Raiders rookie Jackson Powers-Johnson tells his side of the story regarding the end-of-game snap vs. Chiefs
The Las Vegas Raiders lost in the most Raider way possible on Black Friday. They had a chance to win the game and should have, but because of an early snap that led to a called fumble and receiver by the Kansas City Chiefs, they walked out of Arrowhead Stadium with a loss. In the […]
The Las Vegas Raiders lost in the most Raider way possible on Black Friday. They had a chance to win the game and should have, but because of an early snap that led to a called fumble and receiver by the Kansas City Chiefs, they walked out of Arrowhead Stadium with a loss.
In the grand scheme of things, a loss is better because they want as high of a pick in the 2025 NFL Draft as possible. But also, this one is going to hurt the team. No one likes to lose any game, and no one likes to lose to your biggest rival, either.
And the way it happened, that just makes everything worse. Your offense was firing on all cylinders, with the ability to win the game if they just spike it again, and hit a much closer field goal than Daniel Carlson had attempted all game. But, an early snap ended all of that.
Then the conversation turned to whose fault was it? Of course, quarterback Aidan O'Connell took the blame, as QBs usually do for everything.
"The clock was running down, I was trying to get the guys lined up," O'Connell started to tell the media after the game. "We were just going to just throw the ball and try to get the clock down and get the field goal. It was completely my fault.
"I was looking out to make sure the guys were set and I was clapping, in my head, I was thinking to signal the ball, to get the ball, but that's when I started clapping basically telling Jackson to snap the ball. Jackson did exactly what he should have done. I clapped too early. And yeah, that's just how the football bounces sometimes. But there's really no one to blame but myself."
Jackson Powers-Johnson certainly doesn't see it that way.
"We didn't come up short; I came up short…shit's on me," Powers-Johnson said in the locker room.
JPJ was seen after the penalty was called on LV, throwing an absolute fit on the sideline, yelling at the refs, probably cussing, and just acting a way we have never seen him act before. Meanwhile, O'Connell, who actually played a really good game, was quiet and calm after. I could be wrong, but that tells me that maybe it was on Powers-Johnson. And, what do I know?
For all I know, it could be on Dylan Parham for tapping JPJ's leg before the snap, almost as if he was signaling it was good to snap the ball. I'm sure we will eventually find out what went wrong.
Now, the Raiders will go onto play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons, who are good teams but worse than the Chiefs.
