2021 Los Angeles Chargers&ndash;Las Vegas Raiders game

2021 Los Angeles Chargers–Las Vegas Raiders game

On January 9, 2022, during Week 18 of the 2021 NFL season, the Las Vegas Raiders defeated the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of 35-32 on NBC Sunday Night Football. The game was highly anticipated as the winner would advance to the 2021-22 NFL playoffs. Additionally, because of the result of two games earlier in the day, a rare situation occurred where both teams would also advance to the playoffs if they tied.
Background
Tied NFL games became uncommon after a 1974 rule change added one sudden death overtime period to regular-season games if they were tied after regulation. When the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers played to a 16-16 tie earlier in the season on November 14, 2021, it became the 27th tied game since the 1974 rule change. This opened up the possibly of the Steelers or at least another team getting into the playoffs with a tie.
The unlikely scenario in which the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders tying would send both teams to the playoffs was only possible because of two somewhat unlikely game results earlier in the day. First, the 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars had to improbably beat the Indianapolis Colts. The Jaguars were heavy underdogs, but dominated the Colts to win, 26-11. If the Colts had won the game they would have clinched a playoff berth, leaving only one playoff spot remaining for the winner of the Chargers-Raiders showdown. In this scenario, the Chargers would have advanced with a tie because they had beaten the Raiders in Los Angeles, 28-14, earlier in the season on October 4.
The second event that had to happen was the Steelers beating the Baltimore Ravens, which they did, 16-13 in overtime, to finish the season with a 9-7-1 record. A Chargers-Raiders tie would have meant that both teams would finish the season with the same 9-7-1 record as the Steelers; both teams held the tie-breaker over the Steelers by virtue of defeating the Steelers earlier in the season. This meant that both teams would make the playoffs in the case of a tie, while the Steelers would be eliminated.
The possibility of both teams purposely tying to ensure they would both make the playoffs was entertained the days leading up to the game. However, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley confirmed in an interview to Rich Eisen they would play to win the game. The Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia pledged the same the next day.
The NFL rule book, through rule 17, gives NFL commissioner Roger Goodell the authority "to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which the Commissioner deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game." This rule likely prevented the Raiders and the Chargers from outright agreeing to a tie.
Although both teams would have qualified for the playoffs with a tie, the Raiders actually had some incentive to win rather than tie to earn a higher playoff seed. The Raiders, by winning, would earn the #5 seed and a first-round matchup against #4 seed Cincinnati. A tie would have given the Raiders the #7 seed and a matchup against #2 seed Kansas City. Although Cincinnati would go on to defeat Kansas City and represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, at the time they were considered a weaker opponent, having a worse record and no playoff wins since 1990. Kansas City had been to two consecutive Super Bowls and soundly beaten the Raiders twice earlier in the season. The Chargers, on the other hand, would have earned the #6 seed either by tying or winning.
Game summary
First quarter
The Raiders received the first quarter kickoff and immediately drove down the field for a Daniel Carlson field goal. Both the Chargers and the Raiders punted on their next drives, however, during the Raiders punt Chargers return man Andre Roberts lost a fumble giving the Raiders great field positioning. The Raiders capitalized as Derek Carr threw a touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow. The quarter ended with the Raiders leading 10-0.
Second quarter
On the Chargers’ first drive of the second quarter, they reached the end zone on a 14 yard run by Austin Ekeler. The Raiders punted again on their next drive, while the Chargers scored another touchdown on a Justin Herbert pass to Ekeler. With less than two minutes to go in the second quarter, Carr led the Raiders on a drive that lasted 1 minute and 15 seconds; the Chargers notably allowed the Raiders to convert a 3rd and 23 on a Jalen Richard run before they finished the drive with a Josh Jacobs touchdown run following a questionable pass interference call on Chris Harris Jr. The Chargers and the Raiders both got the ball back prior to halftime, but neither got a first down, the Raiders led 17-14 at the break.
Third quarter
Chargers’ kicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 41 yard field goal on their first drive of the second half. The Raiders punted on their next drive. The Chargers struggled to move the ball on the next drive but instead of punting on 4th and 1 at their own 18 yard line, they attempted to convert a first down. The attempt failed, and gave the ball to the Raiders with excellent field position. The Raiders could do little on this drive however, and were forced to settle for a Carlson field goal. The third quarter ended with the Raiders leading 20-14.
Fourth quarter
On the Raiders first drive of the fourth quarter, Carr found Renfrow for a second touchdown, giving Las Vegas a 26-14 lead. However, they failed on a two point conversion attempt that would have increased the lead to 14. The Chargers’ next drive ended as Herbert would throw an interception to Casey Hayward, leading to another Carlson field goal to put the Raiders up, 29-14. On the Chargers next drive they were finally able to return to the end zone. To do so, they converted a fourth-and-6 and a fourth-and-21. Herbert found Josh Palmer in the end zone on the latter fourth down. The Chargers successfully converted the two-point attempt on Herbert's pass to Ekeler, cutting the Raiders lead to 29-22. The Raiders punted on their next drive holding onto a 7-point lead. This allowed the Chargers to finish off the fourth quarter with an improbable 19 play, 83 yard drive that involved the Chargers converting on three separate 4th and 10s. Herbert threw a touchdown pass to Mike Williams as the game clock expired, and a Hopkins extra point sent the game to overtime, tied at 29.
Overtime
The Raiders won the coin toss and elected to receive the kick. They drove 53 yards but settled for a Carlson field goal. Similarly, the Chargers drove 52 yards and settled for a Hopkins field goal. The game was now tied 32-32 with 4:30 remaining in overtime.
On the Raiders’ final drive of overtime with the game still tied at 32, the Raiders drove to midfield and appeared poised to kneel out the clock and settle for a tie, which would have sent both the Chargers and the Raiders to the playoffs. However with 38 seconds left in overtime, with the Raiders facing a 3rd and 4 from the Chargers' 39 yard line, the Chargers called a timeout. According to Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, the timeout was called to change personnel to better defend what they assumed would be a run play. However, following the timeout, the Raiders still converted the third down with a ten-yard run, setting themselves up for a game winning 47-yard field goal from kicker Daniel Carlson.
Aftermath
With the win, the Raiders earned the #5 seed in the AFC playoffs. However, they lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round, 26-19.
After the game, Carr was asked by sideline reporter Michele Tafoya if the timeout changed their mindset on the final drive, he replied "It definitely did, obviously."
In a post game press conference, Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, when asked if the Raiders were playing to tie, said "We were talking about it. . . . We ran the ball there, and they didn’t call a timeout. So I think they were probably thinking the same thing. And then we had the big run. When we got the big run, it got us in advantageous field goal position. . . . We were certainly talking about it on the sideline. We wanted to see if they were gonna take a timeout or not on that run. They didn’t, so we thought they were thinking the same thing. And then we popped the run in there and gave us a chance to kick the field goal to win it. So, we were certainly talking about it.”
Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, when asked about the timeout by the Los Angeles Times said "We felt like they were going to run the ball. So we wanted to ... make that substitution so that we could get a play where we would deepen the field goal."
In Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert's post game press conference he said "I had never been rooting for a tie more in my life. That's the unfortunate part of being so close."
Box score

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See Also

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