Raiders special teams: Daniel Carlson can’t have another letdown outing

Las Vegas’ well-paid kicker misses 3 field goals in 19-17 defeat in Kansas City

A healthy $4.65-million sum.

That’s Daniel Carlson’s cap number as the Las Vegas Raiders place kicker — good for seventh-highest cap hit in the league, according to Spotrac. The 29-year-old is in year three of a four-year, $18.4-million contract extension he signed back in December of 2021. It’s a pact that had $10.134-million in guaranteed coin and an average annual salary of $4.6 million.

All this is to say Carlson is a well-paid kicker in the NFL. So much so, that his 1-for-4 performance in the Raiders 19-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs is inexcusable. Hence why Carlson appears on the Loser list in Matt Holder’s winners and losers piece from the Week 13 matchup.

Normally money and a reliable part of Las Vegas offense, Carlson can’t have another letdown performance as points come at a premium for the Silver & Black. In a trying 2024 campaign, the Raiders averaging 18.6 points per game (ranking 27th out of the 32 teams) while struggling to stop opponents from scoring (yielding 27.8 points per game; 28th), which contributes heavily to the 2-10 overall record.

Granted, Carlson’s misfires were from substantial distances: First was a 56-yard boot, the others from 55 and 58 yards out. Heading into the Black Friday tilt, Carlson was 6 of 7 from 50 yards and further this season. He was also the fourth most-accurate kicker entering the game. While he hit the first boot — a 27-yard gimme — he whiffed on the next three attempts.

To compound matters, Carlson didn’t even get a chance to attempt a redeeming field goal attempt in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. The Raiders planned to bleed more clock, throw the ball out of bounds, and send in Carlson to kick the potential game-winning boot — according to head coach Antonio Pierce — but miscommunication led to an early snap, fumble, Chiefs recover and ballgame.

Carlson’s counterpart, Kansas City’s Matthew Wright, finished 4-for-5 with his miss a 59-yard attempt that felt short of the uprights. He accounted for 13 of the Chiefs’ 19-point output.

Still Booming

AJ Cole III remains a constant field flipper as the Raiders punter and his outing against the Chiefs began with a 58-yard blast that went out of bounds at Kansas City’s one-yard line. Yet, a holding penalty on Las Vegas wiped that out and his next boot was a 46-yard punt downed at Kansas City’s 23-yard line.

From there, Cole punted two more times finishing with 140 yards on the three boots for a 46.7 yard average. One of those punts was downed inside the Chiefs’ 20 and his longest blast was a 55-yard blast.

Kansas City punter Matt Araiza finished with five boots for 217 yards (43.4 average) with two of the kicks landing inside Las Vegas’ 20-yard line. Araiza’s longest punt was a 54-yarder.

Where They Stand

Now 23 of 28 on the season, Carlson’s percentage sits at 82.1 percent which is good for 22nd in the league. The attempts put him at eighth overall and the makes puts Carlson at seventh overall.

The Detroit Lions’ Jake Bates missed a kick in Week 13 and is now tied with the Tennessee Titans’ Nick Folk as the pair are 19 of 20 with a 95 percent clip. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Chris Boswell and the Houston Texans’ Ka’imi Fairbairn led the league in attempts with 37, respectively. And it’s that duo that pace the league in makes at 34 and 31, respectively, too.

Cole remains the league leader in average yards per punt at 52.4. The Raiders boomer is fourth in net average (average minus touchback and return yardage) at 44.3. The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Logan Cooke is top dog in that department with a 46.0 net average.

Overall, with 44 punts on the year, Cole is 14th in the league. His yardage thus far (2,305) is good for 13th amongst his peers. The Cleveland Browns’ Corey Bojorquez paces the NFL in both categories with 64 punts and 3,232 yards.

Abdullah Still Got It

Another game, another big return for the Raiders return unit. This time, it was veteran running back Ameer Abdullah fielding the third-quarter roller at Las Vegas’ six-yard line and taking off for a 68-yard return.

The 31-year-old started left, darted back inside, before going outside again but ran out of speed towards the tail end of the return. That set up the Raiders in prime field position and three plays later, quarterback Aidan O’Connell dropped a 33-yard touchdown time to rookie tight end Brock Bowers to make the deficit 16-10.

Up Next: The Raiders hit the road to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday. Cole has one career game against Tampa: A 45-20 loss back in 2020. Carlson finished that game 2-for-2 on field goals and extra points totaling eight points. Like his kicking battery tag team partner, that too was Cole’s lone game against the Bucs. He punted three times for 121 yards for an uncharacteristically low 40.3 yards per punt average. Two of Cole’s boots were downed inside Tampa’s 20-yard line.