It’s Obvious Where the Las Vegas Raiders Need to Invest
Saturday night’s 26-25 loss to the Miami Dolphins was inexcusable by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Period.
With the game winding down, the Silver and Black had the ball in the red zone.
While the thought behind taking a knee on third down to rid Miami of any timeouts left was not a bad play, when the defense has struggled to defend all season, it’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s already eminently clear to the nation that the Raiders organization believes their defense is a monster mess as well.
Defensive Coordinator Paul Guenther was fired a couple of weeks ago.
Defensive line coach Rod Marinelli is serving as interim defensive coordinator for the rest of the season.
It’s always smarter to punch the ball in for more points, because of the exact situation that played out against the Dolphins.
Sure, 19 seconds isn’t a lot of time, but it's enough to move the ball down the field, pray for a catch and a penalty, and kick in a field goal for the win.
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said after the game that he doesn’t regret having quarterback Derek Carr take a knee and settling for a field goal by Daniel Carlson.
“I don’t regret taking a knee, we wanted to give the Dolphins the ball with as little time left as possible with no time outs,” Gruden said. “Thought we did that, 19 seconds left on their own 25-yard-line. They made a desperation play and we had a plenty on top of that, inexcusable.
“It’s a terrible way to lose a game.”
While Gruden’s strategy and thinking aren’t wrong by any means, it’s evidently clear where the Raiders need to invest during the off-season.
Tell us what you think in the comment section below and please make sure you like our Facebook Page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
Want the latest breaking Las Vegas Raiders news delivered straight to your email for FREE? Sign up for the DAILY Raiders Nation newsletter when you CLICK THE FOLLOW button on the main page. Don't miss any of the latest up to the second updates for your Las Vegas Raiders when you follow on Twitter @HondoCarpenter, @HikaruKudo1