Among the many twists and turns that Monday night’s game took before ending with Derek Carr’s touchdown pass to Zay Jones was the Raiders taking a delay of game penalty when they wanted to try a field goal on the previous play.
On second down from the Baltimore 26-yard-line, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden called for the field goal unit to come on to attempt a game-winning kick. The transition from offense to special teams took longer than usual and the Raiders had already used their timeouts, which led to the penalty once kicker Daniel Carlson and company were on the field.
“Our kicker was warming up in the net,” Gruden said, via Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports. “No one could find him.”
The Raiders had already failed to score from inside the 1-yard-line on their first overtime possession, so that seemed to further set the stage for a painful loss or tie against the Ravens. Thanks to Carr and Jones, Carlson and Gruden didn’t have to explain the breakdown in operations in the wake of such an outcome.