Steelers vs. Raiders: What they're saying in Las Vegas after loss
Sep. 25—The celebrities showed up, but the coaching didn't, at least according to Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney.
He gave the Las Vegas Raiders coaching staff an F, a failing grade after the Pittsburgh Steelers won 23-18.
Graney called it a "poorly coached game" on the Raiders' part, specifically targeting the "miserable" call to kick a field goal from the Pittsburgh 8-yard line with a couple minutes left in the "Sunday Night Football" game.
Review-Journal Raiders beat reporter Vincent Bonsignore wrote that the Raiders failed to play "complementary football," something wide receiver Davante Adams said the team needs to do to find its identity.
"We're not doing things the right way to establish a winning culture," Adams told Bonsignore.
Other sportswriters also sank their teeth into the fourth-and-4 decision by Raiders coach Josh McDaniels, while the team was down by eight points, to kick a short field goal rather than shooting for the end zone. Yahoo! Sports reporter Frank Schwab called it a "very conservative" decision, one that ultimately led to a Steelers victory.
"Those are the decisions you've got to make," McDaniels said, adding that he had faith the defense would get the ball back in time for a potentially game-winning drive. "So it's not a lack of confidence. We went for it (on fourth down) multiple times."
Schwab concluded that the Steelers did well on defense and the offense did just enough to win, thanks to McDaniels' decision to keep the pressure off.
Associated Press sports writer Josh Dubow reported that McDaniels was the first coach to attempt a field goal from inside the 10-yard line in the waning minutes of a regular season game when down by eight points since at least 2000.
By the time the Raiders did get the ball back, there was 12 seconds left in the game, the team had no timeouts and they were starting from their 15-yard line, wrote Paul Gutierrez, who covers the Raiders for ESPN.
He asked running back Josh Jacobs about the field goal decision.
"I agree with what Coach did," Jacobs told Gutierrez, adding he didn't want to be seen as second-guessing anyone. "The defense was starting to play good at the end of the game. We could have got the ball back with time to score."
One thing that couldn't be second guessed — Steeler Nation. More than half of the fans at Allegiant Stadium loudly represented the away team, forcing the Raiders at times to silent count, when a quarterback stops using a vocal cadence before the ball is snapped because of noise.
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Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta by email at rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .
