The head-scratching ending of Sunday’s Broncos vs. Raiders game had one NFL bettor in particular fuming.
The crux of the frustration from Barstool’s Dave Portnoy was with the Raiders, who trailing 24-14 with less than a minute left in the game, decided to keep playing football instead of running the clock out, much to the chagrin of bettors who had money on the Broncos to cover the spread, which was between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 throughout the week, or the Over/Under, which was 40.5.
The key play on that final drive that had Portnoy calling for the jailing of NFL referees and the murder of Raiders head coach Pete Carroll was a delay of game penalty on the defense that had safety Brandon Jones push Tyler Lockett back down onto the ground on a 26-yard completion that put Las Vegas to the Denver 33.
The Raiders ended up kicking a field goal at the end of the drive to cut the score to 24-17, which pushed the game over the total and gave the Raiders an insane backdoor cover after being behind 24-7 with 2:41 left.
“You call that delay of game on the defense with 12 seconds left,” Portnoy said at one point in the video. “You call that delay of game when the game is over? What are you talking about? I’ve seen that 1,000 times, where it’s four, three, two, one, go home, game is over. And then Pete Carroll runs out the field goal unit and kicks a field goal to end the game with no time.”
Portnoy added that this was the “most rigged game” he had ever seen, but he might just be reacting a bit with gamblers’ rage more than within the league’s actual rules.
It was a curious time to call a delay of the game, considering the Raiders couldn’t tie the game on that drive, no matter the outcome, but commenters on social media were quick to push back on Portnoy’s claims that the penalty call meant the NFL rigged the game.
“Dave that’s a routine flag,” X user @JustinMacmahan said in a reply to Portnoy’s rant. “Defender molested the receiver on the ground. Your anger should be directed at Pete Carroll for kicking the field goal there.”
Another commenter, @JoshOnAir, added a further defense of the referees.
“Dave that’s a legitimate delay of game. Just stop it,” he said. “The(y) ALWAYS call it on defenders at the end of a half who touch the ball or slow an offensive player from getting up. You’re grasping. The Raiders ran the “cover play”. It happens.”
As both commenters pointed out, the referees made the correct call. Here’s what the NFL rulebook, under Rule 4, Section 6, Article 5, says regarding plays that can result in a delay of game:
ARTICLE 5. OTHER DELAY OF GAME FOULS. Other examples of action or inaction that are to be construed as delay of the game include, but are not limited to:
(a) a player unnecessarily remains on a dead ball or on a runner who has been downed
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Carroll may still get some hate mail for his decision to kick a meaningless field goal, but he’s not alone among coaches who choose to go for it on the final drive only to burn bettors.
In fact, Portnoy was on the winning side of one of the most recent examples of this in 2023.
Rams head coach Sean McVay chose to kick a field goal on the final drive down by 10 with four seconds left in a game with a 7.5-point spread.
Oddly, Portnoy made no mention of prison or rigging there.
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He’s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
