Las Vegas Raiders Thread

eire4

heyjude wrote: »

A win is a win, especially on the road, but I think it papered over the cracks in the defence, as the Titans had no credible deep threat, which allowed the defence to key more heavily on the shorter passes and run, yet they still allowed the Titans to have their first 100yd rusher in over 30 games. There was still no sign of Khalil Mack and the rest of the pass rush, though there was some improvement in players being in the right positions. It was also good to see Karl Joseph seeing his first action and Cory James getting extended playing time too.

The game would have been much more comfortable, only for simple drops by Seth Roberts, Clive Walford and Amari Cooper, while a hold by Penn and Reggie Nelson's decision not to go out of bounds with the interception just before half time, cost the team a probable ten points.

Another long trip east next weekend, where they will face a much stouter challenge from Baltimore, who will certainly go deep especially against Sean Smith as well as testing whether the Raiders have found a way to cover opposing tight ends. They really can't afford to lose if they are to challenge for the AFC West crown as the Broncos are looking surprisingly good offensively and are already a game ahead.

It was nice to Sebastian Janikowski set a new NFL record for most 50yd or more field goals, when he kicked his 53rd, drawing clear of former Lion Jason Hanson. Hanson took 20 seasons to reach the 52 mark, with half his games played indoors in the Silverdome. Janikowski is currently in his 17th season.

As you say a win is a win but the performance did not give me any great belief that the defense is in any way sorted out. Baltimore will be a whole different prospect next weekend and it is hard to see us making it 3 out of 3 on the road against them unless the defense suddenly shows up which it quite simply has not done so at all so far this season.

golfball37

Reggie Nelson you beauty.
That was some pass by Carr and catch by Crabtree. What a win.

Paully D

Congrats guys.

Very disappointed as a Ravens fan not to be able to hold on at the end but you did deserve the win overall.

Your pass rush caused our O-line fits in the passing game which was the key difference in the end IMO.

Prefab Sprouter

Paully D wrote: »

Congrats guys.

Very disappointed as a Ravens fan not to be able to hold on at the end but you did deserve the win overall.

Your pass rush caused our O-line fits in the passing game which was the key difference in the end IMO.

Cheers Paully, we're still getting used to the fact of being relevant in the second half of games. 16 years of awfulness can do that to you!!! Best of luck for the rest of the season!

eagle eye

Yeah I gotta brag a bit about my own take on things. Raiders are listening to my draft advice obviously!!! :pac:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=90290021&postcount=19

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=94303932&postcount=99

eire4

golfball37 wrote: »

Reggie Nelson you beauty.
That was some pass by Carr and catch by Crabtree. What a win.

That is a big win for sure. I wasn't confident going in the way the defense has been playing but wow Carr and Crabtree really put on a show together and the defense while still needs to be better showed some signs of improvement.

heyjude

The Raiders defence was thrashed in the media after Matt Ryan torched them in Week 2, so I wonder if the media coverage will soften a little now, after Matt Ryan threw for over 500yds against last years' Superbowl runner up, the Carolina Panthers ?

Sundays game could have gone either way. I was impressed, despite a few holding penalties, with how rookie Vadal Alexander coped starting at Right Tackle. Starting your first game at tackle on the road in a hostile venue like Baltimore, against a quality pass rush unit, was a tough assignment, but he graded out well. I would be concerned though if they have to go too long with Alexander at tackle, he is after-all the 4th choice right tackle after Menelik Watson, Austin Howard and Matt McCants, which forced the team to sign rookie Denver Kirkland from the practice squad.

I think I read somewhere that nine of the ten rookies on the roster featured during yesterdays' game(3rd choice QB Connor Cook was the only rookie to miss out), with Cory James performing well at MLB. Latavius Murray is driving me mad though, whether its poor play selection or what, he seems to lack a spark, can't seem to find the gaps, just hits the pile every time and never looked likely to make a big play, while his pass catching isn't much better. Based on Murrays' play yesterday and based on merit surely Washington, Richard and Olawale should be featuring more heavily next week.

With the team relying on their fourth choice right tackle, they got bad news after Sundays match, when it was confirmed that TE Lee Smith suffered a broken ankle and will be placed on Injured Reserve. Smith had been helping the RT with extra pass protection, so his loss could be greater than you'd expect from a blocking TE. Its being reported that MLB Ben Heeney could also be headed to IR, while LB Malcolm Smith came out of the game with a groin injury. The injury to TE Clive Walford isn't though to be too serious.

eire4

heyjude wrote: »

The Raiders defence was thrashed in the media after Matt Ryan torched them in Week 2, so I wonder if the media coverage will soften a little now, after Matt Ryan threw for over 500yds against last years' Superbowl runner up, the Carolina Panthers ?

Sundays game could have gone either way. I was impressed, despite a few holding penalties, with how rookie Vadal Alexander coped starting at Right Tackle. Starting your first game at tackle on the road in a hostile venue like Baltimore, against a quality pass rush unit, was a tough assignment, but he graded out well. I would be concerned though if they have to go too long with Alexander at tackle, he is after-all the 4th choice right tackle after Menelik Watson, Austin Howard and Matt McCants, which forced the team to sign rookie Denver Kirkland from the practice squad.

I think I read somewhere that nine of the ten rookies on the roster featured during yesterdays' game(3rd choice QB Connor Cook was the only rookie to miss out), with Cory James performing well at MLB. Latavius Murray is driving me mad though, whether its poor play selection or what, he seems to lack a spark, can't seem to find the gaps, just hits the pile every time and never looked likely to make a big play, while his pass catching isn't much better. Based on Murrays' play yesterday and based on merit surely Washington, Richard and Olawale should be featuring more heavily next week.

With the team relying on their fourth choice right tackle, they got bad news after Sundays match, when it was confirmed that TE Lee Smith suffered a broken ankle and will be placed on Injured Reserve. Smith had been helping the RT with extra pass protection, so his loss could be greater than you'd expect from a blocking TE. Its being reported that MLB Ben Heeney could also be headed to IR, while LB Malcolm Smith came out of the game with a groin injury. The injury to TE Clive Walford isn't though to be too serious.

I hear you about Murray at RB. Despite some flashes of excellence he has never been consistent and for me has yet to convince me that he should be the feature RB going forward in the way that Crabtree and Cooper are clearly at WR.

ButcherOfNog

I can see why people are unsure about Murray, but overall at 4.3 yards per rush, he's being very consistent, 4.3 isn't a bad return at all. When you do the overall sums our run game is healthy, 4 games, 463 yards, average gain per run 5.8!

Murray, Latavius CAR: 40 YDS:172 AVG:4.3 TDS:3
Richard, Jalen CAR: 17 YDS:144 AVG:8.5 TDS:1
Washington, DeAndre CAR: 23 YDS:147 AVG:6.4 TDS:0

heyjude

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

I can see why people are unsure about Murray, but overall at 4.3 yards per rush, he's being very consistent, 4.3 isn't a bad return at all. When you do the overall sums our run game is healthy, 4 games, 463 yards, average gain per run 5.8!

Murray, Latavius CAR: 40 YDS:172 AVG:4.3 TDS:3
Richard, Jalen CAR: 17 YDS:144 AVG:8.5 TDS:1
Washington, DeAndre CAR: 23 YDS:147 AVG:6.4 TDS:0

I think Murray's season is at a crossroads, he managed 59yds at 4.3yds/att in game 1 and 57yds at 7.1yds/att in game 2, but those figures were against New Orleans and Atlanta, whose defences aren't that great. In week 3 against the Titans, he managed 37yds off 10 attempts which seems solid enough, but if you exclude the 22yd TD run, he managed just 15yds off the other 9 runs(1.66yds/att) and last week he gained just 19yds off 8 attempts(2.4yds/att). Its very tough to build a rushing game around a back averaging less than 2.5yds a carry, so next weekends' game against the Chargers could be critical for Murray and he probably needs to consistently gain 4yds per carry to remain the featured back. I don't think that piling up the yards against softer defences alone will be enough, as you would expect any competent back to do that.

eire4

The Raiders moving to Las Vegas took a significant step closer to becoming a reality today as Nevada's senate voted to approve public funding for a stadium.

http://www.businessinsider.com/raiders-stadium-funding-las-vegas-senate-2016-10

Itssoeasy

Wow so one more vote and it's Nevada state law and the only thing stopping the raiders is the NFL and if the league don't show all out enthusiasm for it, that could be part 3 ? Of the Davis family vs the NFL.

eire4

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Wow so one more vote and it's Nevada state law and the only thing stopping the raiders is the NFL and if the league don't show all out enthusiasm for it, that could be part 3 ? Of the Davis family vs the NFL.

I tend to think that if that last Nevada vote goes in favour of the Raiders this deal will get approved by the NFL and the Raiders will be playing in Las Vegas.

Prefab Sprouter

I think its going to happen.

heyjude

Agreed, Las Vegas seems like a done deal, I can't see any way that Oakland will match the $1.6bn package in Vegas. But if you wanted to play devils advocate, the only two issues that might derail the plans are (a) the widespread belief that the NFL would like minority ownership of at least one NFL franchise and with most NFL teams owned by billionaire white guys, the group trying to put together a stadium package in Oakland, includes Ronnie Lott, which if the Oakland plan contained some shareholding, has a certain attraction. (b) It has been suggested that the NFL isn't so much worried about a connection between Vegas gambling and the NFL, but that the coaches of visiting teams would be terrified about what their players might get up to in Vegas, when they face the Raiders there(which assumes that the Raiders own players could avoid these distractions).

After last night, its great to see the Raiders atop the AFC West heading towards mid October(as they top Denver through their better AFC West record). It must be quite a few years since this has happened.

Looking ahead to Sunday, Latavius Murray is out again and he is joined by RT Vadal Alexander, though Austin Howard and Matt McCant both practiced this week, so Howard to expected to start at RT. TE Clive Walford and S Nate Allen also returned to practice. The team also signed former Seahawk TE Cooper Helfet to the practice squad and released LB Darnell Sankey.

Prefab Sprouter

Well that was a chastening experience, watching last night's game. The Chiefs running game completely manhandled our Defense and Norton should be on the hotseat now. Its not working Ken!! Well done to KC but we definitely missed an opportunity yesterday.

heyjude

Prefab Sprouter wrote: »

Well that was a chastening experience, watching last night's game. The Chiefs running game completely manhandled our Defense and Norton should be on the hotseat now. Its not working Ken!! Well done to KC but we definitely missed an opportunity yesterday.

Couldn't agree more. I figured the game would be tight and the Raiders might struggle in the second half against the fresher Chiefs coming off their bye week, but they were completely outplayed and out-coached especially in the second half. On offence, Carr had an off-day not helped by several more drops, but with Cooper over 100yds at half time, why didn't they go after the Chiefs deep, when the Chiefs lost 2 cornerbacks to injury ? I'd also like to know why, when facing first and very long, why they kept choosing 2 runs, only to leave them facing third and long and a punt, its as though they were scared to even take a chance and yet they still conceeded 2 turnovers. There's even less to say about the defence, outcoached, outmuscled and outplayed, couldn't stop the run, couldn't consistently pressure Smith and so couldn't stop the pass either. Hopefully they don't get Jalen Richard killed in the running or passing game, because on kick returns he was probably the only bright spot in the game and will surely return one for a score, before long.

So now they face a double header in Florida, facing the Jaguars next week and the Bucs the following week. There was speculation earlier in the season that they might stayover for a week in Florida, rather than making two return trips cross country in a just over a week, but after this performance and all they need to work on, who knows ?

Prefab Sprouter

I'd like to say that this was a blip and hopefully that is the case. But whats happening now is that if the Offense has a bad day, then there is a danger that this will happen because the Defense cant step up. The individuals are there to make it happen . I've said it many times, Defenses win championships. And Norton isnt cutting it. He's not solely to blame, and credit to the Chiefs for executing their game plan. But something has to change. We are sitting pretty in the AFC West at the moment. But everyone knows our Defensive schemes arent cutting it. and are preparing appropriately for it.

heyjude

Promising news today, that Aldon Smith has applied for reinstatement, the pass rush could certainly do with all the help it can get. Now it depends on Commissioner Roger Goodell, whether or when he agrees to reinstate Smith, so I guess at best we're looking at the game after the bye, against the Texans.

Last weeks' game showed that even when they get on top, they find it hard to kill teams off. If the team had a regular punter, rather than a former college wide receiver who switched to punting, then the team could have been in real trouble with the muffed snap on the punt in the 4th quarter, as they only held a 10pt lead at the time and would have handed the Jags, great field position.

The team spent the week in Florida, staying near Sarasota, and face the Bucs on Sunday, possibly without DT Stacy McGee, who injured his ankle last week and has missed practice. The Bucs will probably follow the Chiefs gameplan, so the Raiders need to do a good job at stopping the run. Meanwhile the Bucs coach has been stirring it up by expressing concerns that Raymond James Stadium may attract a huge number of Raider fans this week and urging Buc fans to buy up the tickets or only sell their tickets to other Bucs fans, to stop this happening. Looks like the Raider Nation is travelling in force. Go Raiderrrrrrrrrzzzzzz

ButcherOfNog

The best thing about Kings run is that all teams are now going to be wary of fake punts from the Raiders, should allow him a little more time to keep pinning other teams back, not that he seems to need it. Could a punter be MVP?

golfball37

Every emotion was expended watching events from Tampa earlier. Great drive to set up equalising TD and again for FG miss.

eire4

golfball37 wrote: »

Every emotion was expended watching events from Tampa earlier. Great drive to set up equalising TD and again for FG miss.

Unreal the amount of penalties given away and they almost cost the Raiders the game. But once again as has been the theme this season the team finds a way to win. 6-2 at the half way point in the season is just brilliant.

golfball37

eire4 wrote: »

Unreal the amount of penalties given away and they almost cost the Raiders the game. But once again as has been the theme this season the team finds a way to win. 6-2 at the half way point in the season is just brilliant.

Only in a Raiders game would you see 23 pen for 200 yards being offset by 500+ passing yards.:)

ButcherOfNog

When we got close to the penalty record, I started rooting for the team to get it, proper Raiders football

Prefab Sprouter

I'm starting to believe....... I really am. This team is sitting on 6-2 and we havent played like a complete team yet. God help the team that comes up against us when all 3 phases of football click. Now, having said that, it could all come crashing down tomorrow but whatever happens, Jack Del Rio is the best thing to happen to the Raiders, coach wise since Chucky Gruden.

Itssoeasy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPLmxtiVOe0

Seeing as there seems to be a bit of hope in the raider nation. My favourite individual piece of nfl films.

Prefab Sprouter

ButcherOfNog

We're almost assured of an 8-8 season, just one more win!

That was enjoyable, D starting to show some life but the Bronco offense was poor. Could be the Chiefs we'll need to beat to 1st place in the West.

Prefab Sprouter

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

We're almost assured of an 8-8 season, just one more win!

That was enjoyable, D starting to show some life but the Bronco offense was poor. Could be the Chiefs we'll need to beat to 1st place in the West.

You may very well be right, ButcherOfNog. Denver showed last night that, no matter how good your Defense, you need some sort of Offense to keep them off the pitch. Kansas City look much more balanced. Although I think they work better with Smith under Center.

eire4

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

We're almost assured of an 8-8 season, just one more win!

That was enjoyable, D starting to show some life but the Bronco offense was poor. Could be the Chiefs we'll need to beat to 1st place in the West.

Easily the best performance of the season for me so far and certainly a massive win. Certainly the most complete. The defense is finally started to show some positive signs and if that improvement can continue with the potent and balanced offense the Raiders have this season could get really interesting.