ALAMEDA, Calif. — While Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden said he accepted the NFL’s apology from Al Riveron, the league’s senior vice president of officiating, for blowing a call on Derek Carr’s slide near the sideline, Gruden was far from “fulfilled” by the mea culpa.
Not when the Raiders lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-16, and not when the blown call was so crucial late in the Raiders’ final game in Oakland before next year’s move to Las Vegas.
“Derek was in bounds and that play cost us dearly,” Gruden said Monday in his weekly media conference.
“They stopped the game in Indiana, took my middle linebacker away for 12 weeks, ended his season,” Gruden added, referencing Vontaze Burfict and his hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle. “They stopped the game in Kansas City and took [Trayvon] Mullen’s interception away. Why the hell wouldn’t you stop the game and get the clock right? I don’t think it was even close. So, I’m not happy about it. Apologies are great but this is 2020; I’ve been in enough meetings and I’m disgusted by it. I don’t want any instant replay in my life, personally, but if we’re going to have it, let’s use it properly. I don’t think it’s that hard to do.”
The Raiders, who held a 16-3 halftime lead and were up, 16-13 at the time, were attempting to run out the clock against the Jaguars when Carr took off around the right end on a read-option play on 2nd and 9 from the Jacksonville 43-yard line. Carr picked up 12 yards for the first down after sliding near the sideline and jumped up, pumped his first in celebration and made an “O” with his hands in homage to Oakland and its fans.
After all, the clock had run down to the 2-minute warning and with Jacksonville only having one timeout remaining, the Raiders simply needed to run the ball for a first down to run out the clock.
But Carr was incorrectly ruled to have slid out of bounds, stopping the clock with 2:05 to play, essentially saving a timeout for Jacksonville.
And after the Raiders were assessed a 5-yard penalty for delay of game while protesting the call, they faced 1st and 15 from the 36-yard line.
Carr said he was “very shocked” by the ruling.
“It’s one of the more shocking moments of my life, if I’m being honest,” Carr said after the game. “I understand the rule differently, I guess.
“If they want to talk about it, y’all can have a press conference with the refs. Maybe they’ll do that someday, but I won’t get into all that and I’ll keep my money in my pocket.”
The play cost the Raiders more than five seconds on the game clock and gave Jacksonville another timeout, it also conceivably cost Oakland about 30 seconds had the Raiders been able to run their first play after the 2-minute warning from the Jaguars’ 31-yard line, and on 1st and 10.
Instead, Jacobs would only gain four yards on two carries and on 3rd and 11, Tyrell Williams dropped a pass on a crossing route that, while short of a first down, would have kept the clock running. Instead, the Raiders faced 4th and 11 from the 32-yard line and Daniel Carlson missed a 50-yard field goal. But because the Jaguars’ Parry Nickerson ran into him, he got another shot, from 45 yards out, and missed that kick, too.
Jacksonville, with no timeouts remaining and 1:44 to go, marched 65 yards in seven plays to upset the Raiders and their final Oakland crowd several of whom littered the field with bottles, nachos and assorted trash while mercilessly booing Carr off the field after he visited the Black Hole section of fans after the game.
The Jaguars scored with 31 seconds to play, on 3rd and goal from the 4-yard line. Yes, the Raiders could have used those extra 30-plus seconds.
“The quarterback gave himself up, in the field of play, we’ve got eight [officials] out there so I’m not going to say much more,” Gruden said. “But to answer your question, [the apology is] not real fulfilling, or is it fulfilling for our team or our fans that came out to support us.”