Raiders' HC explains questionable decision from loss vs. Rams
The Las Vegas Raiders lost their last game in what seemed to be the worst way possible, and the last play on defense definitely didn't help. Head coach Josh McDaniels explained why they did what they did. But before we go into that, let's run down what exactly happened. The Raiders, up 13 points in […]
The Las Vegas Raiders lost their last game in what seemed to be the worst way possible, and the last play on defense definitely didn't help. Head coach Josh McDaniels explained why they did what they did.
But before we go into that, let's run down what exactly happened. The Raiders, up 13 points in the second half to the 3-9 Los Angeles Rams who have a quarterback that was there for only 48 hours, blew the lead and lost.
The last play on defense is what everyone is talking about, though.
For some odd reason, with the Rams in a position to score a touchdown that would ultimately give them the lead, the Raiders decide to play man coverage with just 30 seconds left, and no timeouts.
Of course, Sam Webb was beaten by Van Jefferson for the touchdown, and that's all she wrote. But why? Why was that the defensive look the Raiders wanted?
“Yeah, you have multiple choices there and we chose to at least get tight to him and try to make completing the ball a little bit harder," McDaniels said. "I don't think we did a great job of executing being on top of the player the way that we would like to. Again, we can always look back at that and choose something else and we play a softer zone and give them the opportunity to find somebody in some space.
"I know the time was a little bit of a factor; they still could have completed a ball and then clocked it and those kinds of things. So, hindsight is always 20/20. And I think for us the message is just going to be whatever the call is; whenever we call zone, man, split safety, post safety, just try to execute it as best we can to try to deny opportunities like that."
I mean, it still doesn't make very much sense. I understand what McDaniels is saying, but at the same time, you have an undrafted rookie in Sam Webb on Van Jefferson, the teams' number one guy at the time, lined up in press-man coverage.
That just doesn't make any sense. I think the Raiders were really forgetting who was on the field for them and what personnel they had.
These are the things that show me McDaniels isn't ready to be a head coach yet, still.
Featured Image Via Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
