What you missed last night: Raiders’ missing kicker, Kelce on ESPN2, Giants clinch
Through three quarters, NFL fans thought they were watching a pretty good matchup between the Ravens and Raiders on Monday night.
It ended up being the best “Monday Night Football” game since the high-flying Chiefs-Rams contest in 2018 as the Raiders won 33-27 in overtime in Las Vegas.
The Raiders barely forced OT with a 55-yard field goal and it was nuts after that. Las Vegas had a game-winning touchdown overturned by replay, then turned the ball over after having it at the Baltimore 1-yard line, got it back on a fumble recovery, couldn’t find their kicker, and so Derek Carr threw a game-winning touchdown pass.
“I felt like I died and woke up. And died again,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden told reporters. “And I was like a cat — I had multiple lives tonight. I don’t like playing like that. It was tough, but again, we did a lot of really good things to win that football game tonight.”
The Raiders thought they’d won in OT but a replay review showed they came up inches short. Two plays later, Carr threw an interception in the end zone on a deflected ball, Carl Nassib strip-sacked Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. The Raiders recovered at the Baltimore 27-yard line, ran a play and Gruden sent in the field-goal unit. One problem: kicker Daniel Carlson was missing.
“Our kicker was warming up in the net,” Gruden said. “No one could find him. But things worked out.”
The Raiders took a delay-of-game penalty, then Carr threw a game-winning 31-yard touchdown pass to Zay Jones.
Kelce and the FCC
Peyton and Eli Manning had alternate coverage of the Ravens-Raiders “Monday Night Football” game on ESPN2, and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce joined the brothers for part of the broadcast.
Eli Manning asked if the quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs sometimes go off script on offense.
“If it’s right before the play, I’ll look at Pat and will just be given the eyes ‘Yeah. I’m about to make some (stuff) up right here, bro’,” Kelce said. “Oh excuse me. I’m about to make some stuff up right here, man.”
As you may have guessed, Kelce didn’t say stuff, so perhaps ESPN will be hearing from the FCC.
You can read more about Kelce’s appearance here.
Vlad takes home run lead
Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. now sits alone atop the home-run leaders in Major League Baseball. He cranked his 45th of the season Monday night against the Rays, and broke a tie with Angels star Shohei Ohtani.
Royals catcher Salvador Perez is third on the list with 42 home runs.
The Blue Jays are red hot with a 12-1 record in the month of September. They beat Tampa Bay 8-1 and have scored 52 runs in their last four games. Twitter user Doug Kern said that shattered the Toronto record for runs in a four-game span. The old record was 47 in 2015.
Umpire hit in face by ball
During the Cardinals’ 7-0 win over the Mets, St. Louis shortstop Edmundo Sosa made spin move on a quick throw to first. Unfortunately, the throw got away from him.
First base umpire Junior Valentine was focused on what could be a bang-bang play at first base. He never saw the throw from Sosa, which sailed into the side of Valentine’s face.
Remarkably, Valentine didn’t leave the game.
Playoff bound
The first MLB team to clinch a playoff spot: the San Francisco Giants.
San Francisco beat San Diego 9-1 and will be in the postseason either as a wild card or NL West champion.
MLB.com said this was the earliest date the Giants have clinched a playoff spot in franchise history, and the first time they’ve been the first team to clinch a postseason spot since 1987.
This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 6:56 AM.
