Epic NFL Day In Las Vegas Ends With Raiders Dispatching Chargers, 35-32, In Overtime And Heading To Playoffs To Play Bengals
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
John Madden would have loved this game.
It was the game that wouldn’t end, kind of like COVID.
The NFL season’s final game went down to its final second and Raiders placekicker Daniel Carlson booted a game-winning 47-yard field goal to catapult the once 6-7 Raiders into the NFL playoffs to play the Cincinnati Bengals in a wild card game next weekend. The Raiders entered Sunday out of the playoffs and zoomed up to the number five seed with the dramatic triumph. The Raiders-Bengals game is Saturday ay 1:30 PM Vegas time.
Las Vegas doesn’t do anything half-ass and it was the setting for another crazy overtime win by the Raiders, which ended their season the same way it began it — with a wild overtime win that had more unpredictable drama than All My Children.
‘You get used to winning the close games,” Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow said of the Raiders winning six walk off games this crazy season.
The Raiders won their final four games of the season and punched their ticket to the NFL Super Bowl tourney thanks to a season that is now 17 games long for the first time.
Final: Raiders 35 Chargers 32 in a game that was the loudest at Allegiant Stadium, with 62,068 fans packed in the domed venue.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “It was one of the most stressful games I’ve ever been in.”
The Raiders, 10-7, play the Bengals in Cincinnati after wins against the Browns, Broncos, Colts and Chargers. Less than a month ago, the Kansas City Chiefs blew out the Raiders and the Raiders were 6-7.
“I can’t say how excited we are for Raider Nation,” Raiders interim coach Rich Bisaccia said. “We made some plays. We missed some plays. We had a chance to win the game at the end — and we did.”
“It’s the biggest accomplishment of my life, football-wise,” Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said of making the playoffs this up-and-down season. “Hopefully this will be a Disney movie and I can play coach Bisaccia.”
Based on the content of this season, I’m not sure all of it would make a Disney script.
But playoffs? Yes, the Raiders will be talking playoffs this week.
The Bengals came to Las Vegas Nov. 21 and defeated the Raiders, 32-13, pulling away in the end.
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Andy Coronado drives the bus. That’s his job — literally driving a bus that he bought for $800 and converted into a Raiders fan vehicle for several thousand dollars that typically anchors the corner of the parking lot on the north side of Allegiant Stadium.
But tonight is the NFL’s last game of its regular season and the league has flexed a Raiders-Chargers showdown onto the Sunday Night Football time slot.
A TV set has been set up in Coronado’s usual parking spot, so he shifted the bus and his pal just to the east of the outdoor broadcast area.
Coronado is an immensely friendly man born and raised in Stockton, California who is built like a human block with two legs that extend out of baggy shorts. He has a bunch of friends, including a fella playing Elvis who was posing for anyone for photos in front of Coronado’s bus.
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For the last nearly 20 years, the once powerful Raiders lived off the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s, reaching the NFL postseason just one time.
Fans spent thousands of dollars for personal seat licenses and tickets, showing a stunning amount of loyalty to an NFL brand that has been tarnished by off-field problems this season but still elicit Gregorian chants of Raidersssssssss when someone mentions the team name.
All eyes will be on Las Vegas and Allegiant Stadium and as the Raiders and Chargers hook up for a play-in playoff game.
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The Raiders are benefitting from the new 17-game schedule and the fact that the number of playoff teams have increased to seven from six in each conference.
The team beset with so much off-field troubles and turmoil has played elimination games three weeks in a row and stayed alive thank to close wins over Cleveland, Denver and Indianapolis.
They play a Chargers team that defeated the Raiders earlier this season on Monday Night Football in Los Angeles. Now, both teams are 9-7.
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The Raiders’ season of pain off the field continued before Jan. 1 when the team’s famed former Hall-of-Fame coach, John Madden, died at age 85. His Madden Cruiser bus and his initials next to the stadium are here to evoke the memories of a coach who led the franchise to its first Super Bowl triumph.
The Madden family is here today to light the Al Davis memorial torch.
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Raiders strike first thanks to short pass from quarterback Derek Carr to tight end Foster Moreau, who rumbled to inside the Chargers 10-yard line. He fumbled the ball, but the Raiders lucked out because the ball went out out of bounds in the field of play instead of in the end zone.
But the Raiders’ red zone troubles continued. Two runs yielded nothing and an incomplete pass by Carr set up a 25-yard chip shot field goal by Daniel Carson.
The Raiders led, 3-0. But they missed a chance at seven.
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Car missed an open Zay Jones for a touchdown pass. But the subsequent Raiders punt ended with Divine Deablo recovering the fumble on the punt return.
After the Raiders converted a key fourth-and two, Carr hit Hunter Renfrow with a perfectly executed pass to the flag and the Raiders extended their lead to 10-0 late in the first quarter.
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The Chargers took advantage of a five-yard — but automatic first down — penalty on the Raiders defensive backfield on a third-and-17 to get back in the game.
Austin Ekeler scored to cut the Raiders lead to three, 10-7, in the second quarter.
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Later in the quarter, the Chargers chewed up the Raiders D on a long seven-minute, 13-play, 90-yard drive. methodically moving down the field with an effective mix of plays, including the 14-yard TD screen to Ekeler who cashes in with his second touchdown in the quarters. It’s Chargers 14 Raiders 10 with 1:52 left in 2Q.
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The Raiders responded. A huge 23-yard draw run by Jalen Richard, plus a pass interference call in the end zone on an attempted pass from Car to Zay Jones gave the Raiders the ball at the one-yard line.
Josh Jacobs ran it from a yard out and the Raiders went ahead, 17-14.
Halftime: Raiders 17 Chargers 14
Lil Jon got this place revved at halftime.
We’re off and running in the second half.
The Chargers gambled and it backfired.
On fourth and one yard deep in their territory, the Chargers went for the first down and Ekeler was stonewalled by the Raiders D.
But the Raiders could not come up with the touchdown.
Instead, they settled for a short Carlson field goal and led, 20-14.
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End of three quarters: Raiders 20 Chargers 14
The Raiders took advantage of two Chargers defensive holding penalties and Carr hit Renfrow with a two-yard TD pass.
The two-point conversion try was no good.
With 14:14 left in the 4Q, the Raiders led, 26-14.
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Raiders CB Casey Hayward, Jr., a former Chargers All-Pro, picked off Herbert.
The Raiders cashed in for three thanks to Carlson’s 52-yarder.
The Raiders edged ahead, 29-14.
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Herbert staged two drives in the last five minutes and stayed on the field converting fourth-and 10s one after another.
He rallied the Chargers to a 29-29 after regulation.
Off to overtime the Raiders went, ending the season in extra time like they did in the season’s very first game when they build the Baltimore Ravens in OT.
The Raiders and Chargers swapped field goals in overtime.
Interestingly enough, both teams would have made the playoffs if the game ended in a tie.
But Jacobs ran the Raiders into field goal position.
And Carlson, called a “sniper” by Crosby, ended the season with the 47-yard boot.
Carlson’s stats, according to Raiders:
