KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Las Vegas Raiders trainer Josh McDaniels defended his resolution to aim a 2-point conversion somewhat than kick a game-tying additional level late within the fourth quarter Monday evening, a decision that his gamers supported, as neatly.
And they did so even because the strive failed, with the Raiders in the end dropping to the Chiefs 30-29 to fall to 1-4 coming into their bye week.
“I felt like in that situation, [Kansas City] had a lot of momentum offensively, obviously in the second half,” McDaniels mentioned. “We had a play that we felt really good about. I thought we would get a look that gave us a shot at it.”
Josh Jacobs, who rushed for a career-high 154 yards with a landing on 21 carries, used to be filled simply shy of the function line with 4:27 nonetheless final on the sport clock.
“That’s what we wanted,” Jacobs mentioned. “We knew we was going to be in that situation. It’s crazy, all week we were talking about third-and-1s, fourth-and-1s, 2-point play.
“When I were given the ball and the security shot the outlet, I knew it used to be going to be bushy. I actually blame myself as a result of I can have reached the ball over. I do know we harp on now not attaining the ball, however that used to be a state of affairs the place it do not need mattered if I did. So, I’ll simply put that on my shoulders. I can have reached the ball over.”
After the Las Vegas defense forced a punt, the Raiders took over with 2:29 to play and faced a fourth-and-1 at their own 46-yard line with 41 seconds left. With no timeouts, the Raiders attempted a deep throw rather than run the ball up the gut, and quarterback Derek Carr‘s cross meant for Davante Adams fell incomplete as Adams and slot receiver Hunter Renfrow ran into each other down the field.
Jacobs said he had no issue with the playcall there, either, since Las Vegas was out of timeouts.
Carr said he knew the Raiders would attempt a 2-point conversion before they started the drive that pulled them within one point at 30-29.
“I preferred it, I really like being aggressive, particularly on the street, I’m all on board,” said Carr, who passed for 241 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while completing 19 of 30 attempts.
“When we scored, I used to be excited, however I used to be already telling other folks, ‘Hey, 2!’ And then I checked out Josh [McDaniels], and he mentioned it in my headset … from my view, I believed Josh [Jacobs] used to be in. I believed his knee stayed off the bottom.
“I mean, we’re this close from being up 31-30,” added Carr, putting his fingers inches aside.
Adams, in the meantime, mentioned he used to be “all-in” on the decision to head for two.
“You’ve got to buy in; that’s the only way you can make a play work,” he mentioned after catching 3 passes for 124 yards, with two TDs.
“You’ve got to be for it. That’s [the coaches’] job to make that call, so I was fine with it because I felt we had a shot to put it in.”
McDaniels is solely 6-21 as a head trainer since beginning 6-0 with the Denver Broncos in 2009.
“We had a chance,” McDaniels mentioned. “We had a fair fight in it. They played a little bit better than we did. We gave ourselves an opportunity to take the lead there and put a little bit more extra pressure when they had the ball, nothing more nothing less, just being aggressive and trying to win the game. I know it was 4:30 [remaining in the game] or whatever the time was, but our team felt good about it and felt like it was the right call at the right time.”