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The officials were a big talking point during the Las Vegas Raiders‘ matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. There were a few questionable calls throughout the game that went against both sides. Much of the focus was a ticky-tack defensive holding call that prevented a fourth down in the fourth quarter and another that reversed a catch by DK Metcalf later in the game.
While those could be debated, there was a call that the officials clearly missed against the Seahawks. On the first play of the game, Derek Carr threw an interception to Quandre Diggs. During his return, linebacker Darrell Taylor came off the sidelines to block. By rule, the Seahawks should’ve been issued a penalty for having 12 men on the field.
Taylor running in had little effect on the play but a penalty might have helped the Raiders’ defense stop Seattle from scoring a touchdown. Regardless, Las Vegas left with a win but head coach Josh McDaniels wasn’t happy with the lack of a call. He called out the officiating after the game.
“We’re the Raiders,” McDaniels said when asked about the play. “Yes, I saw the play. No, I’ve never seen anything like that before. I think he went out there to celebrate and then he ended up making a couple of blocks there to try to help his buddy. Yeah, they missed the call. Clearly, that should’ve been a penalty but I’ll leave that at that.”
Most fans didn’t notice the play during the game but the Raiders were aware as soon as it happened.
“We saw it right when it happened,” McDaniels added. “All of our offensive players came over and said the same thing. 52 wasn’t even on the field.”
Raiders Are Feeling Good
Luckily for the NFL, the Raiders won the game. If they hadn’t, they’d likely be logging major complaints with the league. The team has their first winning streak of the season with wins over the Denver Broncos and Seahawks.
It’s been a tough season for the silver and black but they appear to be figuring things out. It may be too late for them to get into the playoff race but they can head into the offseason with plenty of momentum. They have a couple of winnable games coming up and winning both of them would have to resurrect their playoff aspirations.
McDaniels Knew Things Would Get Better
The Raiders were a playoff team last season but decided not to give interim head coach Rich Bisaccia the job going forward. They replaced him with McDaniels hoping that he’d be able to get them over the hump. The early returns haven’t been great but the coach is confident in the team he’s building
“I never doubted that it was,” McDaniels said Sunday. “There are a lot of close games every week in the NFL. Sometimes it takes a little while to learn how to get over the hump on some of those things, and that’s what we attributed it to.
“It doesn’t guarantee us anything going forward, but we’re going to stick with our process and we think we have a real close-knit group that works hard. We believe in what we’re doing.”
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