5 takeaways from Raiders’ loss to Cowboys in Week 15

The self-inflicted penalties were killer.

Raider Nation can blame Derek Carr, Gene Steratore or whomever they want for the team’s painful loss. If you want to look beyond the highlights, the Raiders have no one to blame for this one but themselves. In a game of less than inches, it was self-inflicted penalties that sank the Silver and Black.

We nearly had a 100-yard return touchdown from the electrifying Cordarrelle Patterson. That would have swung the momentum so heavily in the Raiders’ favor. Instead, special teams player Xavier Woodson-Luster would have a blocking penalty in a part of the field that had no impact on Patterson’s path to pay dirt whatsoever.

Oakland nearly had a safety of Dak Prescott, as it looked like a holding penalty on the Cowboys in their own end zone. Instead, Denico Autry got flagged for a holding penalty and the Cowboys got a first down. Dallas would punt on that drive, but that could have been points for the Raiders.

Finally, Derek Carr had tight end Jared Cook for a certain touchdown pass to bring the Raiders within three shortly before the half. The only problem was that Cook was flagged for a hold on Cowboys linebacker on Sean Lee. The touchdown was taken off the board. Tavecchio would miss the 39-yard field goal try two plays later. Not getting points on that 12-play drive was brutal.