It’s been a while since this piece was put together without the focus being more on the Busters than the Ballers because it was coming out of yet another loss. To be exact, it had been nearly three months!
As has been the case a lot this season, the defense carries the day for the Raiders. Only this time, it was enough to get the win.
Ballers
S Isaiah Pola-Mao, S Tre’von Moehrig
Moehrig’s pass breakup helped lead to the Jaguars’ second punt of the game. Then after the Raiders tied the game at 7-7 in the second quarter, he made the tackle on third down to force another punt.
The Raiders had two takeaways in the game. Both were Pola-Mao forced fumbles. The first came early in the second quarter and Moehrig was there to pounce on it for the recovery at the Jacksonville 45-yard line. They would get a field goal out of it to take a 13-7 lead.
The second turnover came late in the second quarter and it stopped what would have been a scoring drive by the Jaguars, sending the two teams to the locker room with the Raiders maintaining their six-point lead.
On the final Jaguars drive, Moehrig came flying in on the blitz to force Mac Jones to throw the ball into the turf to avoid the sack. Then on fourth down, Moehrig made the tackle short of the sticks to give the Raiders the win.
DE Charles Snowden. DE K’Lavon Chaisson
A week ago Snowden was inactive because of his DUI arrest. He returned to his regularly scheduled breakout season on Sunday, wreaking havoc on Mac Jones and the Jaguars offense.
Snowden made the stop on a catch in the right flat on third down to force the first punt of the game.
Two drives later, Chaisson made an almost identical play to the one he made last week against the Falcons, when he perfectly played a screen pass. That time, he batted the pass to himself for the interception. This time, he looked to have the interception outright, but couldn’t quite hang onto it. Still a well-played ball by Chaisson.
In the second quarter, Chaisson got pressure on the edge on third down, forcing Mac Jones to step up and throw where Snowden was there to bat the pass down at the line.
The first drive of the third quarter was stopped when on consecutive plays, Chaisson set up a tackle for loss and then made the sack for an 11-yard loss.
Snowden led out the first Jaguars’ possession of the fourth quarter with a tackle for loss that led to a three-and-out. Then on fourth-and-one with the game in the balance, he drew a holding penalty to make it fourth-and-11 instead. They couldn’t make it up and turned it over on downs.
RB Ameer Abdullah
Abdullah made the play of the game. Early in the fourth quarter, with the Jaguars having just taken a 14-13 lead, Aidan O’Connell was under pressure, and threw up a prayer ball Abdullah’s way and he came back to make the catch for the first down at the Jacksonville 35.
The next play, Abdullah made an 11-yard catch to put them in easy scoring range. Two play later, he took the ball up the gut from seven yards out for the touchdown to give the Raiders the lead. That 19-14 lead would hold the rest of the way.
He also had three runs for 24 yards to put the Raiders in field goal range for a 13-7 lead just before the half.
TE Brock Bowers
He made the first catch of the day for the Raiders. He was open on the right side and shot up the sideline for 32 yards. As it happens, he was exactly 32 yards from 1000 on the season and that play landed him right on the milestone.
On the game-winning drive, Bowers had three catches for 29 yards, including the 17-yard catch that put them in first and goal. His final two catches helped the Raiders eat up clock to preserve the win and give him 11 catches for 99 yards in the game.
DT Adam Butler, DT John Jenkins
The first tackle of the day was a run stop for no gain and it was set up because Butler shot through the gap to force the run elsewhere. Jenkins helped to end the drive with a punt with a run stuff on first down followed by a batted ball at the line.
Jenkins led out the second Jaguars possession with another run stuff. And he added another on the next drive.
Butler drew a holding penalty in the second quarter that led to a three-and-out. Then he drew another holding penalty in the third quarter that also stopped a drive. On the play prior to that second drawn holding, Jenkins got pressure up the middle to force and incompletion.
Butler is a perfect example of why the game is played outside the stats. He had no stats in the game. But affected the game greatly just the same.
RT DJ Glaze
Didn’t give up any QB hits, sacks, or run stops in the game. That’s just flat out doing his job.
Honorable Mention
QB Aidan O’Connell — The offense wasn’t great. But he led them on two TD drives and made some gritty plays along the way.