Raiders winners and losers in 24-0 defeat vs. Saints

Raiders winners and losers in 24-0 defeat vs. Saints

The Raiders had a chance to win back-to-back games for the first time this season on Sunday but failed miserably in New Orleans, losing 24-0 against the Saints.

Las Vegas was simply dominated in every facet of the game and never had a chance. Incredibly, the Raiders’ offense did not run a play in Saints territory until backup quarterback Jarett Stidham entered the game in garbage time.

Coach Josh McDaniels got away from handing the ball to running back Josh Jacobs early and turned to play-action passes too soon. The Raiders’ offensive line couldn’t handle the Saints’ pass rush and the offense never got going. New Orleans notched 10 early points off turnovers, and the Raiders couldn’t recover.

Here are the winners and losers for the week, except there are zero winners. Such is the case when the Raiders (2-5) score zero points.

Loser: Coach Josh McDaniels

The Raiders looked unprepared and unready to play this game, and that falls squarely on the shoulders of McDaniels. Plus, a few suspect decisions from McDaniels added to Las Vegas’ misery.

Down just 7-0, the Raiders had a 3rd-and-1 opportunity. Rather than hand the ball to Jacobs, McDaniels ran a sweep with wide receiver Davante Adams. The play was stuffed for a loss. Then McDaniels opted for a fake punt, which failed. The sequence cost Las Vegas three points after a Saints field goal.

Plus, McDaniels called an ineffective pass play on 3rd-and-2 one drive later. The snap resulted in an interception and an eventual seven points for the Saints. McDaniels also had a bad coaches challenge on an incomplete pass to Adams along the sideline.

But worse of all, he went away from his bread-and-butter from the Raiders’ two wins: Josh Jacobs. Once the game got out of hand, that’s understandable. But McDaniels turned to play-action passes too soon and his offensive line didn’t respond, which actually helped create the blowout. Jacobs ended his day with just 43 yards on the ground and Vegas had only 38 rushing yards as a team.

Loser: QB Derek Carr

Quarterback Derek Carr didn’t get the best blocking on Sunday, but he also had a hand in the Saints’ hot start. He missed WR Mack Hollins when he was wide open on Las Vegas’ first third-down try of the day. Carr had a QB rating of 25 in the first half and ended up with 101 yards on 15-26 passing with an interception.

And though his blockers struggled most of the day — and Carr has shown he can make all the throws when he’s protected — it’s Carr’s job to overcome that disadvantage, whether it’s fair to Carr or not. Instead, he shrank in the face of pressure and helped sink the Raiders’ chances.

Loser: Offensive line

This entry should be no surprise. The Raiders offensive line came back down to earth when McDaniels asked them to pass block more than he had in either of the Raiders’ two wins.

Even offensive tackle Kolton Miller had a rough day. He missed a block on the failed end-around sweep to Adams, allowed multiple pressures, and allowed at least one QB sack on the day.

Another veteran, center Andre James, struggled as well. His inexcusable whiff in pass protection in the fourth quarter was a good representation of the line’s inept play on Sunday.

Loser: WR Davante Adams/WR Hunter Renfrow

When WR Davante Adams agreed to be traded to the Raiders, this surely wasn’t what he had in mind.

Adams had just one reception on five targets, gaining three yards. His fellow wideout Hunter Renfrow also had just one catch and was targeted only twice, with one target ending in an interception. (Carr actually had decent protection on his interception, but he was apparently already rattled by an overall lack of blocking.)

Loser: Defense

The Raiders offense failed to score any points, but Las Vegas’ defense looked plenty bad in their own right. The unit failed to rattle Saints QB Andy Dalton, failed to cover New Orleans receivers, displayed unusually poor run defense, lacked aggressiveness, missed tackles, and just looked sluggish overall.

Saints running back Alvin Kamara had a field day, scoring three touchdowns. Thanks in large part to the Raiders’ lackluster play, he made his job look exceedingly easy.

There were multiple examples of this during the game, but on Kamara’s second touchdown, the Raiders looked uninterested in tackling him as he casually reached the football across the goal line.

Loser: DE Chander Jones

Though there were multiple individual defenders that could have landed on the loser list, such as CBs Anthony Averett, Rock Ya-Sin, and Amik Robertson, I’ve singled out defensive end Chander Jones.

He looked like a liability on the field, as he appeared to lack aggressiveness overall and was out of position on multiple running plays around the edge. His talent was supposed to prop up a patchwork defense put together by McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler, but Jones’ play has not been close to as advertised.

After the Raiders appeared ready to break out and start a winning streak thanks to an offense led by Jacobs, McDaniels tried to switch it up and pass more, only to remind everyone why he turned to the run game in the first place. Despite some favorable statistics on the season, the offensive line is simply not very good and can’t handle much more than a run-heavy game plan.

It now feels safe — and surprising— to call the Raiders a bad football team, despite their splashy offseason acquisitions, McDaniels certainly included. Can they prove that notion wrong? Time is running out to do so. They’ll have yet another chance to get on the winning track next week against the Jaguars in Jacksonville.