INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Well, the three-game winning streak didn’t mean anything after all.
Four weeks after the Raiders lost to a just-hired Colts head coach who had only blown a whistle in high school, they lost to a quarterback who was signed two days before the game and practiced 20 plays with his new team.
Baker Mayfield drove the Rams 98 yards in the final two minutes to beat the Raiders 17-16 on Thursday night and once and for all extinguish their flickering playoff hopes. The Raiders are 5-8, wasting career years from Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby and have now blown four double-digit halftime leads this season.
No NFL team has done that since 1930.
“We had every opportunity to close this game out and we didn’t,” Crosby said. “I am beyond disappointed. … I am sick about it. We played good football for most of the game and we just didn’t close the game out, and it’s happened before.
“We have work to do, it’s as simple as that. It sucks … we just kept giving them chances. It was all self-inflicted.”
Maxx Crosby: “We just kept giving them chances.” pic.twitter.com/JndeguOduI
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) December 9, 2022
This one will go down with all the exasperating losses the team has had in recent years, and like those other awful defeats, there were things that only the Raiders find ways to do.
Like having two penalties on a play on which the Rams were punting down 16-3 with 11 minutes left in the game. The holding one was declined and the offside penalty was accepted, giving Mayfield a first down on what turned into the Rams’ first touchdown drive.
Like, on the second and final scoring drive, Crosby and Chandler Jones sacking Mayfield at the Rams 13-yard line with 1:20 left, but teammate Jerry Tillery getting too excited and knocking the ball out of Mayfield’s hands after the sack. Unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, 15 yards.
Like, on the game-winning play, Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham calling press coverage with 15 seconds left and the Rams 23 yards away from the end zone. Van Jefferson only had rookie cornerback Sam Webb to beat down the sideline and he did, and Mayfield dropped it in.
Down six with 1:41 to go backed up your own two-yard line? @bakermayfield was feeling dangerous. 😤 pic.twitter.com/gDuUL1QsZH
— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2022
(Mayfield added salt to the wounds by telling a national television audience that he was shocked the Raiders lined up in that coverage with so little time left.)
The time has run out on any dreamy playoff talk, and while the defense may get some of the blame, coach Josh McDaniels deserves more. He coached like he thought 13 or 16 points would be enough to win, or else he lost faith in Derek Carr after an ugly interception at the end of the first half.
The Raiders ran the ball 38 times and threw it 20 times against a Rams defense that is much better at stopping the run than it is rushing the passer. Three of those carries came after the Rams cut it to 16-10, and Jacobs gained 9 yards before the Raiders punted it back to the Rams.
Adams had two highlight-reel catches in the game and deserves one of those three plays to be called for him.
The game should never have been still in the balance at that point. The Rams came in at 3-9, didn’t have most of their star players available, and the rest of the team looked like they were ready to pack it up if the Raiders hadn’t gone three-and-out in three of their first four possessions of the second half.
For such a conservative game plan, there was an inexplicable bomb down the sideline from Carr to Adams on third-and-2 midway through the third quarter. The ball sailed out of bounds and was one of a handful of really bad throws from Carr. He was hit on the interception to end the first half, but it looked like he was trying to lob a ball into a sea of defenders. Just a terrible decision.
Carr finished with two interceptions and was outplayed by Mayfield, who had none despite only knowing a dozen of his team’s new plays.
Carr is now 32nd out of 33 qualifiers this season in red zone passer rating for #Raiders at 71.5. Only Russell Wilson is worse at 67.2 https://t.co/vl0M3mCjh6
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) December 9, 2022
For all the talk of how Carr and McDaniels were finally in sync with what must be the world’s most complicated offense, that’s all out the window.
For all of McDaniels’ and general manager Dave Ziegler’s talk about trusting the process and how the coaching staff has done a great job, the Raiders are 0-4 when leading by double digits at halftime.
In the 10 seasons before this one, Raiders coaches were 20-2 when leading by 10 or more at the half.
The Raiders played not to lose Thursday instead of trying to win, and in the process lost any progress they thought they had made in the past month.
(Photo of Josh McDaniels and Derek Carr: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
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