Official Las Vegas Raiders Thread

Ruggs is out for week 3 *sad face*

 

Opps for Agholor and Jones... Maybe even Gafford.

 

I love Ruggs. He’ll fight back. Was loving his chances with the Pats focusing on Waller. Wouldn’t be surprised to see one of those WR 3-5s have a big catch. They’re all speedy.

 

This is where Gruden and Carr earn their beans spreading the ball to whomever... Worked this past Mondaze.

I think we are being cautious with Ruggs. Jacobs has that Mamba Mentality and we need to the same with him.

 

Belichick is going to outcoach you, I get that. But some bizarre things happened yesterday. Here's a look at the highlights.

DBs
Trayvon Mullen: big breakup on third and 6
The INT was good coverage, good pursuit by Ferrell, and a great reaction by Abram
Arnette first time i saw him - good coverage to prevent a TD
Arnette later blew coverage somehow. Misread it or something. Passer rating of 118 when targeted in this game. 2-2, 50 yards.
Abram whiffs on a tackle. Harris (I think) misses a tackle. Abram gets juked. Touchdown Patriots. Really terrible series.
Wow. Abram got juked again, big time. He looked awful today in space. Abram missed ANOTHER tackle in space. Abram looked absolutely terrible again.

LBs
Littleton took away check down on crosby's sack, and that may go unmentioned. But other than that, Littleton has looked absolutely terrible with the Raiders. Littleton whiffs on a tackle up the middle. Littleton misses a tackle on Burkhead. Broken record.

RBs
Jacobs ran hard, had monster first quarter numbers, but he lost the ball in the red zone.
Another really nice run by Booker. Not flashy, but he has good vision.

Offense
Raiders had two red zone possessions in the first quarter and walked away with three points.

OL
On the Carr sack and fumble, Good was beaten.

DL
Mo Hurst got his hand on a pass on third down.
Crosby with two sacks. He backed it up today, big time.

Carr
This may be where things started to unravel. Carr had all day but couldn't make up his mind - sack.
Carr threw three awesome passes on that last drive of the first half. Long completion to Edwards, long PI to Agholor, near TD to Renfrow.
Carr's awareness - inexcusable on that sack/td.

 

The Raiders have to establish their strength in the trenches. Gotta get healthy to do that.

 

Injuries...part of the game and League wide but this is just crazy with so many out or nursing one.

 

Let's talk about the LBs.

Cory Littleton
Littleton is at 29.8 on PFF, their third worst grade among qualified LBs. He has missed four tackles, has no QB hits, no sacks, no INTs, and no passes defended. On the bright side, his passer rating when targeted is only 86.8, one of the best marks on the squad.

Nick Kwiatkoski
At 69.5 on PFF, Kwit was having some serious success prior to his injury. He had allowed only 1 pass reception for 0 yards (56.2 passer rating) when targeted. He had missed a tackle.

Kyle Wilber
His 87.8 grade means little. He has taken three snaps on D and hasn't been targeted.

Raekwon McMillan
He saw his first start with Vegas but was not targeted in the passing game. His overall grade drops to 39.5, which would be the worst on the corps if not for Littleton.

Nicholas Morrow
Morrow's 46.3 grade is up a bit since week 2, and he has an INT and a pass defended, along with 21 tackles. In coverage, Morrow has been good. His six targets have gone for 37 yards - with 4 incompletes and a pick.

 

Raiders vs. Bill

DBs
Mullen was slow in coverage a couple of times. He’s their best cover guy.
Amik Robertson was welcomed to the NFL in spectacularly bad fashion. Tough play for a rookie.
Nixon jus slow in coverage.
Tought assignments - as Bills have about the second best production by WRs

D-Front
Nassib missed tackle
Overall, poor pressure from this group. Really uninspired play so far.

LB
Littleton got pressure - but allen made an incredible play
Kwiatkoski was back and made a difference. He's a solid acquisition and happy to see him back.

OL
Not a good effort. Couldn’t open running lanes. Penalties (Miller). Allowed pressure on 25% of Carr’s dropbacks.


Agholor
My one brother is an Eagels fan, and he hates Agholor. He pointed out some things.
Agholor TD bought back - on Agholor illegal formation. Dude cost himself a TD.
Agholor great catch on third and 6, but then Agholor missed a block on a beautiful screen to Waller. Agholor looked utterly uninterested in blocking.
Huge PI call later in the game, but he was only bumped and needs to catch it!

Carr
Carr lost a fumble. This is becoming a habit.
He will take heat for worst ypa, but that rules out his 50-yard bomb to Agholor for the TD, the 50-yard pass on PI to Agholor. Those two plays would have added 2 YPA to his overall stats. Not bad.
Carr also had one of his most productive days running. His 20 yards were his most since October 14th, 2018!

Special Teams
Trent Sieg missed a tackle on punt return. That was awful.
Carlson great.
Cole great.
Renfrow solid.
Richard - a terrible return and a very nice one.

Late Game Struggles
1. Raiders down 7 and driving to start the fourth quarter, inside the 30 yard line of bills and Waller fumbles.

2. Down 14, Carr hits Richard underneath. he jukes instead of banging forward and misses the first down. Sets up a Jacobs run and he's stuffed. They just don’t have the power rush attack with this makeshift line.

3. But the raiders STILL had a chance to tie this game. huge sack leads to punt.
Carr rifles to Renfrow for a huge first down.
And then Carr loses the ball on what he said would have been a TD to waller.

The last four possessions to that point:
5 and punt, 5 and fumble, 4 and downs, 4 and fumble. 18 plays, 77 yards, 10:31 possession.

5. Huge Agholor PI. TD. And that’s all.

 

I'll look at a position later this week. Did LBs last week. Maybe it's time for DBs or D-Front.

 

Defensive Interior

Hurst
With an 89.4 on PFF, Hurst continues to be one of the best selections by the Raiders. He has 8 solo tackles, 4 QB hits, half a sack, a pass defended, and a tackle for loss. He is the team's highest graded defender. He's playing more and more snaps per game, too: 20-22-30-35. He now has 5 pressures and two hurries in two games, and he's missed only 7.1% of his tackles.

Hankins
He's been no slouch. 78.1 on PFF, 8 total tackles, 1 QB hit, and solid run defense. He has 2 pressures, a low missed tackle %, and didn't allow the only pass his way to be completed.

Ross
In only one game and limited time, he has posted a 52.2 on PFF. That's good for 3 solo tackles though, which is more than...

Collins
He has managed just 2 solo tackles, 1 QB hit, and that's all. 37.2 on PFF. His snaps have dwindled from 70% to 40%, and he has just 3 pressures and 2 hurries. But he hasn't missed a tackle.

(Hall 67.2 - I just want to pause and point out that PJ Hall is starting, has 9 solo tackles, 2 TFL, 1 QB hit, and a sack along with 3 pressures and a 5.6% missed tackle rate)

Ferrell
He has elevated his game a bit this season, as evidenced by his 68.9 on PFF. He also has 5 solo tackles, 2 QB hits, and a pass defended. He has only 1 hurry, and has allowed a 9-yard completion on his only pass assignment. But he hasn't missed a tackle.

Key
This seems a make or break season for Key. He's not bad, with a 60.7 on PFF. He hasn't started, but he has two QB hits, 1 assist, and 2 passes defended. He has played between 27 and 34 snaps per game. His pass rush numbers are poor - 2 pressures and 1 hurry, and he has missed on 1 of 2 tackle attempts. Has been solid in pass coverage (83.3 rating).

Crosby
He's a hustle player, but he's so often shut down and utterly neutralized. He has only 4 pressures in 4 games, compared to 31 last season. His 51.2 on PFF is a big step back from last season, but he has 5 solo tackles, 3 TFL, 3 QB Hits, 3 sacks, and 1 PD. We might blame the down season on double teams, but he's not helping his cause. He has missed 36% of his tackle attempts.

Nassib
Another disappointing defensive FA, Nassib has a 50.5 on PFF, but that goes along with 6 solo tackles, 4 QB hits, half a sack, and a PD. His 3 pressures are on pace for a career low, and his 23.1% missed tackles is easily his worst.

Vickers
He has an assist in three games and a 30 on PFF. He has been on the field for 9-16 snaps a game.

The Raiders NEED more pressure.

 

We need that fire up front... This is where I question the Buckner move.

 

Through four games, the Raiders are on pace for half as many sacks as they had last year. They look to get no pressure, at least according to my eye test.

Although they're actually on pace for more total QB hits than they had last season (80 vs. 64), it's mostly bad news after that.
A deeper dive shows where they're coming up short. By my count, they had 58 QB hurries last season. This year, they're on pace for only 36.
And the total pressures of 120 (about 7.5 per game) last season is down to a pace of 104, 6.5 per game. It may not seem like much, but it's showing up with fewer sacks, a little less pressure, a lot fewer hurries, and a pass rush that just looks ineffective.

I don't know if it's Buckner or personnel, or PG, but this front seven has to get its act together.

 

What a game so far. Missed XP? Yikes.

 

Statement win. Now to build on it. Mahomes is a sore loser...did not want to go out there to shake hands. Little *****.

 

First and thoughts...

- Carr shook off the interception and did not go into a shell.
- Carr long passes only works if you have the burners. He does now.
- Heath with a game winning pick.
- Jacobs just churns out the yards... Booker good showing tonight.
- Second half defense was suffocating. Did give out on a fourth down and five.
- Third and Renfrow.
- Fourth and inches to go for it takes big brass ones.
- Abram hitting everyone within distance including his own teammates.
- Carlson so far converting on all kicks. Missed a PAT but Butker has done so on three of 'em.

 

Gotta get Jacobs more running room. He's running hard, but the lanes are harder to find right now. That passing game can open them up like magic. Respect to Carr for the game he played.