Oakland Raiders’ head coach Jon Gruden has accepted the NFL’s apology for a blown call on a sideline slide by Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr during their loss against the Jacksonville Jaguars, according to ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.
Al Riveron, the league’s senior vice president of officiating, issued the apology to Gruden, and although he accepted it, he is still upset with how things went down.
“Derek was in bounds and that play cost us dearly,” Gruden said during his weekly media conference on Monday. “They stopped the game in Indiana, took my middle linebacker away for 12 weeks, ended his season,” Gruden said, referring to Raiders’ suspended veteran linebacker Vontaze Burfict and his controversial hit on Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle earlier in the season.
“They stopped the game in Kansas City and took [Trayvon] Mullen’s interception away. Why the hell wouldn’t you stop the game and get the clock right? I don’t think it was even close. So, I’m not happy about it. Apologies are great but this is 2020; I’ve been in enough meetings and I’m disgusted by it. I don’t want any instant replay in my life, personally, but if we’re going to have it, let’s use it properly. I don’t think it’s that hard to do.”
The Raiders were attempting to run out the clock, nursing a 16-13 lead, when Carr took off on a read option play on 2nd and 9 on the Jaguars’ 43 yard line. Although he picked up 12 yards on the play, gaining the first down, but Carr was incorrectly ruled to have slid out of bounds, which stopped the clock with 2:05 in regulation, and saving a timeout for the Jaguars in the process.
The Raiders were then issued a delay of game penalty while they protested the call, which left them facing first and 15 for the 36 yard line.
“It’s one of the more shocking moments of my life, if I’m being honest,” Carr said. “I understand the rule differently, I guess.
“If they want to talk about it, y’all can have a press conference with the refs. Maybe they’ll do that someday, but I won’t get into all that and I’ll keep my money in my pocket.”
“The quarterback gave himself up, in the field of play, we’ve got eight [officials] out there so I’m not going to say much more,” Gruden said. “But to answer your question, [the apology is] not real fulfilling, [nor] is it fulfilling for our team or our fans that came out to support us.”