The Las Vegas Raiders enter their bye week at 3-2. If that’s not enough good news, they are coming off of a 40-32 win over the defending champion, Kansas City Chiefs.
“I’ve taken a lot of sad walks up that ramp but not today but not today” said Derek Carr.
Carr’s maturation continues to go in the right direction. Carr completed 22 of his 31 passes for 347 yards against a Chiefs defense that has been playing well lately. Carr is entering his seventh NFL season. He’s off to a great start with 13 touchdowns and only one interception.
Gruden doesn’t seem too shocked by Carr’s progress. “I think he’s a really good player honestly,” said Gruden. That’s part of it but it’s also the weapons.
There were some good signs in their win. Henry Ruggs III stretches the field. Ruggs III returned off injury and stretched with field with catches totaling 118 yards and a touchdown. “We didn’t bring him in there to run hitch routes,” said head coach Jon Gruden. The Raiders are 3-0 when Ruggs plays.
The threat of stretching the field opened up the field for others. Ten different players had at least one reception in the game.
Nelson Agholor has provided a veteran presence. If the wide receivers can be a threat, Darren Waller can continue being one of the most impactful tight ends in the league.
The Raiders have accepted the fact that they are going to have to outscore teams until the defense can grow.
Speaking of the defense, in the second half they showed what they could eventually be. After giving up 24 points in the first half, they held Mahones and the powerful Chiefs offense to 8 points. “This week we just focused on cutting it loose,” said Maxx Crosby. And cutting it loose is what they did. After flushing Mahomes out of the pocket in the first half, only to be burned down the field, in the second half they continued to put on the pressure and the secondary locked down the Kansas City receivers. That led to an interception by Jeff Heath. The turnover led to 2 yard touchdown run by Josh Jacobs.
It won’t get easier for the Raiders. They have Tom Brady and the Buccaneers next. The secondary will need to be healthy and the front four will need to continue to put pressure on the quarterback. If that happens and the offense keeps clicking, it should be a shootout when Tampa comes to town.
