Everyone is still reeling from the ending to the Raiders vs Chiefs in Arrowhead today. With the Raiders in field goal range with 11 seconds left, looking to kick the game-winning field goal, they blew it.
Aidan O’Connell came out and lined up in shotgun to pass it. According to head coach Antonio Pierce, the reason for this formation was because O’Connell was to run some time off the clock and then throw the ball away before they came out to kick the field goal as time expired.
It was a risky play call for many reasons. And a bad snap was one of those risks. That’s what happened. Watch the full sequence as well as the confusion that ensued that took the game from a sure Raiders win to a defeat.
Another NFL game ends in an absolute debacle, and the Chiefs escape again. Here’s the complete sequence as called by Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit on Amazon Prime Video ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Tq2kmgpYz0
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 29, 2024
Kirk Herbstreit insisted in the broadcast that it wasn’t Aidan O’Connell’s fault. That Jackson Powers-Johnson simply snapped the ball too early. But O’Connell told a different story after the game, taking full responsibility for the miscue.
“It’s completely my fault,” said O’Connell after the game. “I was looking out to the right, making sure guys were set and I started clapping to…in my head I was thinking signal the ball to get the ball, but when I start clapping it tells Jackson to snap the ball. So, Jackson did exactly what he should have done and I clapped too early. That’s how the ball bounces sometimes. It didn’t go our way, so super tough, but there’s really nobody to blame by myself. That’s probably the hardest part to swallow.”
It’s hard to say, really, whether the blame falls completely on O’Connell or if he’s just doing the admirable thing and falling on the sword for his center.
Either way, it’s a good look for the young QB. He put the team in this position by completing several passes to get them in range for the field goal, and shouldn’t have been put in the shotgun on such a crucial play when the game was seemingly in the bag.