The Las Vegas Raiders let another opportunity slip through their fingers. The Raiders had Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on the ropes on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium after two long touchdown passes by Aidan O’Connell gave the Raiders a 17-16 lead.
The Chiefs were able to grind out another field goal to squeak back out in front 19-17 before the Raiders had a pair of chances to come back and win it. The first chance ended with a missed field goal by Daniel Carlson, his third of the afternoon, and the second ended with a bad snap and a fumble recovery for the Chiefs with just a few seconds remaining.
Despite the obvious disappointment of the loss, especially one to a hated division rival, Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce was proud of his group for the way they competed, according to Levi Edwards of the team’s official website.
“Just proud of my team, proud of our team, proud of the fight,” Pierce said, per Edwards. “We came up short yet again. That’s the World Champs. That’s twice now I thought this season we played them very hard. Had opportunities there to win it and put ourselves in a position to win it. There’s no fight, the record is what it is, but this is a team that’s prideful, that’s playing for one another. There’s no quit. There’s no putting their head down. … One thing I’m not going to take away is the effort, the pride and the way they compete.”
Despite Pierce’s pride, there are still no moral victories in the NFL. However, it is a very good sign that a Raiders team that has now lost eight games in a row is still competing and fighting hard for wins each and every week.
The Raiders are now 2-10 on the season and many of their fans have their sights set on the potential No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. It’s unclear if Pierce will still be around to oversee that selection, but his guys are still fighting hard for him even in the middle of a lost season.