Raiders’ playoff hopes dashed in close loss to Dolphins; Niners defense holds off Cardinals in upset.
The Raiders found a new way to lose Saturday night.
After taking the lead with 19 seconds to play, they allowed a 34-yard pass play compounded by a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty, leading to a 44-yard field goal and a 26-25 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Moments earlier, Daniel Carl
son had kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Raiders an apparent victory.
In the end, a missed PAT by Carlson was the difference. But only mathematically.
Leading 25-23, the Raiders had Miami at its 25 yard line with no timeouts. On the very first snap, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick launched a pass down the left sideline that was higher than it was long, like routine fly ball in baseball.
Dolphins receiver Mack Hollins standing alone amid blown coverage just waited for the ball to come down. The catch was at the Raiders 41. The roughing penalty on Arden Key
moved the Dolphins to the 26.
With 12 seconds left, the Dolphins ran one more play, then brought in Jason Sanders for the real game-winning field goal.
Sanders had three other field goals for the Dolphins — from 37, 39 and 22 — to go along with two touchdown catches by Myles Gaskin.
The Raiders got an 85yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr to Nelson Agholor and a 1-yard run from Carr to go along with Carlson’s four field goals from 23, 38, 20 and 22 yards.
The Raiders are 7-8 going into their finale at Denver, while Miami is 10-5 and a game away from a playoff berth.
RED ZONE WALL >> The Raiders got as far as the Miami 2-yard line before Carlson connected from 20 yards for his third field goal of the night and a 16-13 lead with 2:30 left in the third quarter.
On third-and-goal from the 5, Carr completed a pass short of the goal line to Hunter Renfrow for the 2 — it was the seventh thirddown failure for the Raiders in seven attempts.
Another short field goal, this one from 23 — Carlson had two just like it against the Chargers — put the Raiders up 10-3 with 6:46
left in the half.
His 38-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the half had sent the Raiders into the lockerroom with a 13- 6 lead.
Miami’s second half statement: After managing two field goals in the first half, Tagovaiola led Miami on a 75-yard nine play drive
which ended on a 10-yard touchdown pass to Gaskin on a second-down play.
Tagovaiola, who had just 43 yards passing (on 10 completions) in the first half, completed all six of his passes on the drive for 48 yards including the score. Gaskin also had a 24-yard run on the drive.
The ol’ Fejedelem up-themiddle play: Miami used some trickery on a fourthand-1 play from the 50 to set up a 39-yard goal from Sanders to get within 10- 6 with 1:42 left in the half.
Facing fourth-and-1 after Cory Littleton stopped Ahmed a yard shy on a short pass from Tagovaiola,
Miami first had its offense on the field, then seemed to reconsider and send out the punt team.
Except on fourth-and-1, Clayton Fejedelem, a reserve safety and personal protector, took the snap
and ran 22 yards to the 28yard line.
The Dolphins couldn’t convert with a touchdown, however, as Johanthan Abram dumped Ahmed for a 1-yard loss on a thirdand-2 play from the 20-ayrd line.
Carr from the 1: Carr felt good enough to leap in from the 1-yard line on the Raiders second possession for a 7- 0 lead with 8:25 left in the first quarter.
The short-field (43-yard) drive was set up by 32-yard punt return from Hunter Renfrow, who got a good outside block against the gunner from Johnathan Abram and also caught an 11-yard pass for a first down. Carr threaded a 16yard low strike to Nelson Agholor on the seven-play drive and Josh Jacobs had a 13-yard run to the 3 and also bulled to the 1. That set up Carr for the 1-yard run, which he leaped over center Rodney Hudson for the score.
WHITE IN EARLY >> Javin White, activated from the practice squad, was playing a defensive role on Miami’s opening series. White and Maurice Hurst dropped Miami’s Salvin Ahmed for a 4-yard loss which helped lead to a Dolphins threeand- out.
An undrafted free agent from Mcclymonds High and UNLV, White has been a practice squad activation four times but his role has been primarily on special teams.