Did Raiders’ field goal cause worst bad beat of year? Barstool Sports founder thinks so

Where do we send that fruit basket to Pete Carroll?

That’s what South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews posted on X (@andrewssports) after the Raiders bailed out bookmakers by kicking a field goal as time expired to cover the spread as 8-point underdogs in a 24-17 loss to the Broncos on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.

If it was up to Barstool Sports founder and high-stakes sports bettor Dave Portnoy, that fruit basket would be sent to the Raiders coach in prison.

“Prison for everybody!!” Portnoy posted on X (@stoolpresidente) above a video of him ranting about the ending. “That’s the biggest rig job I’ve ever seen. Investigate the NFL. Investigate Pete Carroll. Investigate the Raiders!!!”

The Raiders trailed 24-14 with 16 seconds left after quarterback Kenny Pickett spiked the ball to stop the clock at his own 41. On the next play, Pickett completed a 26-yard pass to Tyler Lockett, who was tackled inbounds as CBS play-by-play announcer Andrew Catalon said, “He’s got Lockett but I don’t know if they’ll be able to spike it in time.”

As the clock ticked down to five seconds, a delay of game penalty was called on Denver safety Brandon Jones, who appeared to hold down Lockett for a moment. Carroll then called for a field goal and Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson made a 46-yarder on the final play and dealt a brutal bad beat to Broncos bettors.

“That’s the worst beat of all time,” Portnoy repeated several times during his rant. “You have to investigate the Raiders. What are they doing? … That is cheating. … Pete Carroll should be in (expletive) prison. … The refs. Everybody. This is prison. … Murder Pete Carroll. I want Pete Carroll murdered.”

He then rewound the game’s final sequence.

“They’re not even going to come close to getting a play off. They called a delay of game with four seconds. The game was over,” he said. “They they run out the field goal unit and kick a field goal with no time left. Prison.”

Portnoy made two more posts above replays of the ending, writing “I’ve never seen a shadier sequence in my life” before directing his ire toward the referee.

“This flag needs to be investigated. That is the most random bogus phantom flag of all time,” he wrote. “That ref needs his financial records and his cell phone seized. He had to be on the take. I’ve never seen anything like it. #nflrigged.”

‘As bad as it gets’

The backdoor cover, which also pushed the total over 40½, caused a huge swing in favor of the sportsbooks.

“That was the day. That was the difference between winning and losing,” Boomer’s Sportsbook director of trading Nick Bogdanovich said. “It was a miracle, to say the least. There are a lot of disgruntled customers from here to China that were involved in that game. That’s as bad as it gets.”

Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito called it one of the worst bad beats of the year.

“If you had the Broncos, you are miserable now,” he said. “We needed the second half over and we needed the Raiders to cover.

“All three afternoon games went over, which wasn’t good, and all the favorite teaser sides covered in the afternoon, so we really needed them big time in the afternoon.”

Not every book did well on the game. Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said his book lost on it.

“It cost us money landing exactly on seven. That hurt us,” he said. “Our biggest bets were on money line parlays and teasers to Denver, so those players won.”

‘Mixed bag’

The betting public won the other two afternoon games as the favored Rams (-9½, beat Cardinals 45-17) and Packers (-6½, beat Bears 28-21) covered. The public also cashed in on totals as overs went 10-2.

The books did well on the morning games as underdogs went 5-3 against the spread with four outright wins and a backdoor cover by the Bengals (+6) in a 39-34 loss to the Bills.

“It was a mixed bag of results today,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel said. “Some good games for the book in the morning and the afternoon games going the way of the bettors.”

Survivor carnage

The Circa Survivor contest was slashed from 45 entries to 11 still vying for a $18.7 million prize after 28 were eliminated by the Buccaneers (-7½, lost 24-20 to the Saints), five by the Browns (-3, lost 31-29 to the Titans) and one by the Ravens (-5½, lost 27-22 to the Steelers).

The inaugural SuperContest Survivor is over after six of the remaining eight entries lost on Tampa Bay. The same contestant had the other two entries, losing one on the Browns but winning the $555,000 prize on the Seahawks (-6½, beat Falcons 37-9).

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.