The Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders went into Sunday night’s regular season finale only needing a tie for both teams to make the playoffs. It was an unusual scenario that could have inspired gamesmanship from both teams. But somehow, and in the regular flow of a ridiculously fun football game, the Chargers and Raiders came so close to giving everyone that tie.
All the Chargers needed to do was let the Raiders run out the clock, which was what made Brandon Staley’s decision to call a late timeout and the team’s radio call of the moment all the more puzzling.
The Chargers radio team was screaming for them to call the timeout, & was dreaming up last-second drives for winning FGs? Bizarre commentary: pic.twitter.com/KI2JAk0yCa
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 10, 2022
The broadcast team of Matt Smith and Daniel Jeremiah were seemingly unaware — or at least didn’t want to acknowledge — that a tie would get the Chargers into the playoffs.
By using a timeout and stopping the clock, the Chargers sent a message to the Raiders that they were going to try to win. So, as Derek Carr and interim head coach Rich Bisaccia admitted, the Chargers timeout changed the mindset from taking the tie to going for the win.
The radio call specifically wanted the Chargers to use their timeout earlier, make a stop on third down (which they didn’t do) and force Daniel Carlson into a long field goal. Their entire analysis was about the Chargers needing to win the game when all they actually needed to do was let the Raiders tick that clock down to zero.
Sure, if a tie wasn’t beneficial, those timeouts had to get called. But that wasn’t the case on Sunday night. You have to know the situation as a broadcaster. It all made for a strange end to the Chargers’ season.
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