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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It was an ugly game.
But the Raiders actually had one final chance to pull out a win against the Atlanta Falcons on a Hail Mary pass into the end zone tonight.
But Desmond Ridder’s pass was picked off.
And the final play at Allegiant Stadium put this Monday Night Football game out if its misery.
Final: Falcons 15 Raiders 9.
“We fight every week,” Ridder said after the game.
The Raiders have now lost ten straight games as attendance was announced at 62,364.
If you thought this game was brutal to watch, it’s the 2-12 Raiders vs the 3-11 Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday.
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This has not been the season that Raiders owner Mark Davis envisioned.
True, the revenues are flowing thanks to Davis’ financial control of Allegiant Stadium and his team’s value has skyrocketed past the $7 billion mark. Keep in mind the Raiders were valued by Forbes magazine at $1.43 billion a mere decade ago when the one-time mighty NFL franchise played at the Coliseum in Oakland.
But the Raiders have received more attention for Davis selling shares of the franchise to the likes of Tom Brady than for winning games. The Raiders split their first four games, including a headliner win over the Ravens in Baltimore, before losing now ten straight games with Monday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
With the Raiders’ value so high, Davis, in theory, generated more than $1 billion thanks to the sale of those shares of the team.
The ten-game losing streak includes the departure of star receiver Davante Adams, an ankle injury to star defender Maxx Crosby that ended his season this week and the shuffling of quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell.
In the Raiders’ 15-9 loss to Atlanta, Las Vegas futility included a blocked punt, a blocked extra point, a fumble and an interception. The Raiders’ very first offensive play: a false start.
To add to the Raiders’ troubles in the past week, a defensive end by the name of Charles Snowden was accused of DUI after he was found passed out in his car driver’s seat. This triggered memories of former Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs killing a 23-year-old woman, Tina Tintor, when he was driving his car 156 mph in a fiery crash Nov. 2, 2021. Ruggs last year was sentenced to at least three years in prison.
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The Raiders are shorthanded this game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Crosby is gone for the season and O’Connell is an inactive, though designated as an emergency third quarterback.
The Falcons scored first on a 30-yard TD pass from Kirk Cousins to Drake London late in the first quarter.
The Raiders countered in the second quarter with a 52-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson.
Atlanta recorded a safety and led, 9-3, at halftime, as the Raiders mustered 78 yards of offense behind quarterback Ridder.
Atlanta’s placekicker, Younghoe Koo, booted field goals of 40 and 48 yards in the second half as the Falcons extended their lead to 15-3.
Ridder threw a five-yard TD pass to Ameer Abdullah before Carlson’s PAT was blocked. And that was the final, 15-9.
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Allegiant Stadium has been hosting Raiders games for four years now. Let’s take a look:
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The Raiders have the second pick of the draft with the league’s worst record, tied with the Giants. Last year after Josh McDaniels was fired by Davis, Antonio Pierce was a popular interim coach who won five of the final nine games.
But will he be retained for 2025?
There’s much talk of the Raiders picking Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with his father, Deion Sanders, the Colorado head coach, coming along to coach the Raiders.