Well that was weird

Fascinating exercise in game theory at the end of the Chargers-Raiders game.

The situation was that a tie would send both team to the playoffs, while a win by either would knock the other team out.

After a wild series of events, the game was tied in overtime with the clock down to 40 seconds to go and running, and the Raiders not quite in field goal range. The Raiders certainly seemed to be playing for the tie, which of course was also in the Chargers’ interest, but LA’s coach suddenly seemed to forget this, and called a time out with 38 seconds to go. This is something that would make sense to do only if you needed to win the game.

The Raiders then picked up ten yards on the next play, which put them in range to kick the game-winning FG, which they did. A further twist here is that it didn’t make sense for the Raiders to try the FG with two seconds left, as it could have been blocked and returned for a TD. BTW the NFL has some rule about how you have to try to win in this kind of situation but I have no idea how it could be enforced. These kinds of situations come up in soccer not infrequently, and in that sport there’s a kind of informal understanding that it’s OK for both teams to play for the tie. This goes back to my post the other day about no flopping in (American) football.

I would love to know what the Chargers’ head coach, Brandon Staley (a rookie head coach who has just about the strangest resume I’ve ever seen for an NFL head coach — check out his previous jobs) was thinking.