Antonio Pierce took some criticism for his decision to settle for a long field goal at the end of the first half on Sunday, but at least one NFL commenter said he agreed with the interim coach’s decision to play it conservative in the situation.
The situation, for those that don’t remember, came with 1:03 seconds remaining in the first half and the Raiders had just taken over possession of the ball after a Nate Hobbs forced fumble.
Trailing 14-10, the Raiders let the clock run down to 16 seconds after a three-yard run by Jacobs, and ended up kicking a 47-yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining in the half.
They clearly weren’t trying to score a touchdown.
But Yahoo’s Jason Fitz, appearing this week on Raider Nation Radio’s The Morning Tailgate, said he actually liked the decision to play it safe before the half.
Here was his explanation…
“Fans don’t want to hear this, but I actually didn’t have a hard time with the play calling at the end of the first half. The reason I didn’t have a hard time with it is because your offense wasn’t playing particularly well…
I was sitting there with buddies watching the game and I kept saying with about 6 minutes to go in the second quarter [was] the most important thing we have to remember is that Miami is going to get the first in the second half, so you really have to look at mitigating risk.
I think as a coach it’s responsible sometimes to look at it and say ‘Hey… what I don’t want here is to give the most explosive offense in the NFL the opportunity to come down the field and get a touchdown right before the half and then get another touchdown in the second half and all of a sudden a game that was very close is wildly out of reach…
I actually thought it was a strategy that made sense.”
Considering the way the offense has been playing, there aren’t many situations where the coaching staff can feel comfortable rolling the dice on offense. Pierce passed on field goals twice in the 4th quarter, and neither of those gambles paid off.
Pierce probably wishes he had kicked field goals on both occasions and Mark Davis appeared to feel the same way in the owner’s box.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Everything I mean everything is 20/20 after a games aka Monday morning qb’s. Here’s another thing that needs to be considered. If I’m not mistaken the offence coordinator was just a qb couch I think 2 weeks ago. If the Raiders would have won, Antonio Pierce would’ve been the greatest thing since slice bread, loose and people are having second thoughts about him.GET DA **** OUTTA !
Silly and Clueless! What exactly is a Yahoo analyst?????
I played tackle football from the time that I was 6 until I turned 38 and if I learned one single thing during that time, it was that you cannot play the game of football by playing “not to lose” and that the game will punish severely those who attempt to do so.
Despite what so-called analysts claim, it is not chess. As players, we were always taught to identify actions like what the Raiders did on Sunday as fear that could easily be exploited. The initiative is something to be seized, particularly when your opponent deliberately gives it away!
Totally disagree ! You take a shot no matter what ! Just emphasize to AOC if it’s not open over throw it ! The entire offensive play calling cost us that game ! I hope AP addressed this issue with BO
Should have kicked those 2 field goals with a young QB and seeing as we are rotten in the red zone.