Derek Carr and the Oakland Raiders didn’t play a very good football game Thursday night, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But upon further review, it appears they might have had a little bit of tough luck, too.
The Raiders lost a pivotal AFC West matchup to the Kansas City Chiefs 21-13 in what was one of the worst games of Carr’s career. The Oakland quarterback somehow threw for just 117 passing yards on 41 passing attempts, which seems almost impossible.
However, it could have been at least a few more yards and one more completion had it not been for a wire. Replays certainly seem to support a theory that a fourth-quarter pass intended for Amari Cooper actually hit the camera wire above the field holding the Spidercam. The wire hangs over the field, allowing the camera to zip up and down the field to get an up-close-and-personal view of the game.
Cooper, as you can see, was wide open. Had he made the catch, there’s a legitimate chance Cooper would have been off to the races on a potentially game-changing play.
NBC, for what it’s worth, denied the ball hit the wire.
“The overhead camera is positioned behind the line of scrimmage, so the cables would not be in play,” NBC Sports spokesman Don Masonson told SportsVideo.org.
It’s an interesting theory, but it’s obviously difficult to say with certainty the ball hit the wire, especially when you consider Carr played with a pinky injury on his throwing hand and temperatures in Kansas City were very cold, likely making gripping the football difficult.
UPDATE (12:10 p.m. ET): The NFL apparently looked into the matter, and well …
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Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
H/t to Deadspin
