Raiders special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis takes questions during a new conference at the ...
Raiders special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis takes questions during a new conference at the team’s headquarters on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, in Henderson. (Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @HeidiFang
Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza, right, celebrates with linebacker Jack Cochrane (43) aft ...
Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza, right, celebrates with linebacker Jack Cochrane (43) after running for a first down on a fake punt during the first half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Las Vegas, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Pat McAfee during pregame of an NFL Monday Night Football ga ...
ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Pat McAfee during pregame of an NFL Monday Night Football game in New Orleans, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ella Hall)
Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee (1) is congratulated by coach Chuck Pagano after McAfee th ...
Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee (1) is congratulated by coach Chuck Pagano after McAfee threw a pass for a first down during the first half of the team's NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) looks for room to run against New England Patriots lineb ...
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) looks for room to run against New England Patriots lineb ...
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, left, signals after a field goal while standing wi ...
Turnover-prone Patriots wary of Raiders’ opportunistic defense
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) is helped off the field after a leg injury during the s ...
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty (2) is helped off the field after a leg injury during the s ...
Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis took full blame for the fake punt the Las Vegas Raiders allowed against the Kansas City Chiefs last week.
But he wasn’t thrilled with some of the outside criticism.
“I saw on some podcast where the guy said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that,’” DeCamillis said. “Well, we scored a touchdown against you, dude. So obviously you have.”
DeCamillis did not clarify the target of his retort, but it was almost certainly former Indianapolis Colts coach and frequent “The Pat McAfee Show” guest Chuck Pagano.
McAfee and Pagano spent several minutes on the show breaking down the Raiders’ decision to drop three players from the line of scrimmage and have the left end crash to set up a return in the first quarter, leaving a huge lane for Kansas City punter Matt Araiza to take off and run 12 yards for a first down.
While they both expressed a great deal of respect for DeCamillis, they offered strong critiques of his decision and had some fun with it.
But it was DeCamillis who had the first laugh.
He was special teams coordinator in Denver under Klint Kubiak’s father, Gary, in 2015 when the Broncos ran back a McAfee punt for an 83-yard touchdown as time expired in the first half. Pagano was the head coach at the time.
Still, DeCamillis acknowledged his mistake against the Chiefs as he tried to generate a big play in the return game.
“That was a total misplay on my part,” he said Friday. “I got way too greedy. That was not for that part of the field.”
It wasn’t the first time the Raiders had used the look, which he said helps improve the blocking downfield.
The Raiders called a similar play against Miami, but the Dolphins didn’t counter. Kansas City may have picked it up on film and had Araiza audible to the fake.
“It’s a great call on their part, and I’ll learn from that situation and not get greedy,” DeCamillis said. “It’s just one of those things that schematically that you try to work on, and it was obviously a bad play at that point in the game. Defense bailed us out, though. They did a heck of a job.”
The special teams had another tough moment later in the game when Dareke Young fumbled in a pivotal moment. Kansas City did convert that error into a touchdown to give the Chiefs their biggest lead of the game.
It’s the second week in a row the Raiders have fumbled away a kickoff return.
DeCamillis pinned the blame once again on the entire return team for allowing too many tacklers into the area of the returner, but he acknowledged the Raiders can’t continue to make big mistakes if they hope to win games, starting Sunday against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
“We’ve got to eliminate that one bad play,” he said. “And I’m going to tell you this week we better eliminate it because this is a heck of a group coming in. They just put (special teams ace Brenden) Schooler up. They just activated him, which if he’s not the best special teams player in the league, he’s right up there with anybody else. He’s a really good one. So, it’s going to be a heck of a challenge for us.”
DeCamillis knows from experience, having overlapped with Patriots coach Mike Vrabel when they were both in the AFC South.
“He supports (special teams),” DeCamillis said. “He emphasizes it both with players and with how much time he spends on it and the fakes and some of the things he does. So, we’ve got a challenge in front of us. We’ve got to do a heck of a job against these guys.”