Aidan O’Connell takes blame for Raiders debacle to end game vs Chiefs

Chris

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Aidan OConnell takes blame for Raiders debacle to end game vs Chiefs

Everyone is still reeling from the end of the Raiders vs. Chiefs in Arrowhead today. When the Raiders were in field goal range with 11 seconds left and tried to shoot the game-winning field goal, they blew it.

Aidan O'Connell came out and lined up with his shotgun to overtake him. According to head coach Antonio Pierce, the reason for this formation was to have O'Connell run some time off the clock and then throw the ball away before coming out to kick the field goal as time expired.

It was a risky play call for many reasons. And a bad snap was one of those risks. That's exactly what happened. Watch the full sequence and the resulting confusion that took the game from a sure Raiders win to a loss.

Kirk Herbstreit insisted on the show that it wasn't Aidan O'Connell's fault. That Jackson Powers-Johnson simply grabbed the ball too early. But O'Connell told a different story after the game and took full responsibility for the error.

“It's completely my fault,” O'Connell said after the game. “I looked to my right, made sure the guys were ready and started clapping…in my head I thought I was signaling to the ball to go get the ball, but as I start to clap, Jackson says it “He should grab the ball.” So Jackson did exactly what he should have done and I clapped too early. That's how the ball bounces sometimes. It didn't turn out the way we thought it would, it was really hard, but there's really no one I can blame. That’s probably the hardest part to digest.”

It's really hard to say if the blame lies entirely with O'Connell or if he's just doing the admirable thing and falling on the sword for his center.

In any case, things are looking good for the young quarterback. He put the team in that position by completing multiple passes to get them within field goal range and should not have been put in the shotgun on such a crucial play when the game appeared to be in the bag.


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