Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 16 vs Steelers
For a (record) fifth time this season the Raiders had and blew at least a seven-point halftime lead. This time they held the lead until the final minute. But eventually scoring just ten points and zero in the second half wasn’t enough and the Steelers beat them 13-10.
The Raiders offense played great as a whole for all of one drive, while the defense played great for all but one drive. Sifting through it, there were some fine performances, while the poor performances outshined them considerably.
Ballers
CB Tyler Hall
The late season free agent pickup played the hero on several drives in this game. The first time the Steelers drove into scoring range, they lined up in third and two and Hall shot through on a toss play to make the stop for a loss. He took a perfect angle, closed quickly, and even fought through a stiff arm to make the stop. The Steelers missed the field goal attempt that followed.
The Raiders made the stop on defense to begin the third quarter, but then gave the ball right back off an interception. This allowed the Steelers to once again move into scoring range. And once again, there was Hall, making the stop for no gain on a catch. They missed the 52-yard field goal attempt to keep the score at 10-3.
Still clinging to a 10-6 lead in the fourth quarter, the defense forced a three-and-out. On third down there was Hall again, knocking the pass attempt down on what would have been a first down had it been completed. It was the defense’s last stand.
LB Denzel Perryman
The first defensive stop the Raiders made it was Perryman who made the tackle for one yard to force a punt.
The Steelers got the ball to start the third quarter and were moving down the field with catches of ten, 15, and 25 yards to reach the Vegas 35-yard-line. The next play, Perryman made a tackle for loss. And the play after that, he picked off Kenny Pickett and returned it to the Pittsburgh 47-yard-line.
Perryman left the game with an injured shoulder early in the fourth quarter. When he left, the Raiders were leading 10-3. The Raiders defense would make just one more stop after that and give up two scores including the game-winning touchdown drive which featured three separate plays in which the middle of the field was wide open.
WR Hunter Renfrow
The best play of the game, featured Renfrow making an incredible concentration grab with Carr’s pass just getting past the outstretched arms of Cam Sutton. Renfrow then stayed in bounds, sidestepped a defender and dove into the end zone for the opening drive touchdown. Gorgeous play all around.
Renfrow wasn’t done though. He had three catches in the third quarter, including two third-and-Renfrow catches. One in which Carr rolled right trying to find and open receiver and Renfrow broke off his route to get open for the conversion. The other went for 11 yards on third and nine. Unfortunately neither of those drives went any farther.
LT Kolton Miller
He offered Carr great protection from the left side, only giving up one run stuff on the day. He also had a key block on a 12-yard Josh Jacobs run on the Raiders’ touchdown drive to open the game.
Busters
QB Derek Carr
It was the coldest game (14 degrees) Derek Carr has ever played in. And for the QB who has never won a game below 37 degrees, that was clearly a real problem.
The first drive looked like he might shake the cold weather game monkey off his back. Then that monkey hopped right back on and rode it out to the end.
Time and time again, Carr threw errant passes. Often overthrowing his receivers, but really just all over the place. And it was more than that too.
The Raiders’ second drive ended with him staring down Mack Hollins, allowing his pass to be batted down at the line. The next drive he took off on third and 14 and slid down at six yards. Making you wonder why he even bothered as it was obvious the scramble had no chance of picking up the first down.
Their second scoring drive featured Carr overthrowing Renfrow and Adams on consecutive passes. The big play happened on the next play and required Waller make a great adjustment on Carr’s pass that was over his left shoulder with Waller running the other direction. An on-target pass may have gone for a score. Waller helped get the 34 yards to put the Raiders in scoring range at the 27. Then Carr kept it right there with another set of consecutive overthrows to Adams and Waller.
The Raiders got a break to start the third quarter with the Perryman interception setting them up in Pittsburgh territory. On one play the offense gave it right back. Carr’s threw for Foster Moreau, who wasn’t ready for it and it bounced off his hands and intercepted.
The next Raiders possession Carr threw behind Renfrow in short range and was again intercepted off the deflection.
Late in the fourth quarter, with the Raiders still up 10-6, the offense went three-and-out. On third down, Adams went on a go route and the safety came over to help. Adams seemed to think that meant the ball wasn’t coming his way and just ran it out. Carr didn’t look anywhere else to pick up the requisite five yards, seeming to just hope Adams would come back for it. The ball simply went to no one and the Raiders punted.
With just over two minutes on the clock, the Steelers casually drove for the go-ahead touchdown.
With 43 second left and all their timeouts left, the Raiders had time to try and drive for at least a game-tying field goal. Instead, on the second play, Carr threw a horrible pass to a wide open Hunter Renfrow and was picked off for a third time. Renfrow got a step and had field in front of him on a slant. Carr threw it high and behind him, where a trailing Cam Sutton had a better shot at it and intercepted it.
Carr finished with a 42.2 passer rating. The second worst of his career. Also his second worst in the past three weeks. The worst was his 36.9 rating against the Rams two weeks ago. That’s right, he’s had the two worst passer ratings of his career in the past three weeks.
TE Foster Moreau
The second Raiders possession was a four-and-out, mainly because on the second play Moreau was driven into the backfield to cut off the running lane for Josh Jacobs, leading to a tackle for a loss of three.
Moreau shares the blame for the interception on the ball thrown to him. Sure, he had just turned toward the quarterback and the ball was right on him. But the pass was on target and he couldn’t handle it. No doubt the cold made it more difficult, but that’s what he’s paid to do.
The next series, the Raiders lined up in second and 12 because on first down, Moreau jumped early and was called for a false start. The series after that, Josh Jacobs found the left edge to run for 25 yards. But the block Moreau was supposed to make to open that edge required that he yank on the defender’s face mask and the run was called back. The 15-yard penalty was too much for the offense to overcome.
LG Dylan Parham
Cam Heyward gave Parham his welcome to the NFL moment. The All Pro defensive lineman was destroying Parham all game. It didn’t even seem fair at times.
On the opening drive, Heyward simply bull rushed Parham right into Derek Carr and got the sack for an eight-yard loss. It was only due to the usual ‘give up third-and-Abdullah dump’ actually working this time that the Raiders were able to overcome it and go for the touchdown.
Parham gave up another sack in the third quarter, this one where he didn’t pick up the stunt to give up a free run at Derek Carr. And this time on third down to force a punt. And he gave up a third sack on the next drive, a second one to Heyward.
On the final Raiders possession that went for a three-and-out, Parham gave up a run stuff for no gain.
CB Nate Hobbs, CB Amik Robertson, S Duron Harmon
Robertson gave up the first three catches of the game, including an 11-yard catch on third and four and a 16-yard catch and run in which he thought he might have a pick six and sold out to get it, but didn’t.
Hobbs followed that up by giving up a 13-yard catch that put the Steelers in field goal range. They were bailed out by Chris Boswell missing the 43-yard attempt.
The first scoring drive for the Steelers started with Hobbs being blocked on an eight-yard screen. The next play Harmon gave up a ten-yard run.
The Steelers got into scoring range to start the third quarter because of Hobbs giving up a 25-yard catch. He would also give up an eight yard catch after each team turned the ball over. Once again, he was bailed out when Boswell missed a 52-yard field goal attempt.
The second scoring drive by Steelers, Hobbs got posterized by Najee Harris who literally hurdled him to go for 17 yards off the catch. The next play, Robertson gave up an 11-yard catch. They finished that drive with a 40-yard field goal to make it a 10-6 game.
The late touchdown drive got into scoring range when Harmon missed the tackle on a 19-yard catch and run. The next series saw George Pickens get open on a 14-yard post route with Hobbs in coverage. Hobbs seemed to think he had help from Harmon over the top, but he was late getting over and Pickens made the late go-ahead touchdown catch.
