Paul GutierrezESPN Staff Writer4 Minute Reading
Jimmy Garoppolo singled at third to end the game
Jimmy Garoppolo threw his third interception of the game as the Steelers won in Las Vegas.
LAS VEGAS — Trailing by eight points and facing fourth-and-4 at The 8-yard line of the Pittsburgh Steelers with 2:25 left, Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels sent his field goal team.
Less than a minute later, Las Vegas kicker Daniel Carlson converted a 48-yarder only to have it negated by a Steelers penalty, moving the Raiders closer to the end zone.
“You have two choices there,” said McDaniels after the Raiders lost to the Steelers, 23-18, on Sunday night. “You try to make it a five-point game [with the field goal], where you have a chance to win it with a touchdown if you get the ball back. Or you try to go there. And then when you happen to convert you have to do a two-point conversion.”
According to ESPN analysisgoing for it would have given the Raiders a 15.8% chance of victory, compared to 10.2% by kicking a field goal.
With three timeouts remaining, plus a 2-minute warning, McDaniels had faith that his defense would recover the ball with enough time to drive for a winning score.
Instead, the Steelers started at their own 25-yard line, had a first down and, by the time Las Vegas got the ball back, with 12 seconds on the clock, all of the Raiders’ timeouts had burned and they were on their own. 15-yard line.
Jimmy Garoppolo’s interception — his third of the game — on a deep pass to Davante Adams down the left sideline ended the game.
When asked if the absence was a sign of a lack of confidence in the offense, McDaniels shook his head.
“You’re going to need another property, you know what I mean?” he said. “So, it’s not a lack of confidence.”
So how close was McDaniels to going for it on fourth-and-4?
“I don’t know, I mean, we kicked one earlier in that sequence … and then we were lucky to get a penalty on that field goal and it was over there,” McDaniels said. “I mean, it is what it is. Like I said, you can do either way with those, and I have confidence that we played well on defense and had a chance to get the ball with two minutes left. and there was chance to go out there and lead.”
Garoppolo did not comment on the decision because he was not available to the media after the game. A team spokesman said the quarterback was being evaluated for a concussion. It’s unclear when Garoppolo was injured, as he wasn’t evaluated for a concussion during the game and played the entire game, even though he took several hard hits and was sacked four times. He finished the game 28-of-44 passing for 324 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.
And while running back Josh Jacobs said he supported the decision to kick the field goal, Adams would only say he didn’t want to be seen as second-guessing anyone.
“I agree with what Coach is doing,” said Jacobs, who rushed for a season-high 62 yards on 17 carries. “The defense started playing well at the end of the game. We could have gotten the ball in time to score.”
Said Adams, who had 13 catches for 172 yards and two TDs: “I don’t like going into that. That’s not a good look for me. I’m a receiver.”