Tough finish: Oakland likely heads to Vegas with loss.
DENVER — In the fourth quarter Sunday, the scoreboard at Empower Field in Denver flashed the final score of the Tennessee Titans’ win in Houston — an outcome that erased any chance of the Raiders slipping into the playoffs.
“We saw it was kind of like it was over for us,” Raiders safety Erik Harris said. “But obviously, it didn’t reflect in the way we were still going down there driving on the field and the excitement we had when we did score.”
With little left to salvage beyond a positive end to their tenure in Oakland, the Raiders drove for a lastminute touchdown — only to fall 1615 to the Broncos as quarterback Derek Carr’s pass on a twopoint attempt was batted down at the line.
Carr had connected with Hunter Renfrow on a 28yard pass and 3yard touchdown on the drive and looked the rookie’s way again on the twopoint try. Carr said Renfrow was “wide open.”
“You get that feeling inside when it opens up, like, ‘We have it, this is the win,’ ” Carr said. “And for the ball to get batted down, it breaks your heart.”
Head coach Jon Gruden said there was no doubt about going for two with seven seconds left as the Raiders were shorthanded on defense because of injuries and were riding momentum.
“We felt we were going to win that game right there with that route,” Gruden said.
Instead, the Raiders finished their second season under Gruden at 79 — an improvement over their 412 record in 2018, but unfulfilling, given that they were 64 after Week 11. The Raiders went into Sunday’s finale still alive in the AFC playoff race but finished the season with losses in five of their last six games.
After Sunday’s game, Gruden showed little interest in recapping the course of the season.
“I’m still pretty numb over losing that game,” Gruden said. “We played well enough to win that game. We had a turnover in the twominute drill at the end of the first half that hurt us. We didn’t convert on a 4thandinches play at the 1foot line. We missed a short field goal. You’ve got to make those plays in this league to win and get in the tournament.”
The loss included familiar themes for the Raiders: an offense that struggled to finish drives (six redzone possessions yielding one touchdown), penalties (10 for 107 yards) and frustration with officiating.
In a firsthalf sequence, a 5yard touchdown from Carr to Renfrow was overturned after review ruled Renfrow was down short of the goal line. On 4thandgoal from the 1, fullback Alec Ingold was stopped short on a carry up the middle. The Raiders challenge the ruling as replays showed Ingold close to breaking the plane of the goal line. But the original call was upheld.
“I thought we were in on Ingold’s play,” Gruden said.
Said Ingold: “They didn’t call it in, so that’s on me. It shouldn’t have been that close at all. My pad level was too high. There’s a bunch of different things I could’ve done.”
The Raiders trailed 103 at halftime despite outgaining Denver 251108; they finished with a 477238 advantage in total yards. The Broncos scored on a 1yard touchdown pass by rookie Drew Lock, who finished 17for28 for 177 yards, and Brandon McManus field goals of 43, 49 and 51 yards. Daniel Carlson made kicks of 23, 28 and 33 yards for Oakland but missed from 39 yards.
“You’ve got to score points,” running back DeAndre Washington said. “I think we had some chances early ... especially in the first half. That’s definitely something we can look at this offseason and get better from.”
This will be a transitional offseason for the Raiders, who are expected to hold spring workouts and training camp in California prior to opening the 2020 season in their new stadium in Las Vegas. In a reflection of that, players in the postgame locker room Sunday hovered between reflecting on the final season in Oakland and peering into the franchise’s future.
“Anytime there’s change, it’s exciting,” rookie defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “It sucks we’re never going to play a game in Oakland again. We tried to go out there today and win for them. But we came up short.”
“I think we can all agree that there was a lot that went on around us, even from the beginning, and we just kind of kept our heads down and plugged away,” said Carr, who finished 29for46 for a seasonhigh 391 yards. “It didn’t end how we wanted it to, but I promise you this team is in great hands.”
Gruden repeated a seasonlong refrain: “We’re building our team. … We’re making progress. And there’s a lot of progress yet to be made, (but) we’re going to get better and better. I believe that.”
Said Harris: “I think we showed that we have a lot of young guys that produced this year, and I think the future is very bright for this organization. … I think we have a lot to build off of from this season.”