Although it was far from pretty, the Oakland Raiders still managed to get a winning streak going with their 17-10 victory over the winless Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr and running back Josh Jacobs both enjoyed strong individual outings against the Bengals. Unfortunately, it did not result in the kind of high-scoring affair that their numbers would suggest.
Despite managing to piece together a solid first half, the offense sputtered in the second half and it nearly cost them the game had the defense not enjoyed yet another strong outing of their own. It seems both stars on offense were unhappy with not being able to do more on their end.
While Carr may have completed 25-of-29 passes for 292 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, he still feels he left plenty of points on the table, via Scott Bair of NBC Sports:
“We could have had more,” Carr said. “Honestly, that’s how I feel. I left the game and I get our stat book and I looked at it and I was like, ‘They look pretty, but I could have played better.’ I’m hard on myself. … I think that’s the standard that Coach Gruden puts on me.”
Jacobs put on another spectacular performance after finishing with 112 yards on 23 carries, however, he is more concerned with the runs he did not take better advantage of:
“We left a lot of points out there as an offense,” Jacobs said. “I missed a couple holes. Honestly, It wasn’t a great game for me. I had 100-and-something yards or whatever, but there’s a lot to improve on.”
Carr added that the miscues by him and Jacobs are still a point of emphasis they want to address moving forward:
“[Josh] never wants to put the ball on the ground,” Carr said. “I threw an interception, he fumbled. If Coach is going to put the ball in our hands every single play, one of us, then we need to be better.”
While there may be some truth to the comments made by Carr and Jacobs, there is no question that the pair still did more than enough to secure the victory. Regardless, it is still encouraging to see that they are still looking for ways to kick the offense up a notch.
Oakland will need to find a way to ensure that their strong performance results in more points being put on the board if they hope to stay in control of their playoff destiny heading into the final stretch of the 2019 NFL season.
