McDaniels hopes Raiders can launch kick finish in NFL marathon

Josh McDaniels admitted the Las Vegas Raiders have already “lost the sprint” as he held out hope they could be marathon specialists instead, following another painful defeat. The Raiders went down 30-29 on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday, missing a late chance to pinch the game.

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Davante Adams got on the end of his second deep touchdown of the game after a 48-yard bomb from Derek Carr, but instead of kicking the extra point to tie, the Raiders opted to go for two and were stopped short. Last season saw the Raiders finish with a 10-7 record under interim coach Rich Bisaccia, but they are 1-4 so far in this campaign, McDaniels’ first at the helm.

“This is a marathon. If it was a sprint, we lost the sprint,” McDaniels said. “Fortunately for us, it’s a marathon. We understand what these games mean and they each matter. They’re each significant at the end of your season, we know that. They add up. But I think the thing we have to focus on is take the positives and then also try to learn from the things that we’re not quite doing well enough. That’s our job. That’s what we’re going to continue to do. That’s what we’ve done after we’ve won, that’s what we’ve done after we lost, and we’re going to continue to do that. There’s progress we’ve made and that’s a good football team out there.”

Carr hits milestone

The Raiders have only lost by single-digit margins so far, therefore McDaniels sees the scope for them turning around those tight games. Quarterback Carr completed 19 of 30 for 241 yards and two touchdowns, passing 200 career passing touchdowns, a landmark for which he said he was “thankful”.

McDaniels said the Raiders “gave ourselves an opportunity, and we just didn’t make one or two plays at the end to finish it”. As the Chiefs improved to 4-1 with their win, the Raiders coach added: “Hopefully we’ll learn from this and be better.”