The Raiders were inches away from beating the Cowboys on Sunday night, a victory that would have improved their record to 7-7 and immeasurably improved their playoff chances. Instead, with 30 seconds left and Dallas clinging to a 20-17 lead, Derek Carr was victimized by one of football's dumbest rules: While diving for the pylon, he fumbled out of the back of the end zone for a touchback.

It's hard to fault Carr, who was, you know, playing football. And the Raiders quarterback said he'd do it again too (diving for a touchdown, not fumbling out of the end zone).

"When I took off to jump, in my head I thought it was a touchdown because I knew I had the corner," Carr said, via ESPN.com. "From a mindset standpoint, looking back, yeah, I want to do something different because we lost. But from making that decision, I always think of it in basketball terms — I'd rather take the last shot and miss it than pass it off and try and do it another way. …

"From a competitive standpoint, I'd try it, but with better technique, two hands, I don't know, but something to where we don't lose the game. But from making that decision, I think I'd go for it again."

Like just about everybody else on the planet, Carr doesn't think the punishment fits the infraction.

"It does deter your mind of giving an amazing effort because an amazing effort ends up in a loss, so it's no good," he said. "I always try and give my best effort. When I was there and in the moment, I saw the pylon and I saw a win for our team and I tried to go for it. The fact that it went out and they get the ball, it's like, 'Dang,' one of those things.

"It's definitely something that could be looked at. There are a lot of things that they want to look at and we're always trying to make the game better. It would definitely take away from guys making an effort for those types of situations."

The Raiders are currently ninth in the AFC, three games out of the final playoff spot, behind the Bills, Ravens and Chargers. Oakland's two remaining games are on the road -- against the Eagles and the Chargers -- and a lot will have to break the Raiders' way for them to make the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since 2001-2002.