The Kansas City Chiefs weren't the only ones who had to deal with a controversial penalty on Monday night. The Raiders also got hit with a penalty that raised a few eyebrows around the NFL during their wild 30-29 loss to the Chiefs.
In the Raiders case, the penalty came as a surprise because they got flagged for something that almost never gets called: Defensive holding on a FIELD GOAL.
During a key part of the fourth quarter, the Raiders appeared to come away with a huge stop after Chiefs kicker Matthew Wright missed a 37-yard field goal on fourth-and-14. Unfortunately for the Raiders though, the Chiefs offense got to stay on the field because they were awarded a first down after Malcolm Koonce got flagged for defensive holding. Fans watching the game at home were baffled by the call and that's mostly because they had never seen a team flagged for it.
51 years old.....I've never ever witnessed defensive holding on a field goal attempt 🤦♂️
— Frank Molina🇨🇺🇺🇲 (@QBNR8R) October 11, 2022
That was the first defensive holding on a field goal I’ve seen in my entire life
— Moore Sports (@SportsMoore) October 11, 2022
How do you get a defensive holding call on a field goal attempt
— Allan Bell (@AllanBell247) October 11, 2022
They called holding on a field goal attempt that the Chiefs missed and sealed the game.
— RaidersAddicts ®™ (@RaidersAddicts) October 11, 2022
Never in my life have I seen defensive holding on a field goal attempt.
I am beyond mad. #RaiderNation
There's a reason most fans have never seen a defensive holding penalty on a field goal and that's because it's a call that rarely gets made. Before Monday night, the last time any team in the NFL got flagged for it came in 2015, according to the Associated Press. The twist here is that the last team to get flagged for it was also the Raiders and the referee in that 2015 game was the same referee from Monday night: Carl Cheffers.
If you're wondering what defensive holding on a field goal looks like, here's the video of Koonce's illegal act.
This was the holding call on Koonce…#LVvsKC #Raiders pic.twitter.com/Jm4ufyXC35
— Tony Clements (@TonyCMKE) October 11, 2022
In the grand scheme of things, the holding call had a much bigger impact on the game than the controversial roughing the passer penalty. If the Raiders don't get flagged, they would have gained possession of the football on the Chiefs' 27-yard line with just under 9:30 left to play while trailing 24-23. Instead, the Chiefs got a free first down and four plays after the penalty, they got a Travis Kelce touchdown that allowed them to go up 30-23.
Following the game, Raiders coach Josh McDaniels refused to complain about the officiating.
"Whatever they call, they call. They know better than I do. That's their job," McDaniels told the media. "We respect what they do and how they do it. They got a difficult job. I'll never stand up here and say that that cost us anything in the game. We got penalized, [the Chiefs] got penalized, it is what it is. I know this: We can coach it and play it cleaner than we did. That's what I'm going to take away from the game. I'm going to try and coach it better, try to get our guys to execute it better."
In that case, McDaniels will have an extra week to clean up the penalties because the Raiders are headed into their bye, which means they won't be back on the field until Week 7.