What started as a December to remember for the Las Vegas Raiders is one that would just as soon erase from their memories.
Everything was beautiful when Derek Carr found Henry Ruggs on Dec. 6 to give the Raiders an astonishing victory over the winless New York Jets.
The play benefited from a bizarre blitz call that cost Gregg Williams his job as defensive coordinator and saw a touchdown from long distance with five seconds left.
The joy was short-lived as the Indianapolis Colts throttled Las Vegas a week later but that page isn’t part of this story.
Then, the Raiders played the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 17, a Thursday nighter. Las Vegas rallied behind Marcus Mariota, replacing an injured Carr, to force overtime.
And, they drove 70 yards in 14 plays in the extra session, devouring 6:42 before kicking a field goal for a 27-24 lead. Only problem was a field goal on the first drive in OT allows your foe a chance to win it with a TD.
And that is precisely what Los Angeles did as the Chargers survived a fumble into the end zone before Justin Herbert managed to get the ball over the goal line and keep control over it for a 30-27 victory.
Then came Boxing Day when the Raiders appeared in trouble because a Daniel Carlson missed PAT appeared costly when a Ryan Fitzpatrick TD pass and Dolphins PAT put them in a 25-23 hole with 2:55 left.
Carlson would make amends, kind of, kicking a field goal with 19 seconds left to give Vegas a two-point lead.
There was a 99.9% percent chance the Raiders would win, according to ESPN’s win probability.
What did they know? FitzMagic struck again and after a long pass and roughing the passer penalty, Jason Sanders kicked a field goal to give Miami the 26-25 victory and end the Raiders’ December on another crushing note.
