Oakland Raiders: Why Not Kick a Field Goal With 7:49 Left Against Jaguars?

You could point the finger in different directions in yesterday's close loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

The special teams let us down. Jacoby Ford's fumble set up a Jacksonville touchdown, and just after we tied the game with just over a minute to go, the coverage team allows a big return to the Oakland 30, setting up the game-winning score.

You could also say the run defense let us down, allowing both Maurice Jones-Drew and Rashad Jennings to go over 100 yards, but the numbers don't tell the whole story against the run. 

Up until that last run by MJD, the Raiders defense held him to just 71 yards on 22 carries.  As for Jennings, he just caught the defense asleep with Jones-Drew on the sideline.  He sure took advantage and made us pay, but I still don't lay the blame on the defense.

I think the game came down to "the coaches'" decision to go for it on fourth down with 7:49 left in the fourth quarter. 

We were at the 30-yard-line, easily within Janikowski's range.  Why we decided to go for it I still can't figure out.  The decision to kick a FG should have been even easier to make with starting QB Jason Campbell on the sideline. 

It doesn't make much sense to put your playoff hopes in the hands of Kyle Boller, who was the third-string QB up until this week.  A field goal there cuts the lead to just four points with a little under eight minutes left. 

What really upsets me is that we shut them down after that and scored a touchdown.  With a field goal, that touchdown would have been for the lead. 

Another bad decision, this time by Hue Jackson, was the play they used midway in the second quarter on 3rd-and-goal.  They brought in Jacoby Ford at QB to run the wildhog—something they haven't done all season. 

The defense was ready for him and shut it down. 

If they wanted to run the wildhog they should have had McFadden at QB.  At least he has run the formation a bunch of times this year.  In those situations you have to put the ball in your starting QB's hands and let him make something happen.

Well, that's it, Raider Nation.  I hate it when we lose a game because of a stupid decision whether it's by the coach or a player. 

I hate it!

*When I say "the coaches" I am referring to Tom Cable and/or Hue Jackson.  I'm not sure whose decision it is to go for it on fourth down.