It has been said that no one play ever wins or loses a football game, and I largely agree with that. There are so many plays in a game that can go either way, it’s almost impossible to point to just one as the ultimate deciding factor.
The Raiders got screwed by the referees
The Raiders scored a touchdown in fourth quarter of a close game against the Patriots that tied the score, but the officials blew it with a terrible call. Stephen White breaks down what should’ve been the week’s biggest upset.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
You might think that you could also extrapolate that no single call from the refs can decide a game either. I would generally agree with that notion as well because there are calls made and not made every single play that could ultimately affect the outcome. So no one call can probably be held up as the one that won or lost the game for that particular team.
For those of you who didn't actually see this horse shit holding call because you didn't watch the game, what you need to understand is that the Raiders fought their asses off all game to keep things close with the Patriots. They held the mighty Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots' offense to a single touchdown to go along with three field goals. The Raiders had their own issues getting into the end zone with rookie quarterback Derek Carr running the show, but they finally caught a break after making a play of their own.
for me to be going this hard about a holding call and defending an offensive lineman should give you a clue of just how egregious this was. -Stephen White, retired defensive end
With just over two minutes left to go in the game, the apparently fearless Carr, who hadn't backed down from targeting receivers that Darrelle Revis was covering all day, again tried Revis on a back shoulder fade to wide receiver James Jones that netted the Raiders 18 yards and moved them all the way down the Patriots' 33 yard line. Then they caught a break on third-and-7 from the 30-yard line with about a 1:37 left to go in the game when Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan, who apparently had been asleep for the whole game until then, decided that he didn't think Carr would dare throw deep in that situation.
That is the only rational explanation I can come up with for why he was sitting down in his back peddle and was about to allow Andre Holmes to run right by him on a fade route before Ryan arm barred him and drew the pass interference flag. Before you look at me like I'm crazy, it was blatant, and even Ryan didn't argue about it. He was about to be toast and he knew it so he did what he had to do.
Which brings us to first-and-goal, at the 6-yard line, Oakland trailing 16-9. This horse shit holding call has me as pissed as Raiders fans. Oakland lined up shotgun slot right with two running backs, one on either side of Carr. Instead of getting cute, they decided to go smash mouth and run what was essentially a split belly, sending one back to block the backside defensive end on the right while the offensive line zone blocked to the left. Darren McFadden basically walked into the end zone. All they needed to do was kick the extra point and now they at least probably have a chance in overtime.
But noooooooo, the referee had to call this horse shit holding penalty on rookie left guard Gabe Jackson who was only doing what the Raiders drafted him to do, knock the opposition on their ass with overwhelming force. It wasn't Jackson's fault that instead of lining up a real linebacker in the box across from him the Patriots decided to line up safety Patrick Chung. All he did was come off low and hard and block Chung to the inside as McFadden ran right off his ass into the end zone. It was Chung who decided to try to spin off the block which is never advisable when you don't have any leverage. Even then Jackson didn't tackle him; he just maintained his grip on the front of Chung's shoulder pads.
What actually caused the penalty flag to be thrown was Vince Wilfork diving into the back of Jackson and Chung's legs which caused both men to fall. Jackson's hands never moved but he ended up getting the better of the fall by using the leverage from both of them falling to slam Chung into the turf really really hard. It still wasn't holding, but let's say it was. This part of the block didn't even happen until McFadden had already crossed the goal line. There is simply no way it had an impact on the play. And yet there was the yellow flag being thrown at a guy for doing his damn job too well.
Anybody who has followed the Raiders over the last 10 years could have predicted in some fashion what was going to happen after that touchdown was taken off the board. Maybe you wouldn’t have specifically predicted that it would be Wilfork who ended up catching a deflection for an interception to end the game, but I’m sure you would have been close enough. Once that flag was thrown all hope was basically lost for the Raiders. It should have never left the ref’s pocket.
Understand that I hate most offensive linemen in general, and I think they aren’t nearly as smart as folks try to give them credit for and most of them are dirty as hell and many of them stink. Yes, stink. So for me to be going this hard about a holding call and defending an offensive lineman should give you a clue of just how egregious this was.
And yes, that call did in fact lose the game for the Raiders.
Hope you’re proud of yourself Mr Referee guy!
Problem solved
I meant to mention last week that while watching the Raiders/Texans game I noticed that the Raiders defense came out with Justin Tuck and rookie Khalil Mack starting at the defensive end spots. Mack was standing up most of the time, but he was definitely playing right defensive end at the start. This was a change to their initial line-up that saw Lamarr Woodley line up at right defensive end while Mack played SAM linebacker.
The Notebook
I lamented during the preseason that this approach was frustrating to watch because the Raiders, like most teams, play so much nickel defense that Mack wasn’t on the field much for first or second downs. Then he would come in on third down as a pass rusher with Tuck moved inside to defensive tackle and Woodley at which ever defensive end spot was opposite of where Mack lined up. Mack didn’t appear to be comfortable as a pass rusher because he was being shuffled in and out of the game every few plays.
On the other hand, with Mack at right defensive end, they were wasting Woodley on the bench which didn’t make much sense either.
Last Sunday against the Patriots, the Raiders fixed that problem by lining up in a 3-4 on early downs for much of the game. This allowed Woodley and Mack to play outside linebacker, something they are both very comfortable with. Tuck slid inside as a defensive end/defensive tackle. It also allowed Oakland to keep another one of their free agent acquisitions, defensive tackle Antonio Smith, on the field at the same time with Tuck, Woodley and Mack. That was hard to do before when they were only using four defensive linemen and Tuck moved inside to defensive tackle.
The results were pretty damn impressive. I’m sure some people are wondering why Tom Brady and the Patriots could only muster up a measly 16 points at home against the Raiders. A big factor was the pressure the Raiders were able to bring up front with all four of those guys in the game at once.
It was rare to see Brady, who was sacked twice, standing upright after any of his throws on Sunday. Even when they didn’t actually hit him, they would at least push the offensive linemen back into his lap, making it hard to follow through on his throws.
I can’t say for sure if this is a permanent change or not, but considering how well they played, I’d expect to see a lot more of the 3-4 alignment from the Raiders going forward this season.
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