Apparently, the received wisdom in pro football these days is that playing for the final-second field goal is preferable to scoring a touchdown and giving the other team the better part of a minute or more to go for a touchdown, which means having to go the length of the field rather than simply getting into field goal range. Thus the Raiders, trailing by two after a Dolphin field goal, started with a touchback and just under three minutes to go. A pass interference by Miami put Oakland, er, Las Vegas, at the Miami 22 with two minutes twenty to play. The fun began at just under two minutes, when another Miami miscue, this time, lining up in the neutral zone, led to a first and goal at the eight. The Dolphins were willing to concede the touchdown to get the ball back: Raider runner gives himself up after two yards, Dolphin time out; Raider runner gives himself up after another yard or so, Raider time out; Raider quarterback takes a knee, Raider time out; Daniel Carlson, who had missed an extra point earlier, kicks a field goal, nineteen seconds to play.
The subsequent kickoff was a touchback, then replacement quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, a Harvard man of all things, completes a long pass to the Raider 41 while a Raider defender is clinging to his face mask (not the Fauci type, the helmet component): ball on Raider 26. One incomplete pass later, it's Jason Sanders kicking a 44 yard field goal for the win. Go figure. There's likely some second guessing in Las Vegas today about not taking the gift touchdown and trusting the defense to protect the goal line.
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