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Raiders win in overtime to make NFL playoffs: Did the Chargers blow it? Should the teams have played for a tie? That wild ending explained - ESPN

Raiders win in overtime to make NFL playoffs: Did the Chargers blow it? Should the teams have played for a tie? That wild ending explained - ESPN

Raiders win in overtime to make NFL playoffs: Did the Chargers blow it? Should the teams have played for a tie? That wild ending explained - ESPN
Jan 10, 2022 1 min, 53 secs

After Derek Carr hit Zay Jones on a third-and-8 pass to pick up a first down, the Raiders crossed over into Chargers territory.

From the conspiracy perspective, if the Raiders really wanted to just end the game safely, this would have been the perfect time to give up.

Indeed, when the Raiders ran the ball twice in reality, the Chargers happily let the clock run afterward.

They didn't care about getting the ball back.

The Raiders didn't kneel.

We also know that the Raiders' primary goal was to not lose, which might have meant safer run calls and a focus on protecting the football while still trying to advance the ball.

The Raiders don't want to give the Chargers any chance at scoring, since running the clock down prevents the Chargers from getting back on offense and ensures that the Raiders can do no worse than a tie.

Chargers coach Brandon Staley doesn't want to push the Raiders to try to get into easier field goal range and score, either.

I don't think that this looks like a play in which the Raiders were giving up.

Jacobs actually has a chance to hit the C-gap for a decent gain, one in which he could have gone down at the first sign of danger without having to worry about anybody accusing the Raiders of just trying to kneel without kneeling.

Missing that field goal would have given the Chargers the ball back with a short field and at least one timeout, opening up a possibility for the Raiders to lose.

The Raiders were also not about to kneel on third down to end the game.

The easiest scenario is to believe that the Raiders were about to hand the Chargers a trip to the playoffs, only for the Chargers and their analytics-addled coach to outthink themselves and call a timeout.

Suitably chastened, the Raiders suddenly tried to win the game and knock the Chargers out of the postseason.

"My mindset was to make sure we were the only team moving on after this." Carr could just be talking like a competitive football player, but we've established that the Raiders had meaningful motivation to win throughout the game and were trying to get in field goal range on the prior down.

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