Dave Portnoy’s ‘rigged’ Raiders fury called out after Barstool founder’s social media meltdown

Dave Portnoy has never been afraid to call out the NFL.

But he was left raging due to the events that occurred with just seconds remaining in the contest between the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders.

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With the Broncos leading 24-14 over the Raiders with under 20 seconds left to play, the Raiders converted a first down on a 3rd & 3 with backup quarterback Kenny Pickett found wide receiver Tyler Lockett for a 26-yard gain at the Denver 33 yard line.

The catch was made with just nine seconds left of regulation, but Broncos safety Brandon Jones received a delay of game penalty following his tackle on Lockett, moving the Raiders to the 28-yard line.

With the clock stopped at four seconds, first-year Raiders head coach Pete Carroll sent out his field goal unit, with Daniel Carlson converting the 46-yard field goal as time expired to cut the deficit of the defeat to 24-17.

With there no reason to tack on the field goal as the result wouldn’t change, many, including Portnoy, were outraged due to the betting odds coming into the contest.

According to Covers, the Broncos were 7.5-point favorites for the game, and the total was 40.5, meaning that the meaningless field goal was a bad beat for the ages.

Portnoy unleashed an explosive rant on X calling for ‘prison’ for Carroll and the NFL official who threw the penalty flag.

“That’s the worst beat of all time!” Portnoy said in an explosive rant on X. “You have to investigate the Raiders. Investigate the Raiders! What are they doing?! What the f**k?!! That’s the worst beat of all time.

“That is cheating. What the f**k. … This is the worst beat of all time. Pete Carroll should be in f*****g prison. Prison for Pete Carroll. … The refs, everybody. This is prison!”

“The spread’s eight-and-a-half… Murder Pete Carroll. I want Pete Carroll murdered… They called a delay of game with four seconds? The game was over!”

But the Barstool Sports founder wasn’t finished there.

It didn’t take long for him to post another more in-depth analysis of the play in question and – with slightly more composure – added, “This is the most rigged game I have ever seen in my entire life. Disgusting!”

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Just four minutes later, he posted the video of the play again alongside a caption which read, “THIS FLAG NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED. THAT IS THE MOST RANDOM BOGUS PHANTOM FLAG OF ALL TIME. THAT REF NEEDS HIS FINANCIAL RECORDS AND HIS CELL PHONE SEIZED. HE HAD TO BE ON THE TAKE. IVE NEVER SEE. ANYTHING LIKE IT. #nflrigged.”

Portnoy wasn’t the only one who was dumbfounded by the decision, as Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina also took to X to voice his own opinion on the events that unfolded at the end of the game.

“Just saw the end of the Broncos-Raiders game. There should be an FBI investigation AND a 30-for-30 on how Vegas covered +7.5,” Traina wrote before posting a second tweet alluding to the spread which read, “I just can’t believe this happened after a ridiculous delay of game penalty on the defense.

“Solid job though by @JasonMcCourty and @AndrewCatalon for giving the wink wink to all the bettors.”

It should be pointed out that plenty were happy to call out Portnoy for his remarks particularly given the context of social media platforms being used to abuse players,teams and coaches, particularly given the rise of betting in US sports.

“Went into this thinking it would be funny and instead it’s repulsive and awful, Joking or not, rooting for Raiders HC Pete Carroll to be murdered is appalling and reprehensible, and over a stupid bet. Sometimes you can have dollars and not have sense,” one user added when quoting a post that as of Monday evening have been seen more than 3million times.

“This is the kind of thing that happens when sports betting has become mainstream, dudes like this just thing this is funny content when this is just outright childish and moranic for a grow man to be acting in such a fashion,” another said.

“Watch a sunset and relax, Dave,” a third user suggested.

Whilst under-fire Geno Smith started the contest, he suffered a shoulder injury as time expired in the third quarter and would not return to the game having thrown 13-of-21 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown, in what some believe could be his final appearance in a Raiders uniform after a tumultuous campaign.

Pickett, therefore, made his third appearance of the 2025 season, in which he completed eight of his 11 pass attempts for 97 yards and a touchdown in the final quarter as the Raiders fall to 2-11 on the year.

They sit second in the NFL Draft order, and could find themselves in possession of the first overall pick with games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans, New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs remaining.

Meanwhile the Sean Payton-led Broncos climb to 11-2 in their pursuit of clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC as Bo Nix completed 31-of-38 passing for 212 passing yards and added a rushing score.

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