Chargers coach was kind of a dummy for calling that TO. Raiders looked like they were intentionally running out the clock but the second he calls that TO basically forced the Raiders to play a pinch more aggressively and thus get close enough for a FG try. Like he gained nothing with that TO other than to threaten the raiders that if they get the ball back they'll be going for the win.
Based on the way the Raiders were playing, it looked like they were going for the win even before the timeout. SD called the timeout I think to set their defense. It made sense for the Raiders to go for the win in order to avoid KC next week. Great game.
Yeah this changed nothing. Plenty of reasons to criticize Staley for, but this isn't one of them. You're just mentioning it bc Collinsworth tried to make it a big deal. It wasn't. Raiders clearly wanted that ass.
There was only one play in that drive that was not 'conservative'... everything else was if Gary Kubiak was coaching near the end of the half with just a mere hope of 'maybe he'll break one or two through'...
Right. Not once did the announcers mention the ramifications of a tie with respect to opponents. With a tie, LV plays the Chiefs, instead they get the Bengals.
Well, I'm going to with the coach here who said they were thinking about it. Him setting their defense end up failing any ways. I think the TO didn't benefit them at all. The Raiders were going to have to kick a long field goal and were clearly thinking to just play for a tie and then confirmed after the game that yeah, they were thinking about it. Not sure why I need Collinsworth to tell me something that was pretty obvious going into OT. And then the Raiders coach flat out said they were thinking about it. Carr flat out said their strategy changed when the TO was called. Their coach said without hesitation that they were thinking about and when they saw the Chargers not calling TOs that maybe they were thinking it too...then he called the TO and the Raiders coach says without hesitation that it was on the table. They clearly didn't want that ass that much, they were just content with getting into the playoffs.
The play clock was at 4 seconds. They were about to run a play anyway. The Chargers defense that was on the field before the timeout would have given up an even bigger run play than they did after the timeout. As far as their mindset. They could have easily, easily played for the tie earlier in that possession. Throwing deep in precarious territory was the opposite of that mindset. So I don't 100% buy that. Per Derek Carr: Asked by sideline reporter Michele Tafoya whether the timeout changed the Raiders' strategy, he said "Yeah, it definitely did, obviously." That's great evidence for the conspiracy until you get to the next thing Carr said. "But we knew no matter what we didn't want a tie," the quarterback said. "My mindset was to make sure we were the only team moving on after this."
The TO didn't save the Chargers any time though because it was called at the end of the play clock - it didn't force the Raiders to play more aggressively - they ran a running play, which is what they would have run regardless. They just happened to get a 1st down which let them run the clock down the rest of the way.
This is impossible to know. Just because they didn't match up didn't mean they were about to beat with a running play, which they did anyway. His words are directly contradict the coach that openly said they were thinking about it and then even admitted that the only reason they kicked a FG because they were close enough to do so. Clearly it was on the coach's mind and he wasn't taking some hardline "Win no matter what" if they were so concerned with that they would have done a bit more to get closer than to accept a 47 yard FG. Teams pass the odd time here and there and still run out the clock, which is what they essentially did any ways. The point here is if the Chargers had made one stop the Raiders likely run out the clock and be content with the tie because that was a 100% chance at going to the playoffs. They could not play for the tie earlier in the possession because the Chargers could stop them 3 times, get the ball back, and win with a FG themsevles. The tie thing only comes up when they are around midfield and if they never get that one big run I am pretty sure the Raiders and Chargers tie because the Chargers were not calling TOs like they wanted the ball back until the last moment there.
Well that's what I'm saying, the TO changed nothing except how the Raiders approached that play, that is even according to the Raiders. It was too late in the drive to start trying to save time and according to the Chargers coach the TO was just to get the right people on the field....which is...I guess fine but that is also a failure since the Raiders were not hurrying to run any plays there, they were very clearly just running clock. The raiders were very clearly about to run another dull run up the middle but the TO did allow them to gather themselves and change what they were going to do and that's what the coach and QB said. I mean they still gave up a big run, so that's on the team as a whole. I guess I guess my point is the Raiders didn't seem to be in a hurry to score and at first the Chargers seemed content to just let them run clock, the Raiders were not playing like a team that was trying to get into FG range to win the game.
I think this is all true. But the Chargers still had to try their best to hold the Raiders on the 3rd down play because if the Raiders even got 3 or 4 yards, they likely kick a FG at the end. So if they felt they had the wrong defense called, a TO was still the right play. Obviously, it didn't work, but this wasn't a case of the Chargers trying to get the ball back to win the game themselves - they were content with a tie there too. They called a TO to try to help prevent the Raiders from winning.