OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!! How many Steelers players just hit their heads on the floor when they fainted?
The former Steeler lineman on the Chargers makes the crucial mistake going downfield to wipe out a big gain. The fix is in!
Too bad. As Collinsworth and Michaels said, if Staley calling that timeout made the Raiders coach decide to kick the field goal rather than take a knee, Staley would deserve it.
I think the raiders were just going to run out the clock, sending both teams to the playoffs, until Staley acted like an ass and called the timeout, then the raiders said fuck you and kicked the fg lol.
That sucked. Just ONCE, I thought the Steelers fans would finally feel my pain. Instead … they celebrate once again, and it’s MORE Jetlike agony for the Chargers fans. I swear that team has had more rip-your-heart-out losses in the last 20 years than any team in the league.
Wow, that is amazing - Staley's arrogance costs them the playoffs. I'll be interested to see if the anti-analytics crowd tries to pin this on that. That would be total BS - Staley is far more an arrogant jerk than an analytics guru.
I'm pretty sure if you have a 100% probability of making the playoffs with a tie, the analytics don't tell you to call timeout there.
Can't even say it was a Jetsesque way to lose. I wonder what the Chargers lockerroom was like after the game. I bet some players didn't even look at Staley. Was he seriously trying to ice the kicker? I don't know what could possibly have been in his mind by being wise ass. I hate the Raiders, but that was a bitch move. Anyway, wild game.
I think Staley has a high IQ but a low EQ. If you assume the Raiders are playing to win and will attempt the FG regardless, it makes sense to call that timeout. If you don't get the stop on 3rd down, it doesn't matter whether you call timeout because the Raiders can always stop the clock and kick the FG. And if you do get the stop, there will be 30 seconds on the clock (and you'll have another timeout to stop it again), so the Raiders will have to think twice about kicking because if they miss, Herbert will have time to get the Chargers into FG range. But in reality, Staley was a fucking dumbass because the Raiders were just going through the motions on 1st and 2nd down. If he doesn't call the timeout, the Raiders half-ass third down, don't pick up the first, and let the clock run out. But by calling the timeout, the Raiders were like "Hey this clown is still playing to win (because there's no other reason to call the timeout); if that's how he wants it, that's how he'll get it." So the Raiders decided to try, and that was that.
