Pete Carroll is having a hard enough time coaching the Las Vegas Raiders without any of the outside noise. However, fans are growing more and more frustrated with how he’s been running the team.
Now that’s extending beyond just Raiders fans. The line for the Week 14 matchup between the Raiders and the Denver Broncos was set at -7.5 in favor of the latter. With only seconds remaining in the game, Denver held a 24-14 lead.
In a desperate plan to hopefully get one more possession, Carroll had the Raiders kick a field goal to make it a seven-point game, but the clock expired before the kick went through. At that moment, anybody who bet against the Raiders covering the spread lost their money.
One of the people who held that ticket was Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. Needless to say, he was very upset with Carroll after the game.
“Prison Pete Carroll. Murder Pete Carroll,” Pornoy said in a video posted to X. “I want Pete Carroll murdered.”
There’s no doubt that there are other sports bettors upset with the outcome outside of Portnoy, but calling for the murder of an NFL head coach led to a lot of backlash that the Barstool founder had to respond to.
Portnoy Issues Apology
Portnoy is one of the biggest voices in sports media, so when he posts a video like that, people are going to notice. He quickly realized his error in judgment and put out an apology.
“We don’t want harm, and don’t want physical violence. We don’t want threats. I disavow real violence,” Portnoy said on Monday’s episode of “Wake Up Barstool” on FS1. “Anybody who thought I was actually calling for him to be murdered and killed so he couldn’t breathe … you misread this situation, and I apologize.”
Portnoy then explained how much money his lost because of the play, which is why he was so outraged.
“I would like to say this loudly, clearly, emphatically, we never want physical harm to anybody based on a decision, a play, anything,” Portnoy said. “However, in the moment, you may be upset by one of the wildest sequences that cost you a quarter million [dollars]. So it is a metaphorical murder.”
Raiders Decision Made Sense
It was the longest of long shots that the Raiders were going to be able to get the ball back and try to tie it at the end of the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t impossible. Had there even been a second left on the clock, the Raiders would’ve been able to do an onside kick.
In that scenario, they at least would’ve had a chance at getting the ball back and getting creative. It’s highly unlikely that Carroll is even aware of any betting lines involving the Raiders. His job is to try and win the game, not satisfy bettors. It’s been a season of questionable decisions from Carroll, but going for the field goal at the end of the game was not one of them. It was the only thing the Raiders could do in that spot.
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