Las Vegas Raiders Week 15 Studs and Duds: Mariota shines

Duds: The Officials

The Las Vegas Raiders did themselves very little favors with their play on Thursday, but they were not helped by the officials, as they made decision after decision to punish them. One of the more egregious plays was early on as the Chargers receiver stiff-armed Trayvon Mullen at the top of his route and drew a flag, but for some reason, they picked it up.

Another obvious miss was a big hit on Hunter Renfrow on a punt return where the Chargers defender lowered his head to initiate contact and laid out the diminutive receiver. This was a textbook penalty, but the Chargers escaped with no laundry on the field.

Lastly, and perhaps most egregiously, the officials gave the Chargers a new set of downs when Justin Herbert attempted to run it in from the 2-yard line and was stopped short by the Raiders defense. They threw a flag on Nick Kwiatkoski for hitting Herbert with his helmet but did not afford Renfrow that same protection on the punt return, or for Mariota as he was hit late on the sideline.

They always say that you shouldn’t expect the refs to bail you out, but when it comes to making basic decisions, why can’t we expect that from NFL officials?