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Three weeks ago, the Raiders were sitting at 3-4, coming off a long road trip. They were happy to be home for the first time in seven weeks and needed to take advantage of it. To do that, they would need their defense to play a lot better than they had, and the rookies would be asked to step up to make up for some key losses.
They got both of those things, and the result has been three straight wins.
Sunday against the Bengals, we saw some familiar heroes to the previous two wins against the Lions and Chargers.
The first big play of the game came from Maxx Crosby, who sacked quarterback Ryan Finley and forced the fumble which the Raiders recovered.
Foster Moreau would score the Raiders’ first touchdown. Hunter Renfrow had key third-down conversions on each of the Raiders’ first two scoring drives. Josh Jacobs went over 100 yards on his first carry of the 4th quarter to lead off the final Raiders scoring drive to take a 17-10 lead.
They had that lead at the 2-minute mark when the Bengals got the ball at their own 20-yard line looking to drive for the tie.
In the first play, Crosby had his fourth (!!!) sack of the game. The next play Trayvon Mullen picked off Finley to seal the win.
Win streaks don’t happen like this without these kinds of contributions from unlikely places. But at some point, we can’t be surprised anymore where the heroics are coming from.
Two weeks ago against the Lions, the Raiders rookies scored all four touchdowns. Last week top pick Clelin Ferrell had a coming-out party with 2.5 sacks. The rookies were major factors again this week.
Each of the past three weeks, the game has been put in the hands of the defense to shut the door. The Lions drove to the goal line where, on fourth down, Karl Joseph knocked the pass down to end it.
Last week it was a pressure by Crosby, leading to an interception by Joseph that sealed the victory. And this week, it was the sack by Crosby followed by the interception by Mullen that ended it.
“If you’re going to win, you’ve got the lead, and they’ve got the ball, and the defense has got to close,” said Gruden. “That’s something that we’re getting better and better at. I think we’re actually looking forward to the challenges of going out there and finishing, but we always talked about the fourth-quarter pass rush. You can count sacks and stats in the first couple quarters, but when you get in a closing situation, that’s when you have to really end the game.”
It’s one thing for a veteran like Joseph to close out a game. It’s another thing for the defense to start playing the hero after how much they struggled early this season. And it’s another level to not only see the defense closing out games but that it’s rookie defenders doing it.
That was the first interception of Mullen’s NFL career. In his fourth start since he replaced Gareon Conley, who was traded to the Texans. Mullens’ emergence just makes for yet another rookie stepping up for this team.
“Guys just coming in and showing the capability and what they can do,” Mullen said of the Raiders rookie class. “How they prepare. How they take meetings seriously. How they want to elevate and get better. I think that’s the biggest thing. Everybody just wants to get better, everybody wants to see each other do good so that we can continue to win games and put ourselves in position for the rest of the season.”
In another one-score win, there was no way they do it without every contribution they got from their rookies, and most importantly, from their defense. A couple areas that a month ago, few could have predicted would be playing the hero. But here we are.
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