Just win baby. The words have never been truer than on Sunday when the Oakland Raiders squeaked out a win against the league’s worst team, the Cincinnati Bengals, at home. As I’ve already covered elsewhere, this game was another reminder of the one piece of the puzzle this Raiders group still seems to lack: the ability to crush opponents when they’re down.
But in this space, we’ll stick to the positives as the Raiders have continued to place themselves firmly in the thick of the AFC Playoff race. Going into Week 12, the Raiders remain just a half-game back of the Kansas City Chiefs in the division (and the Chiefs are off this week) and tied for the sixth and final playoff spot with the Houston Texans (who own the tie-breaker).
With a winnable game against the New York Jets upcoming, there is reason for optimism — but before we get there, let’s rewind the tape from Sunday’s win…
Rookies, rookies, rookies
The topic dominated Twitter and the weekly NFL shows, and it was all for good reason: this class of rookies is special. My immediate reaction from Sunday:
Gotta love the rookies.
Jacobs: beast.
Moreau: TD
Renfrow: 5/66
Crosby: 4 sacks, 3 TFL
Mullen: INT, 5 tackles
Ingold: big first down carry
Johnson: 1 pass break-up— Jeff Spiegel (@JeffSpiegel) November 18, 2019
And that’s all just from Sunday. No matter how you evaluate the group, they’re the best in the league — and this is on a team that is making a playoff push! It’d be one thing if the winless Bengals were throwing all their rookies out there to gain experience and simply amassing meaningless stats, but these guys are playing in must-win games and securing victories. It’s astonishing.
Derek Carr continues to shine
Aside from the interception he threw — which Jon Gruden described as a defensive play he’s never seen before — Derek Carr was outstanding in this game. He finished 25-of-29 for 292 yards with two touchdowns (including one rushing) and the one interception. This was all despite taking three sacks and seeing his run game average just 3.3 yards per carry.
Carr started the game completing his first 14 passes — and the first incompletion was one that Darren Waller probably wishes he could have had back as the pass clanked off his hands in the end zone.
What makes this stretch of Carr’s career so impressive is that he’s doing it while pushing the ball downfield. He’s currently averaging a career-high 8.0 yards per attempt, which is 1.3 yards higher than his career average.
Offense spreads it around
On Sunday, the Raiders had seven different receivers catch two or more passes and six different players got credited with a rushing attempt. It’s a remarkable number when you think about how successful the Raiders have been despite lacking a true offensive focal point.
New guys showed up
Raiders newcomers D.J. Swearinger and Dion Jordan both got signed off the street and were asked to play immediately — all without missing a beat. Swearinger led the team in tackles (7), while Jordan finished with one sack and one quarterback hit.
I don’t think enough has been said about the coaching job Gruden and his staff have done this season — to weather the loss of Antonio Brown and the injuries, to bring along rookies and newcomers, etc. It really has been remarkable to watch.
Bend but don’t break
It’s the old adage used to describe bad defenses (generally), but it applies here as the Raider defense did just enough to get the win. The Bengals were just 3-for-13 on third down, and despite rushing for 173 yards, their passing game was held to just 73 yards. Yes, it was a rookie quarterback making his second career start, but this is the NFL and everyone has their own qualifiers.
The Raiders did just enough to win on Sunday, and the defense deserves the bulk of the credit.
