Raiders-Chiefs controversial ending: Antonio Pierce says team ‘heard a whistle’ before fumble that sealed loss

Aidan O’Connell took full responsibility for a fumbled snap that sealed the Kansas City Chiefs‘ close win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday. The quarterback’s head coach doesn’t regret the way the Raiders finished their final drive, however, and in fact believes the officiating contributed to the team’s critical error.

Addressing reporters after Friday’s 19-17 defeat, Antonio Pierce initially admitted “there was a lot going on” during the Raiders’ final play, during which O’Connell couldn’t corral an early snap and Las Vegas was penalized for an illegal shift, pushing the club out of field-goal range and turning the ball over to the Chiefs.

Asked Saturday if he’d do anything differently to close the drive, such as avoid a shotgun snap while trying to burn clock before a would-be field goal try, Pierce was blunt.

“No,” he said.

The coach added that the turnover may have stemmed from a misunderstanding caused by the officials.

“We heard a whistle on our sideline,” Pierce said, possibly explaining O’Connell’s unreadiness for the snap.

At the end of the day, it’s too little, too late for the Raiders, who fell to 2-10 on the season with the loss. Las Vegas will send the play to the NFL office for review, Pierce explained, but doesn’t anticipate any meaningful action from the league regarding the matter. O’Connell, meanwhile, shouldered blame for the final turnover immediately following Friday’s game.

“The clock was running down, I was trying to get the guys lined up, and we were just going to throw the ball out of bounds, run the clock down, get to fourth down and kick the field goal,” O’Connell said. “It’s completely my fault. I was looking out to the right making sure guys were set, and I started clapping. … I clapped too early. That’s just how the football bounces sometimes. It didn’t go our way. … [And] there’s really nobody to blame but myself. That’s probably the hardest part to swallow.”