Twice in the last four days, legit dark-horse playoff hopefuls -- Raiders would have been a game out of a playoff spot, Saints would have been half a game out of first -- have managed to turn 16-3 leads with under 4 minutes left into 17-16 losses. Celebrate Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield (an unusual phrase there) if you will, but these were flat-out choke jobs. Twice in four days.

Last night's Raiders-Rams game was worse for two reasons. One is because I don't think very many Rams cared about winning. And two is because from the very first quarter it seemed like the Raiders were playing with a conservative, we-don't-need-to-do-much-to-win-this-game, let's try not to lose it sort of approach. And as we know, when you play not to lose, it's easy not to win. (A third reason is a pair of monumentally stupid defensive penalties, which we'll get to later.)

QUARTERBACKS:

I'm going to pin this loss largely on Josh McDaniels, but I suppose Derek Carr will take some heat. But Carr doesn't call the plays, which consisted of just 20 pass attempts (7 after halftime) against a defense that in its last six (all losses) has allowed an average of 291 passing yards and exactly 2 TDs per game. Two of the 3-TD guys were Andy Dalton and Geno Smith (Smith threw for 367 just 4 days ago) -- wonderful fellow I'm sure, but not more adept passers than Carr. But it was like the Raiders decided, we can win this with Josh Jacobs getting nearly 30 carries, even against a defense that ranks 4th against the run and 21st against the pass, and that's what we're a-gonna do. From the very first drive I was wondering why the Raiders weren't passing more, especially considering the big play on that one was a sick one-handed grab down the sideline by Davante Adams, who might just be the best receiver in the game. (By FAR the best receiver in THIS game, of course.) But they had their game plan and they stuck to it.

On another site I saw Carr taking heat for an end-zone interception at the conclusion of the first half. It was indeed a horrible lollipop throw, but the thing didn't happen in a vacuum -- his lineman was driven into him just before he released the ball by a Rams defender. Might have had some kind of impact on the throw and stuff. His 2nd interception came with 10 seconds left from his own 25; not a spot you have the option of being careful. Anyway: Carr's biggest shortcoming in this game was not attempting enough passes. And that's on the coaching staff.

John Wolford started this game. Does he get credit for the win? He handed it off three times and then took a seat for Baker Mayfield. I've dug around for some indication from Sean McVay as to why Wolford even started without success. Frustrating the 1-2 fantasy teams who really wanted to start Mayfield, or who did start Wolford? There was probably somebody somewhere, perhaps related to one of them. Or maybe he just didn't like the way Wolford handed the ball off on the first series. Anyway, Mayfield looked much like Mayfield, erratic and off-target for a lot of the game, running a couple of busted plays where it seemed like he just got the playbook 48 hours earlier, which of course he did. But he's a former No. 1 overall pick so it's not overly surprising he ultimately did a couple of things that neither Wolford nor Bryce Perkins would likely have done. The game-winning touchdown pass was a perfect, perfect throw, albeit woefully defended by the Raiders. But I won't steal credit from Mayfield for his best throw in the past two seasons or so. Rams play Green Bay and Denver the next two weeks and Mayfield won't be putting up good numbers in either of those games.

RUNNING BACKS:

So Josh Jacobs is having a great year, and if you started him you were thrilled to see him score on the opening drive, catch a couple of passes, and finish with 115 total yards without getting hurt. But Jacobs averaged just 3.7 yards per attempt, a reminder that the Rams are a lot better defending the run than the pass. So why give him 27 carries? I suppose McDaniels fans would point out that it would have worked fine but for a stupid defensive penalty at the end. Fair point. But running less and passing more would have also had the same effect, on the off-chance we consider analysis of opposing defense strengths and weaknesses something coaching staffs should do. Ameer Abdullah and Zamir White combined for 2 touches on the first series and 3 the entire rest of the game.

Cam Akers is back in the Rams' good graces, getting 13 touches and a touchdown. Lost a soft fumble that might have essentially ended the game had the Raiders not turned it over just before the half (close to being 20-3 at that point). But continued to get work. The Rams apparently don't have much interest in giving Kyren Williams a lot of work. He had a couple of nice carries but totaled 4 touches, one more than Malcolm Brown. Why the Rams are putting Brown on the field is beyond me, but maybe he's a good locker-r00m guy. Brown and Williams played a similar amount, a reminder that Williams can't and shouldn't be used.

WIDE RECEIVERS:

Davante Adams turned in two of the sickest sideline catches while being defended by Jalen Ramsey that you'll ever see. Both plays he was well-covered, one he was interfered with, and he still reeled them both in and got his feet down. You've got a Ferrari, maybe take it out once in a while, but Adams caught only 1 other pass. A team-high 7 targets, at least, but that's about half what Adams should be getting in every game.

Mack Hollins caught 1 fewer pass, having more handles and yards on end-arounds. Good plays that worked, I'll give McDaniels some credit for those. But in general Hollins has been a pretty disappointing starter this season. In his last eight games as a starter and basically the only receiving option other than Adams in most of those, he's caught 2 passes four times, with a top yardage total of 64. The announcers were saying some nice things about him last night, but let's face it, if you put any NFL wideout on the field as regularly as Hollins and stick your two other best receivers on IR five weeks ago, you would probably get as much out of that player as Hollins has given the team. Keelan Cole had one fewer catch last night and he's barely even in the league, with 7 catches this season.

For the Rams, Ben Skowronek had an interesting game. He caught a single pass in the first half, than 6 for 67 after that. I had thought perhaps he'd be the beneficiary of Cooper Kupp being hurt, but please note that Skowronek started the previous four games totaling 7 catches for 53 yards, which is basically a good half from Kupp. Tutu Atwell caught 5 passes, the former second-rounder now has 7 for 98 the last two weeks. It's interesting that Van Jefferson was the No. 3 behind Kupp and Robert Woods and Kupp and Odell Beckham, and now he's the No. 3 behind Atwell and Skowronek. Nice job hauling in the winning touchdown; Jefferson had one other catch the entire game. Last week Brandon Powell led the team in receptions. I guess Skowronek needs to be on the pickup list for next week, guy catches 7 passes and he merits a roster spot in fantasy leagues. But I don't think he'll be a go-to guy, and as noted the Rams probably won't pass as well against the Packers and Broncos the next two weeks.

TIGHT ENDS:

It's been clear a couple of weeks the Rams have no interest in throwing it to Tyler Higbee. I don't know why, but nobody paying attention was starting him last night. Foster Moreau was ranked more favorably, under the rational idea that the Raiders would pass the ball in this game. They didn't and Moreau didn't catch a pass. Next week Darren Waller will be back, so Moreau can be safely kicked to the curb.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Since I've ripped McDaniels plenty, let's talk about two plays which actually enabled the Rams to win this game, probably after a lot of people had seen enough and turned the TV off.

Play 1: With 11 minutes left in the game, the Rams were punting on 4th and 3, down 16-3 at their 32-yard-line. If the punt happens, at best the Rams would get the ball back with about 7 minutes left, still down two scores (assuming the Raiders didn't pick up a couple of first downs). But Clelin Ferrell, best known as being one of the lousiest top-5 picks in recent memory (Mayock/Gruden), was offsides, enabling the Rams to go an 8-minute drive to pull within 16-10.

Play 2: Under 2 minutes left, Mayfield sacked at his own 13-yard line by 2 Raiders. No timeouts left. But tackle Jerry Tillery, who wasn't even involved in the play, decided to slap the ball out of Mayfield's hands for absolutely no reason. 15-yard penalty gets the Rams out of a hole, and 5 plays later they win the game. There was also a pass interference in there that prevented a Mayfield interception. But this was the head scratcher.

I don't know any Raiders fans, unless you count the ones giddily celebrating in our vicinity when they beat the Broncos in overtime a few weeks ago. But I'm guessing that loss will take a while to get over. And I think I've probably talked about it enough at this point.