Pure, unadulterated chaos. The final game of the NFL regular season was arguably the most dramatic of the entire league year. We've seen nail-biting finishes in this game before, like the 49ers-Seahawks matchup that decided a division by an inch two seasons ago.
Leaving aside the elephant in the room that I'm about to discuss, this was a fabulously entertaining football game that the Raiders won in overtime The Chargers converted seven consecutive opportunities on plays in which a failure would have ended their season with an average of more than 11 yards to go. There were moments in which it felt like each team was holding on for dear life. Of course, there was an added factor making this even more dramatic.
Both the Chargers and Raiders knew they would make it into the postseason with a win , but the third scenario made this endgame unique in recent NFL history: A tie would have pushed each into the postseason at the expense of the Steelers, who won earlier in the afternoon.
The chances of both teams taking a knee were always nil , but it was fair to wonder whether they would be upset about settling for a tie if they got into a sticky situation late in overtime. If you fell asleep late Sunday night, I'm here to tell you that you missed that very sticky situation.
The Chargers and Raiders were clearly trying to win , but when we got to the two-minute warning and Las Vegas was at midfield, it felt like the competitiveness dam in the stadium burst.
Everything was on the table, and after the game, I've seen conspiracy theories for what each team wanted to do on both sides. After watching closely and listening to what was said after the game, it's pretty clear what happened and what each team wanted to happen. I'm not sure it's a conspiracy theory or some grand mistake by either side, but I do think it's worth breaking down.
Let's run through the last offensive series for the Raiders and see what happened with the game on the line:. Let's start by setting the scene. 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. At the two-minute warning , Vegas was facing a first-and from the Chargers' yard line.
At this point, it was not in anything resembling comfortable field goal range, given that a kick from this distance would have been a yarder. 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.
Inside two minutes, they could have kneeled three times and run out the clock. The Chargers had two timeouts and could have stopped the clock, but there would have been no reason for them to push the envelope, given that a tie would get them into the postseason.
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. From Raiders coach Rich Bisaccia's perspective, his team did have a reason to try to win, though: playoff positioning.
If the Raiders tied the Chargers, they would be heading into the postseason as the No. Andy Reid's team beat the Raiders by a combined score of across their two matchups this season. I don't think they wanted to play the Chiefs a third time. By winning, the Raiders would get to face the Bengals. Granted, their regular-season matchup against Cincinnati wasn't much better, as they lost when these two teams met in late November. Going in as the 7-seed means a team has to beat the top two seeds in the conference in the first two playoff games.
The Raiders didn't want to miss out altogether, but they had some meaningful motivation to try to win in overtime. The Raiders didn't kneel. Instead, they ran the ball on first down. I have to admit that in real time it didn't feel like they were running at maximum intensity. Granted, there are a few factors that come into play.
Nfl in trouble with this kind of product. The 76 Buccaneers can now pop their champaign! Pittsburg should be embarrassed. At home against the Lions? Hang your heads yinzers, here we go Steelers here we go lol. That looked worse than my Bears! I think that looked worse than my Bears! Rudolph is bad.. Goff is on another planet. That game sets the NFL back 70 years.
That was disgusting. Theyre almost there! Unlike last week this time the Steelers were victims of the zebras. The grinch came early this year. Wayne Fontes is on hold. Miserable day for a miserable team and fans, huh? A glimpse of the future for the Steelers after Big Ben.
Steelers have got to be the most inconsistent team in the league right now. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet your Pittsburgh Steelers! Anybody remember the late 80s Steelers, we are destine to repeat. Only the Lions can break a losing streak by not winning. This is just too perfect. Every game the Lions have played, the opposing team has had a key injury. Well, that was ugly.
As a Lions fan watching Goff under center is just beyond frustrating. Even as a Pats fan that was brutal to watch. The highest-scoring tie game since the rule change was the first one, a game where the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos tied The Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles share the lead for the most tied games since the rule change, with each team having played in four tied games.
American Football Database Explore. Recent blog posts Forum. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? List of NFL tied games. History Talk 0. Huffington Post. Retrieved February 25, March 28, Retrieved February 27, Shutdown Corner. Retrieved January 16, The Christian Science Monitor. USA Today. Fan Nation. Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Retrieved January 15, The rule change is aimed at improving player safety. See the complete NFL overtime rules. Unlike regular season games, postseason games cannot end in a tie, so the overtime rules change slightly for the playoffs.
The custodians of football not only have protected its integrity, but have also revised its playing rules to protect the players, and to make the games fairer and more entertaining. All rights reserved.
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