Dave Portnoy goes scorched earth on the refs and Pete Carroll after a ‘disgusting’ Raiders-Broncos bad beat — a fiery, no-holds-barred rant that lights up social media, sending shockwaves through fans and the NFL world alike.
Bettors beware.
The end of the Broncos-Raiders game had Dave Portnoy up in arms, calling for “prison” for the officials, Raiders coach Pete Carroll and the NFL after Las Vegas was able to get a field goal late in the game that had no implication on the final outcome — but was big for gamblers.
The game seemed all but over when Raiders receiver Tyler Lockett made a catch and was tackled in bounds with five seconds left on the clock.
Barstool founder and CEO Dave Portnoy
Time would have expired right there, except for the fact that Broncos safety Brandon Jones was on top of Lockett after making the tackle, and the officials called a delay of game penalty — allowing the Raiders to get one more play.
Carroll opted to send his field goal unit onto the field and Daniel Carlson nailed the 46-yard kick as time expired, making the final 24-17, meaning the Broncos failed to cover — Denver had been favored by 8.5 points, and the over, which had been set at 40.5, hit.
Portnoy, along with other accounts on social media, alleged there was malfeasance afoot due to the decision-making and the call at the end of the game.
“This is honestly prison,” Portnoy wrote on X along with a roughly two-minute breakdown of the moment. “I’ve never seen a shadier sequence in my life. Prison for Pete Carroll and that ref.”
“You call that delay of game on the defense with 12 seconds left,” Portnoy said at one point in the video. “You call that delay of game when the game is over? What are you talking about. I’ve seen that 1,000 times where it’s four, three, two, one go home, game is over. And then Pete Carroll runs out the field goal unit and kicks a field goal to end the game with no time.”
“This guy, prison,” he continued when the referee was shown in the video. “This ref, prison. Pete Carroll, prison. NFL, prison. This is the most rigged game I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Disgusting. F–king prison.”
Head coach Pete Carroll of the Las Vegas Raiders reacts during the fourth quarter against the Denver Broncos at Allegiant Stadium on December 07, 2025.
Portnoy had posted another video before that where he crashed out over the play, lamenting that the game was “rigged” and calling for the “murder” of Pete Carroll.
The Raiders coach was not asked about the decision to kick a field goal after the game.
The sequence comes with sports betting under a heavy microscope after a federal probe into alleged illegal gambling practices involving the NBA.
