It was nice for Raiders fans to have their season go a week longer than usual. Well, actually it was two weeks considering the extra regular season game this year. But after most NFL teams’ seasons were done, they were still playing. Something they haven’t experienced but one time in the previous 19 years.
That extra time is up, though. They exited the playoffs without a win, falling to the high-powered Bengals.
Even with the Bengals playing as well as they have lately, the Raiders have been playing well above what anyone expected as well. And they kept it close most of the game. But they knew they couldn’t afford for a lot to go wrong in order to win. But a lot did go wrong.
Here are the five issues the Raiders had that kept them from pulling this one out.
1. Red zone woes
Let’s just start with this stat:
Derek Carr was 1 for 7 for 3 yards in goal to go situations today for #Raiders for a 0 passer rating. He's first player since at least 1991 to throw 4+ passes in goal to go situations in playoffs and have a 0 passer rating
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) January 16, 2022
That’s right. A zero passer rating in goal-to-go situations. But equally problematic is that he was passing the ball seven times in the first place. The Raiders didn’t stick with the run as they should have. Josh Jacobs carries it just 13 times.
The first time they moved into the red zone was in the second quarter, off two huge runs by Jacobs that went for a combined 49 yards. They ran it with Jacobs one first down from the 12 for two yards. Then two Carr incompletions – the second being a Desean Jackson drop – and they were kicking the field goal.
Late in the third quarter, they were back in the red zone in first and goal at the nine. From there Carr went one for three and they settled for a field goal. That was his lone completion and it came on third and 19.
With under seven minutes left, the Raiders needed two scores. In the best case scenario, they score a touchdown right away and then if they had another shot they could drive for a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win. The first drive got to first down at the 17-yard-line. A seven-yard pass to Zay Jones was followed by two incompletions and they were lining up for a field goal.
The defense stopped the Bengals with a three-and-out to give the offense another shot. They drove down to first and goal at the nine. Three incompletions, including one that was nearly picked when Carr threw into the traffic for Zay Jones, brought up fourth and goal for the game.
He again threw for Jones who was double covered and this time it was picked. And it wouldn’t have mattered if Jones had caught it because he was outside the end zone and would’ve been tackled right away. That’s a losing throw any way you look at it.
The Raiders would make four trips to the red zone and came away with one touchdown.
Josh Jacobs got the ball twice in the red zone. One of those carries was called back by penalty, for one official carry in the red zone. And he didn’t get a single carry in the fourth quarter. Mostly because of all the times they couldn’t finish a drive had them so far behind that they abandoned the run.
2. Costly penalties
The opening drive of the day stalled following a Darren Waller false start penalty on second and one. And a once-promising drive ended in a field goal. Their third drive, Brandon Parker had a false start and they once again weren’t able to recover and punted it away.
Late in the third quarter, the Raiders went on one of their most impressive drives of the game. It started with an Alex Leatherwood holding that brought back a 35-yard catch by Desean Jackson. The Raiders were able to regroup and move downfield anyway. But when John Simpson was called for holding on first and goal, they weren’t able to recover and settled for yet another field goal.
3. No consistent pressure
The first drive for the Bengals went for a touchdown with Burrow having his way. He completed five of seven passes including the touchdown. The only time he even lined up in third-down was the touchdown pass itself which came on third and goal from the seven.
Early in the second quarter, the Bengals drove for another touchdown. Once again, he completed five of seven passes including the touchdown.
Midway through the fourth, they went on another long drive, this time with Burrow completing six of seven passes. It was switching to the run and getting stopped on consecutive plays that would end the drive and they added a field goal to go up 26-16.
The Raiders had two sacks in the game. Both stopped drives. One in the second quarter by Quinton Jefferson that led to a field goal and one by Maxx Crosby that led to their first punt…in the third quarter.
4. Special teams mishap
One of the biggest bonehead plays of the game was committed by Peyton Barber who chased down a kickoff and then stepped out of bounds, which downed it at the two-yard line. It seemed like he was trying to do what Dwayne Harris did a few years back and step out of bounds FIRST and then touch the ball which would have given the Raiders the ball at the 40. But Barber touched the ball first and THEN stepped out and…that’s not how that works.
A few plays into the ensuing drive, Derek Carr ended up getting sacked at the one-yard-line on third down. The punt would go 58 yards but be returned to the Raiders 45, starting the Bengals in Las Vegas territory two drives in a row. They would get another field goal out of it to take a 13-3 lead.
5. Lost turnover battle
No takeaways of any kind for the Raiders. They had one against the Chargers last week that helped tremendously. Two if you count the turnover on downs. They got none against the Bengals. But the Raiders had a couple of their own.
The Raiders’ second drive, Carr either didn’t notice or simply didn’t prepare for the fact that tight end Foster Moreau was lined up one-on-one with Bengals’ best pass rusher Tyler Hendrickson. He was sacked and fumbled it. The Bengals recovered at the 15-yard-line and added a field goal to go up 10-3. You might recall last week Carr fumbled inside his own 20 too, but that time the Raiders got lucky when Brandon Parker fell on it.
The game ended with Carr throwing an interception. The turnover didn’t really matter as an incompletion would’ve resulted in the same thing and even the catch being that Zay Jones was not in the end zone. But throwing to him twice while he was well covered up — either pass could’ve been the one picked — was playing with fire and the Raiders got burned.
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