Welcome to the 2021 regular season. And the first Ballers & Busters for the games that count. This week’s game was a wild one. It started with the Ravens looking like they might run away with it, going up 14-0 while the Raiders offense sputtered and Derek Carr seeming to try and force the ball to Darren Waller while ignoring the rest of his receivers.
The Ravens scored their second TD in the second quarter and at that time Marcus Mariota led the Raiders in yards on one play. He came in the game and ran for 31 yards. Derek Carr still had just 29 yards passing.
Things started to pick up for the offense midway through the second and with the Raiders defense holding strong, the two teams would be tied 17-17 midway through the fourth. From there we saw the teams go back and forth and ultimately head to overtime tied up at 27-27.
Overtime was even crazier, with two turnovers and the Raiders finally ending it with a touchdown from Derek Carr to Zay Jones to win 33-27.
Ballers
DE Maxx Crosby
Crosby has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week, so his Top Baller status should come as no surprise. This article could get rather long if I were to mention every pressure he had because he seemed to live in the Ravens’ backfield in this game. So, let’s stick with the highlights.
Crosby ended the Ravens’ first drive when on third and 13, he got in the backfield to sack Lamar Jackson.
Early in the second quarter, he got in the backfield again to disrupt a read option and cause Lamar Jackson to fumble the ball. Jackson was lucky to fall on it but lost four yards on the play, so it was as good as a sack. He later disrupted another read-option keeper to stop Jackson for minimal gain.
In the final play of the third quarter, the Ravens lined up in 3rd and 7. And Crosby sacks Jackson again to end the threat.
The Ravens got one shot in the overtime period. On the first play, Crosby showed off his speed, chasing down Jackson on a roll out right to force a throwaway. Two plays later he stuffed a run for a short gain. Two plays later, on 3rd and 7, Jackson was strip-sacked to give the Raiders the ball back.
Crosby appeared to have three sacks in the game but was credited for just two of them. He added two tackles for loss and five QB hits. He was a man possessed.
TE Darren Waller
Early in this game, it was looking like the roughest game I can recall Waller having. He started 1 for 7 on targets. Carr was throwing Walle the ball even when he wasn’t getting open. But when things did get going, it was Waller that got it going.
Late in the second quarter, the Raiders finally started moving the ball. Waller picked up nine yards on a screen pass and two plays later, on third and one, Carr finally had a big hookup with Waller for a 24-yard gain. Two plays later he caught an eight-yard pass. They scored the TD a couple of plays later.
In the third quarter, he had a 22-yard catch and run called back by a highly questionable offensive pass interference penalty.
The fourth quarter saw the Raiders tie the game up, go down again, and tie it up again three times. The second was set up by a 10-yard catch by Waller on first and goal from the 20 and then Waller made the catch on second down, at the three, spun out of a tackle and dove for the score.
Waller finished with 10 catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
DE Yannick Ngakoue, DE Carl Nassib
Crosby wasn’t the only Raiders edge rusher who was spending a lot of time in the Ravens’ backfield. Ngakoue was flying off the edge as well and Nassib added pressure off the bench.
Ngakoue helped end three consecutive Ravens drives at a crucial point in this game. With the Ravens up 14-7 midway through the second quarter, Ngakoue made the stop short of the sticks on third and three. They went for it on fourth down and couldn’t convert.
Then to start the third quarter, with the Raiders still down 17-10, Ngakoue pressured and hit Jackson as he threw and the pass fell incomplete. On the next drive, he stormed into the backfield to hit the back who was stopped for a loss. They didn’t convert on third and five.
Ngakoue would leave shortly after that and Nassib came in. And played hero. The big moment came in overtime when Nassib sacked Lamar Jackson and forced the fumble to give the Raiders the ball back and allow them the chance to win the game. But that wasn’t the first bit of hero work Nassib did in this one. If not for the first time he put on his cape, the second wouldn’t have been possible.
With less than a minute remaining in the regulation, the Ravens lined up in third and four in scoring range. A first down and they could run out the clock and kick the game-winning field goal.
Nassib made the tackle on Lamar Jackson to stop him short of the first down. They kicked the field goal to go ahead 27-24 but left 37 seconds left on the clock with which to work. That proved to be all the Raiders needed.
QB Derek Carr, WR Bryan Edwards, K Daniel Carlson, WR Hunter Renfrow, WR Zay Jones
We pick things up with 37 seconds left in regulation and the Raiders down 27-24. Before that series, Bryan Edwards didn’t have a catch, Jones had just one catch for 15 yards, Carlson had made just one chip shot field goal, and Carr looked more likely to land among the Busters.
The Raiders got the ball at their own 25-yard-line. Carr found Edwards for his first catch of the game for 20 yards, then raced up and spiked the ball. That put them at their own 45 with 22 seconds remaining
. Then Carr found Edwards again for 18 yards and again raced up to the line to spike the ball. This left seven seconds on the clock and out came Daniel Carlson to attempt a 55-yard field goal. Carlson nailed it and sent the game to overtime.
On the first play of overtime, Carr went right back to Edwards for an 11-yard connection. Two plays later, Renfrow caught a pass out left, escaped a tackle and tip-toed his way up the left sideline for 27 yards.
A few plays later, the Raiders lined up in third and four at the 33. Carr dropped back and saw pressure in his face. He threw off his back foot — which is rarely a good idea — but Edwards had his man turned around. Edwards came back for the ball, made the catch and dove for the goal line, getting stopped at the one-yard line.
Three plays later, the Raiders still hadn’t gotten in. Carr dropped back and threw for Willie Snead who was open short over the middle. Carr put too much on the ball and Snead didn’t get his hands up in time. It went through Snead’s hands, bounced off a defender and was intercepted.
That gave the Ravens a chance to drive for a score, but Nassib’s forced fumble gave the Raiders another chance. Two plays later, Carr came to the line, ready with the perfect play in case the Ravens sent an all-out blitz. Zay Jones knew it too.
At the snap, Zay went on a quick slant from left to right, Derek Carr dropped back with pressure coming, and launched a rainbow for Jones to go and get. He made the catch wide open and trotted in for the game-winning touchdown.
P AJ Cole
Cole was a surgical rocket launcher in this game. His first punt was downed at the eight-yard line. His second punt traveled 63 yards, his third 67 yards with a 52-yard net, his fourth went 50 yards and was muffed, his fifth 64 yards, but was returned 30 yards, and his sixth was fair caught at the 19.
DC Gus Bradley
The Raiders defense hasn’t attacked like this in a very long time. And Bradley’s fingerprints are all over it. So many times in this game when a key play was made it was one of the guys he brought in from previous stops. Yannick Ngakoue was already mentioned.
Denzel Perryman tied for the team lead in tackles (10) and recovered the first Jackson fumble in the fourth quarter, Casey Hayward was barely tested in the game and came through when he was, Darius Philon recovered the fumble in overtime, and KJ Wright made a huge run stop on fourth and one late in the second quarter.
Honorable Mention
RB Josh Jacobs – Played very hurt and still scored two touchdowns. One from 15 yards out to give us the first tie of the game in the fourth quarter.
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