’Connell said.
“We didn’t come up short,” Powers-Johnson said. “I came up short.”
Adding to the chaos was an official running into the scrum signaling a false start on the Raiders. That would have penalized them five yards and made it a 55-yard field goal attempt, but Las Vegas would have maintained possession.
Instead, after the officials huddled, referee Clay Martin announced the penalty was for an illegal shift, which Kansas City declined to get the ball.
And the Raiders dropped their eighth straight game to fall to 2-10 on the season.
Pierce would not discuss how the penalty was assessed and explained to him immediately after the game. But in the videoconference call with reporters Saturday, Pierce said, “We heard a whistle on our sideline,” which would have nullified the play.
Asked whether the Raiders would voice their opinion to the NFL, Pierce shrugged.
“Yeah, I mean, like we normally do, we do that every game,” he said. “Typically, anywhere from three to five questions and then we’ll get a letter within 24 to 36 hours, and we’ll read it and learn from it.”
