The Las Vegas Raiders entered Sunday’s match-up with the Indianapolis Colts as the least penalized team in the National Football League.

On Sunday, however, penalties held Las Vegas back the most in its 23-20 defeat. The Raiders were penalized seven times, some of which were crucial plays in the game.

Perhaps the most significant was Raiders cornerback Jack Jones’ offsides penalty late in the fourth quarter that allowed Indianapolis a re-do at a missed 50-yard field goal. The Colts would make it on the second try, converting on the ultimate game-deciding field goal.

The Raiders also were given a false-start penalty on offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor on their first possession of the game. It set them back 5 yards but threw off their momentum. They would eventually have to settle for a field goal to end their 12-play drive.

“[It is] very difficult when the Raiders play the Raiders,” said Raiders Interim Head Coach Antonio Pierce when he addressed the media after the game. “We’ve been pretty good as far as being focused pre-snap. That didn’t happen today on both sides of the ball.

“And again, that kind of costs you in a game like this where it comes down to three points. We have opportunities on third- and fourth-and-one to keep drives alive.”

“You can’t point fingers at players. We got to do a better job as coaches, obviously. That’s what you’re going to hear.

“It’s just a focus thing, right? I mean, false starts, offsides, that’s Raiders beating themselves. And that’s something that we’ve for seven games, at least, we hadn’t done, and then today, it kind of came up and it bit us.”

Up until Sunday, the Raiders had allowed just 4.5 penalties per game. They had totaled just eight penalties in their previous two games combined.

Especially on the road, penalties are a setback a team cannot afford. It happened to be Las Vegas’ downfall on Sunday, and now, their playoff hopes are no more.