Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 14 vs Rams
Coming off a full team win over the Chargers last week, the Raiders came in feeling pretty good about themselves against a banged up Rams team that had lost six straight. And the old collapsing Raiders showed up.
A 13-3 halftime lead gave way to a scoreless third quarter and a late comeback win by Baker Mayfield and the Rams. And thus both teams’ streaks came to an end on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Ballers
DE Maxx Crosby, DE Chandler Jones
Jones answered the question as to whether his three-sack game last week was a one-off. It wasn’t. He had another big week as did Crosby. Though Crosby usually does.
Crosby ended the Rams’ first possession with a tackle for loss on an end around on third-and-one for a three-and-out.
Leading 13-3 in the second quarter, Crosby had another tackle for loss and on the next play closed off the outside, leading to another tackle for loss. Two plays later, the Rams were at the Vegas 23-yard-line where Chandler Jones punched the ball out of Cam Akers’s hands and then recovered the fumble himself.
The Raiders held the Rams scoreless in the third thanks in large part to Crosby and Jones getting pressure from both sides to force an incompletion and the the two of them teaming up for a sack.
On the two drives to win the game for the Rams, Crosby looked to be held several times, but none were called. Jones was held at least once that was called and had a QB hit on an incompletion. And the two of them again teamed up for a sack.
Can’t blame these two for the collapse. They were playing their hearts out all the way to the bitter end.
K Daniel Carlson
After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, the rest of the way for the Raiders it was Carlson. He connected on a 52-yard field goal and two others. You just wanted to see probably a TD instead of a field goal on at least one of them. Or perhaps one more field goal, but that’s not on Carlson. He did his job.
P AJ Cole
Speaking of players you’d like to have seen less of…AJ Cole. No offense to him. He knows no one wants to see him take the field. But we did see him. And he showed he’s a weapon. He had two punts downed inside the 20, including a 64-yarder that was downed at the two-yard-line prior to the final drive by the Rams. Literally nothing more he could have done to try and keep the Rams from driving for the win than to force them to go 98 yards to do it.
WR Davante Adams
Adams made one of the most unreal catches on the opening drive. First pass of the game, with Jalen Ramsey all over him. Ramsey literally holding one of his arms down and putting his other hand over Adams’ eyes, Adams still made a ridiculous one-handed grab for 32 yards. That set up the TD on the opening drive.
Later, he caught a 35-yard pass in which he waited to the last instant to snatch the pass to Ramsey was unable to bat it away. That one should’ve set up another score, if not for Derek Carr throwing an interception in the end zone.
Adams even laid a couple nice blocks in the game. Too bad he was abandoned in the second half.
WR Mack Hollins
Hollins did most of his damage on the ground, taking three end-arounds for a total of 40 yards. He also had a couple of catches in which he found the soft spot in the zone and sat in it nicely.
LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham
The left side of the Raiders line was secure in this one. Miller didn’t allow much in the way of pressure while Parham did work in the run game. He even twice forced his man to be flagged for illegal hands to the face to try and keep from being blocked.
Busters
HC Josh McDaniels
Make that four games this season in which the Raiders had held at least a 13-point lead only to blow it. People like to blame the defense for giving up the points, but if you think 16 points is an acceptable amount for the team to score, you need to raise your expectations.
It was clear from the early going that after the opening drive touchdown, McDaniels thought he could play it safe the rest of the way and ride out a victory. It may have been the second half when the Raiders only scored three points, but their pussy-footing around started much earlier.
The second Raiders’ drive of the game, they moved into scoring range. And on third-and-five, McDaniels called a draw play. It was stopped for one yard and Carlson came out to kick a 52-yard field goal. That drive featured one pass that went more than one yard past the line of scrimmage.
After the defense stopped the Rams to open the third quarter, the Raiders offense answered by going three-and-out. They were in fourth-and-one from the LA 49-yard-line which is exactly when you want to go for it. At least if you had any sense of urgency or valued being aggressive. McDaniels sent out the punt team.
With all the playing-it-safe the Raiders were doing, when the Rams finally did get in the end zone, it was suddenly a one-score game. And it was just six points, which means a touchdown would win it.
All the Raiders really needed to do was get a first down. They went three-and-out instead. In third-and-one, McDaniels tried to get cute, apparently thinking he could catch the Rams sleeping. He lined Jacobs up in the fullback spot, put Jakob Johnson out wide, and Davante Adams {??) in the backfield behind Jacobs. Then Carr quick-snapped it to Jacobs, who had no blockers in front of him. The Rams weren’t fooled. Jacobs was stuffed for no gain and the Raiders punted.
You know the rest of the story. It’s one that’s becoming a tale as old as time for this team this season.
DT Jerry Tillery, DE Clelin Ferrell
On each of the final two Rams drives, the Raiders looked to have stopped them only to have a boneheaded penalty keep the drive alive.
First up was Ferrell who jumped offsides ON THE PUNT. It gave the Rams a first down and they drove for a touchdown.
The final drive, Crosby and Jones got in the backfield to make the sack on Mayfield which would have brought up second and 19, backing then up to their own 13-yard-line with 1:20 left. That could’ve put the stake in that last drive. But Tillery wanted to play Billy Badass and slapped the ball out of Mayfield’s hand. It drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, giving the Rams a first down at their own 28.
CB Nate Hobbs
Following that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Hobbs promptly gave up a 32-yard catch to put the Rams at the Vegas 40-yard-line. Two plays later, he gave up an eight-yard catch. The TD happened two plays later.
What sucks for Hobbs is he had tight coverage on third down to force an incompletion on the previous drive, leading to the punt. So, essentially that should’ve been it for him. But since the drive stayed alive, he gave up three more catches on that drive for 23 yards. Add the catches on the final drive, and that’s five catches for 63 yards in the final five minutes of the game.
RG John Simpson
As subpar as Bars has been much of the season, what we saw from Simpson when he came in made everyone miss what Bars brings to the table. Simpson wasn’t just missing blocks and giving up run stops, he was completely whiffing on blocks. It was downright pathetic.
Simpson gave up two run stuffs and a pressure in the first two drives. And he came in halfway through the first drive. The second run stuff was the stop on the third down draw play to Jacobs.
The next drive, he was flagged for holding AND gave up the run stuff for a loss of five. That’s impressive. Then the first play of the third quarter, he whiffed on his block to give up another run stuff.
In case you were wondering why the team cut him Saturday.
QB Derek Carr
Just because McDaniels’s play-calling was bad, doesn’t give Carr a pass. He had plenty of bad plays that contributed to the offensive disappearance.
On the first drive of the second quarter, they lined up in third and nine and Carr threw too low for DJ Turner on the screen pass and it fell incomplete, forcing them to settle for another field goal.
Later in the third quarter, Carr threw one of the most impressive passes he thrown all season for 35 yards to Davante Adams. It put the Raiders at the LA 15-yard-line. The next three plays were a one-yard scramble by Carr, a four-yard pass to Adams, and Carr climbing the pocket and running into his own lineman while trying to pass the ball, leading to a wobbling duck that was picked off in the end zone. One of those times a sack and a field goal would have been preferable. The turnover rendered that gorgeous 35-yard connection with Adams moot.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders had driven to the LA 22-yard-line. In third and seven, Carr threw a short dump pass to Ameer Abdullah that had no shot at picking up the first. It went for four yards and led to another field goal.
The game ended with Carr throwing short of Davante Adams over the middle and was picked off. The pass was well short of Adams. Had it been even close, Adams surely would have had a decent shot at coming down with it. That’s what he does. At least when he’s given the chance.
