The Oakland Raiders postseason aspirations have been reined in significantly over the last few weeks. Just three weeks ago it seemed the Raiders would be poised for an AFC Wildcard spot or even an AFC West division title, but they have since lost three straight games to fall to 6-7, essentially ending hopes of playing meaningful games in January.
While dropping the last three games certainly hurts, losing to the Tennessee Titans while being tied at halftime in Week 14 has to sting a little bit worse.
The Raiders and Titans were tied at 21 going into the locker room as Oakland’s offense was clicking through the first two quarters and was set to start things off in the second half. After making a valiant effort on their first drive, they eventually had to punt it away.
Giving the ball away to end a drive was the only thing the Raiders did for the remainder of the game. Whether it was another punt, losing it on downs or with a fumble, the Raiders would not score again.
While the Raiders offense came to a standstill, the Titans offense continued to fire on all cylinders. Tennessee added 21 more points and 205 more offensive yards in the second half alone to secure the 42-21 victory. While head coach Jon Gruden knows things need to improve as a team, particularly defensively, he still had to share praise over the Titans performance, via Eddie Paskal of Raiders.com:
“You’re not going to beat anyone like that,” Gruden said when asked about the Titans’ offensive output. “We gave up a 90-yard touchdown pass. We missed some tackles. They missed a field goal at the end of the first half – they would have had three more points. We’ll take a good look at it, a lot of it had to do with their ability to make plays. They made some unbelievable catches and throws, and we didn’t today.”
While the Raiders need to find ways to convert on first downs, there were fairly short-handed in Week 14. Josh Jacobs missed the game with a shoulder injury and the Raiders also lost rookie tight end Foster Moreau in the third quarter to a knee injury. Outside of Derek Carr, Jacobs leads every other Raider in first downs with 49. The next closest running back is DeAndre Washington with just 13.
Interestingly enough, the Raiders finally had an adequate game in regards to penalties. They finished with just three penalties for 21 yards, all of which occurred during the first half.
The Raiders defense simply couldn’t make enough stops to compete with Ryan Tannehill and the Titans offense though, which has become a theme in recent weeks and something Gruden will need to fix if they want to have success in the future.
