Josh McDaniels, the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, says that his offensive still has his full confidence.
The Raiders were trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-15 with 2:25 left in the game, but he didn’t necessarily show it on a critical fourth down.
To make the score five points, McDaniels sent kicker Daniel Carlson onto the field for a field goal attempt from 26 yards out.
With 12 seconds left, the Steelers recovered the ball on their own 15-yard line, but it wouldn’t matter since Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo was intercepted by Pittsburgh CB Levi Wallace, giving the Steelers a 23-18 victory.
“No! No!” When questioned if attempting the field goal demonstrated a lack of faith in his offense, McDaniels responded emphatically. “Anyway, you’ll require a new possession. It’s not a confidence issue. We tried it several times.
Earlier in the game, the Raiders attempted it twice on fourth down and succeeded once.
In one of their first two games, the Raiders decided to go for it on fourth down.
The reality is that they have a pass offense that ranks third-least in passing yards (385) and a disappointing rushing attack that ranks second-to-last behind the Steelers with 116 yards. The fact that the Steelers had allowed 386 rushing yards through their first two games—the worst in the NFL—made matters worse for Las Vegas’ rushing attack. By surrendering 455 yards after Sunday, they are ranked second-worst.
McDaniels made an effort to explain his selection.
“There, you have two options,” he added. “You try to make it a five-point game, where if you get the ball back you have a chance to win it with a touchdown, or you try to go for it there so that if you happen to convert then you have to make the two-point conversion and all the rest.
You must make those choices, she said.
So why did you decide to try the field goal?
Josh Jacobs, the current rushing leader in the NFL, has had trouble establishing himself through three games, gaining just 108 yards on 45 carries for an average of 2.4 yards. Through Week 3, when he has appeared in every game, he has gained the fewest yards.
He gained 228 yards on the ground in 2019 and added 252 in 2020. He played in just one game during the first three weeks of the 2021 season, but by Week 3 of the previous campaign, he had run for 192 yards.
According to McDaniels, “I think the running game is a function of many people doing their job well.” When he won the rushing title the previous season, many people, including him, performed admirably. Naturally, I don’t believe we’ve arrived yet. For three games, we haven’t run the football particularly well.
Furthermore, Garoppolo has thrown a league-worst six interceptions, three of which came on Sunday.
McDaniels stated, “Those are plays obviously we don’t want to make. Jimmy makes a lot of good plays, but it goes without saying that when the quarterback is in possession of the ball, he also has the team’s future in his hands. He is aware of the circumstances, and on a few occasions, we were able to make better decisions and go on to the next play, whether it be second and long or another option. However, traditionally, this squad has performed better when they commit turnovers and worse when they don’t. Obviously, taking care of the ball was a critical factor.
We didn’t accomplish it adequately tonight.
Because he was being examined for a concussion, Garoppolo avoided speaking to the media after the game.
Not a good sign for an offense that is having trouble with a game against AFC West rival Los Angeles Chargers in Inglewood the following Sunday.