With the Oakland Raiders now sitting at 6-8 after a controversial finish in Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys, it is looking more and more like the silver and black will be watching the 2017 NFL playoffs at home. Derek Carr was called for a touchback at the end of the game that would have given Oakland the lead, but the team will now have to hope for a miracle during the final weeks of the 2017 NFL season.
In the fourth quarter, the Cowboys had a fourth down call go their way after one of the referees used an index card to measure the ball to the first down marker. According to Scott Bair of NBC Sports Bay Area, Jack Del Rio was not pleased the referee’s smirk after the call was made:
The guy ran out there with the camera and put the camera right down on it, so the whole world got to see what it was,” Del Rio said. “It’s not like we’re making something up. The guy with the camera was right there. So how you can look at that and then get up with a smirk… I don’t know, that’s hard to take.”
The ball was inches away from the marker and the official’s decision to use an index card to gauge the distance was a peculiar one given the situation. Had the call gone in favor of the Raiders, Carr and the rest of the offense might have been able to eat up clock and prevent the Cowboys from scoring.
However, the Raiders are more than likely out of the playoff race and will need to think about how to fix the roster issues in the offseason. Hopefully they show more fight in Week 16 against the Philadelphia Eagles.