Josh McDaniels reveals Raiders' thought process on crucial fourth down

Justin Churchill — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Sep 25, 2023 10:09 AM EDT

The Las Vegas Raiders lost a close one on Sunday Night Football against the Pittsburgh Steelers in what was their home opener. However, it wasn't close for most of the game. The first quarter saw the game close, and the fourth quarter saw the game close.

As for everything in between, the aides contributed little to any excitement factor. The fourth quarter, though, saw the Raiders get to the line quickly every play and run a hurry-up style of offense, something they should have done more than once on Sunday. Overall, there was almost no urgency, so that would have been helpful throughout the game.

During that fourth quarterback came a time when McDaniels had to make a very important decision. It was fourth-and-4, and the Raiders needed eight points still. So, they chose not to go for it and took the safe route with the field goal.

There were still upwards of two minutes left when they went for the field goal. A lot of media and fans are calling for McDaniels and asking why he wasn't going to go for it and have a chance to tie the game right there.

"Of course. I mean, you have two choices there," McDaniels told reporters after the game. "You try and make it a five-point game where you have an opportunity to win it with a touchdown if you get the ball back, or you try to go for it there. And then, if you happen to convert, then you have to make the two-point conversion and all the rest of it.

"So, just those are the decisions you have to make. I thought we did a decent job of putting ourselves in third down there the next series with the defense to try to have a play to get off the field, and we just didn't handle that play very well."

The Raiders felt confident in their defense that they could get the job done and get the offense the ball back. And they did do a good job; they didn't do it quickly enough. The Raiders were left with 12 seconds left by the time they got the ball back from the punt. So, in hindsight, they should have gone for it on fourth down.

It had nothing to do with confidence in his offense, even though Jimmy Garoppolo was getting beat up all night.

"We would've needed another possession anyway," McDaniels continued. "It's not a lack of confidence. We went for it multiple times."

The Raiders had trouble figuring out how to win games like these all last season. It looks like they still do.