Final Oakland Raider Grades @ Washington; Week 3:
Washington 27 (2-1)
Oakland Raiders 10 (2-1)
“They gave us a big slice of humble pie”, said Khalil Mack. Was that an understatement or what.
In one of the worst performances in recent memory, the Raiders were physically dominated by Washington losing 27-10 on national television. What is scary is that if you take away the two turnovers deep in Washington territory, this game should have been a shutout. The Raiders now have to go into Denver needing a win big time or they could go 2-2 in the best division in the NFL.
There was no Marshawn Lynch Dance Parties. There was no Super Bowl Talk. There was no commitment to excellence. Below, let’s first look at the poor grades, and then at why the sky isn’t falling.
Quarterback:
Derek Carr was awful. He had a deer in the headlights look that I haven’t seen in a while. His first bad throw was a deep ball into 2 deep coverage that was intercepted and lead to a touchdown. He also threw another careless interception later in the game and another was dropped. If you can put a pass rush on Carr, he’s just not the same QB. He was uncomfortable in the pocket all night and he was humbled big time. Maybe his worst game as a Raider.
GRADE: F
Derek was in a fog at times, and it was strange to watch. He also wasn’t ready for the snap 3 times. He was rattled by the early sacks and never recovered.
Running Backs:
It didn’t matter who was in there. Washington neutralized the running game and Marshawn Lynch especially wasn’t a factor.
Grade D-
There were few holes, and few opportunities and the running game just wasn’t working.
Offensive Line:
Washington defensive coordinator Greg Manusky was sick of all of the questions about how good the Raiders were and was offended that teams felt his team wasn’t physical enough for the Raiders offensive line. They didn’t blitz and just mostly bull rushed 4 DL and it worked. They dominated the Raiders offensive line in a way few have. Carr had little time and the holes were not there in the running game.
Grade F
Washington didn’t even blitz. The pass rushers were straight up bull rushes that overwhelmed the Raiders and Carr. The OL’s worst game in years.
Wide Receivers:
Even playing against a team with lots of nagging injuries in the defensive backfield, the Raiders WR were no factor in the game. Carr was off, and the pass rush overwhelmed the passing game. Amari Cooper continued dropping passes as did Michael Crabtree. They both combined for 2 catches for 13 yards. The WR had few plays where they managed to get open.
GRADE: F
Absolutely awful. Cooper is a talented but passive player but you can’t justify so many drops. Crabtree had a chest injury and the hopes are that he will be ok for next weeks game at Denver.
Defensive Line:
They started the game fairly well. Mario Edwards Jr. had 2 plays getting pressure on the QB and Khalil Mack was his usual self. After the first quarter though the Washington OL began to take over and wore down the Raiders DL. The DL struggled getting pressure on the QB and it showed with Kirk Cousins throwing for 365 yards, and their RB’s ran for 116 yards on the ground.
Grade: D
Khalil Mack played well but that was about it after the first quarter.
Linebackers:
The LB’s were exposed big time. Washington used a short passing game and the LB’s had no chance in covering their RB’s. The Raiders then put a DB on RB Chris Thompson but no one could cover him and he caught 6 passes for 150 yards. Like I’ve said, the LB’s at times are going to look awful.
Grade F
The hopes are that someone steps up out of this group but who will it be if anyone?
Defensive Backs:
David Amerson got burned deep, which was the norm last year. Outside of Karl Joseph, the DB’s really struggled tackling. Gareon Conley was never a good tackler at Ohio St. and the hopes are that his cover skills will overcome those issues. He was close on two passes but he did give up some short to medium receptions. Sean Smith struggled guarding TE Vernon Davis which was a bad look. If your starting CB is getting beaten deep by their #2 TE, then he sure isn’t going to keep up with a WR. Washington RB Chris Thompson overwhelmed this group when he got the ball in the passing game. Poor angles and poor tackling by the entire defense especially the DB’s.
Grade F
Just an awful game by this group.
Coaching:
Jack Del Rio needs to be called out and he agreed. It’s up to him to get the team prepared and they were in a fog. The Raiders need to stop reading the papers when they win and not get big headed. You are only as good as your last game. The Raiders know their defense isn’t good enough and they continued to blitz often which is all they can do because they still don’t have a good pass rush. It worked against the Jets, but the Jets are really bad.
Grade F
The Raiders laid a big fat egg on national tv. The coaches are doing the right thing. Own the bad game and work hard to fix it and to be focused.
Special Teams:
Marquette King and Giorgio Tavecchio are turning out to be a good special teams combo. It’s hard to see Sebastian Janikowski in a Raiders uniform next year. King is really punting well.
Grade A
Not much action other than King’s punts.
Conclusion:
This was the worst game the Raiders have played in years. All of the overreaction to the Jet’s win is now gone. The game in Denver will lay a foundation to the 2017-18 season. The Raiders do not want to end up 2-2 with the difficult part of their schedule in their future. With Denver also not wanting to start 2-2, this is the most important game in the NFL for the first quarter of the season.
Can the Raiders Bounce Back?:
I just read where some of the Sportsbooks in Nevada had their greatest weekend in HISTORY due to all of the upsets in the NFL this last weekend. The days of the super teams are long gone, and a team can look like world beaters one minute, and then like egg beaters the next. The Raiders are a good team and they have a good head coach. No good team with a good head coach is going to not come back strong after such a terrible outing.
I think this loss in the long run will help the Raiders. They have won nothing and needed to calm down a bit. They needed to be humbled so they could refocus. The Raiders have holes on defense big time and it’s not going to change any time soon.
Against Denver, look for a much disciplined and deliberate passing game with short passes being the norm. With Denvers pass rush, a quick passing game with 3 and 5 step drops are what you need to use against them. Denver is much better against the run this year, but the Raiders are going to have to try to run on the Broncos using smash mouth football. The Raiders OL will try to reestablish themselves like they did in the Denver game in Oakland. I’m sure they are up for the challenge considering how good they’ve been the last 1 ½ yrs.
On defense I am so not a Trevor Siemian fan. He can look great one game and then look like he’s overwhelmed the next. Look for Oakland to crowd the line with Joseph and dare the Broncos to throw. Their running game is a good one and I’d rather put the game in the hands of Siemian than CJ Anderson and Jamaal Charles.
I like the Raiders to come back strong next week after licking their wounds. Good teams with good coaches bounce back from these types of games and I think both the Raiders and Broncos will be ready big time. You can’t lose your mind if you lose badly, and you can’t let it get to your head when you win big. This is a long, long season and you can’t get too high or too low. However, if the Raiders lay another egg, then this team is going to struggle this year. I really do expect them to come out swinging in another hard fought game at Mile High that will make the Washington game a bad memory. Welcome to today’s NFL.
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