The Panthers and Raiders were tied at 32 with 5:15 left when the Riverboat angel tapped Ron Rivera on the left shoulder.

Carolina’s coach was looking at a fourth-and-one from his own 40-yard line.

“Go for it!” urged the angel.

No team in the NFL this season had allowed more fourth-quarter points than the Panthers, and half of Oakland’s eight wins had been late rallies led by the league's best fourth-quarter passer. Plus, what fun is punting when you’ve rallied from 17 points down before giving up an eight-point lead?

But then, on Rivera’s right shoulder, the Analytical angel chimed in.

The Panthers' banged-up offensive line only had one guy who was playing his normal position – left guard Andrew Norwell. So an aggressive call in that spot was especially risky.

Still, the Riverboat angel was awfully tempting.

“Very much so,” Rivera said. “But with five minutes in that type of situation, I decided not to. I thought we could get a good punt, get them down there. We still had three timeouts, and that’s what I was working with.”

The plan worked. Briefly.

After punter Michael Palardy had pinned the Raiders at their 11, quarterback Derek Carr lost four yards on first down. He then hit receiver Seth Roberts for a pick up of five. So Rivera and the Panthers had what they wanted – a chance to get the ball back with about four minutes left and a full complement of timeouts.

But on third-and-nine, Carr and wideout Michael Crabtree beat linebacker A.J. Klein for a 49-yard gain. Eight plays later, Sebastian Janikowski chipped in a 23-yard game-winning field goal.

“I don’t know if I was surprised,” said Carr about the Panthers’ decision to punt. “I was happy they did. I really don’t remember my emotion at that moment. I do remember I was extremely happy.”

Meanwhile, somewhere in Oakland, the Riverboat angel spent his Sunday night wondering what could have been.