The Las Vegas Raiders entered Sunday Night Football looking to earn their second win of the season. To do so, they would have to beat a Pittsburgh Steelers team that picked up their first victory last season, thanks in part to two defensive touchdowns. It was a toss-up of a game, to say the least.
Las Vegas trailed 23-7 entering the fourth quarter and made things interesting in the fourth quarter with 11 points scored. However, a dumbfounding decision late ended up costing the Raiders, and they lost their home opener 23-18 against the Steelers.
Now, the team is 1-2 on the season when they very well could have been 2-1. Here are three members of the team that are most to blame for the loss. And yes, head coach Josh McDaniels is one of them.
3 Raiders most to blame for Week 3 loss to Steelers, No. 3: Josh McDaniels, HC
Let's start things off with McDaniels. That end of the game was...something.
The Raiders were down 23-15 at the Steelers' 29-yard line and attempted to go for a field goal. The 48-yard attempt was good, but the Raiders were given a new set of downs and moved up half the distance to the goal line after a leverage penalty by defensive lineman Demarvin Leal. With another chance to potentially tie things up, the Raiders offense gained six yards on a pass from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo but couldn't do much afterward. Facing a fourth-and-four after two incompletions by Garoppolo, McDaniels had an easy choice to make -- go for the touchdown.
Instead, McDaniels opted to go for the 26-yard field goal and cut their deficit to 23-18. So, the Raiders wasted nearly a minute off the game clock and still went for the field goal. Wow.
That decision did come back to haunt them. The Raiders burned all their timeouts and got the ball back with 12 seconds left after a muffed punt by DeAndre Carter. On the first play, Garoppolo threw an interception to Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace to clinch the loss.
Yes, McDaniels went for the points, but with less time on the clock, he should have gone for the tie on that penultimate drive.
3 Raiders most to blame for Week 3 loss to Steelers, No. 2: Patrick Graham, DC
The Las Vegas Raiders did hold an advantage entering Week 3, and that was facing a Pittsburgh Steelers team that failed to put up 300 yards of total offense in their first two games of the season. They averaged just 247.0 yards per game entering Sunday night. That had Steelers fans once again calling for offensive coordinator Matt Canada's job, much like they have done in previous years.
But Canada had a rather good game calling plays, as he had success against the Raiders defense, led by coordinator Patrick Graham.
For the first time since Pittsburgh's 2022 season-finale against the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers were able to put up 300 yards of offense. But wait, there's more. Quarterback Kenny Pickett threw two touchdown passes in a game for the first time in his career. The last time a Steelers signal caller threw two touchdown passes was Ben Roethlisberger back in Week 14 of the 2021 season!
On the Steelers' final touchdown drive of the game, the Raiders defense surrendered 10-yard gains on five of six plays. The drive culminated with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Pickett to tight end Pat Freiermuth.
The Raiders' defense needs to step up further, especially with the struggles of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
3 Raiders most to blame for Week 3 loss to Steelers, No. 1: Jimmy Garoppolo, QB
We conclude this list with Jimmy Garoppolo, the quarterback the Las Vegas Raiders decided was better to lead the team than Derek Carr. The move made sense, considering that Garoppolo began his career with the New England Patriots, where Josh McDaniels was his offensive coordinator. Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler was also part of the Patriots organization during that time, so the link made sense. But the Raiders were taking a gamble.
So far, that gamble has yet to pay off in Vegas.
Garoppolo got off to a strong start, throwing a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Davante Adams on their second drive of the game. But the game was a mixed bag, mostly bad, considering he threw three interceptions. Perhaps his worst was midway through the third quarter, as Garoppolo stood in the pocket and pointed to a receiver downfield along the left sidelines. Instead, he threw a lame-duck pass over wide receiver Jakobi Meyers' head and into the waiting arms of Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson.
Garoppolo did bounce back in the fourth quarter, throwing another touchdown pass to Adams and successfully hitting rookie tight end Michael Mayer for the two-point conversion. But on Las Vegas' final drive of the game, down five points with 12 seconds remaining, Garaoppolo said he had one more interception in him.
Targeting Adams along the left sidelines, Garoppolo sailed a pass over his head, which was picked off by cornerback Levi Wallace, his second of the game.
Garoppolo finished his night throwing for 324 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing 28-of-44 pass attempts. Garoppolo now leads the NFL with six interceptions on the year.
This isn't exactly the time to panic, considering the Raiders have one win in three games. But they need more mistake-free football from Garoppolo, especially if they want to take one of the seven playoff spots in the tough AFC.
