Viral moment of both Chiefs and Raiders players shows just how crazy the Black Friday game was
The Las Vegas Raiders just put the NFL on notice of how to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium. There's just one problem — they didn't actually do the beating part. But they almost did, only almost doesn't count. The Raiders were an early snap and fumble away from winning the game. They […]
The Las Vegas Raiders just put the NFL on notice of how to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium. There's just one problem — they didn't actually do the beating part. But they almost did, only almost doesn't count.
The Raiders were an early snap and fumble away from winning the game. They drove the field with one minute and 40 seconds left in the game, and no timeouts. They set up shop in field goal range, much closer than the three previous field goals that Daniel Carlson attempted.
All they had to do was make sure the clock somehow got stopped after their third down. Maybe spike it? Or maybe throw the ball out of bounds? Or, better yet, call a timeout because you do have one, right?
Wrong. Antonio Pierce was going to punt the ball, wasted too much time on the clock, called a timeout, and kicked a field goal that saw Carlson miss. That was the drive before their last drive.
So they really just needed to spike the ball to kick a field goal to win the game. But, rookie center Jackson Powers-Johnson, who has taken the blame for the incident, snapped the ball when Aidan O'Connell, who also took the blame, wasn't ready.
It was called an illegal formation, because the wide receivers weren't set, and the Chiefs declined the penalty to just get the fumble they recovered.
But in all of that craziness, and believe me, it was madness, is a picture of two players, one from both teams, that really sums up how crazy this game was.
The Raiders showed everyone, though, that the Chiefs are beatable as if the last 10 teams haven't also shown that. But the Raiders may be the league's worst team, and they almost beat KC in Arrowhead Stadium. Luckily, this helps the Raiders' odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The Raiders have a tough stretch of games coming up that should allow them to be in the hunt for that pick. They still play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, and Los Angeles Chargers.
