Busters
HC Josh McDaniels, DC Patrick Graham
The team practiced in West Virginia all week to try and acclimate to the time difference. It didn’t work. Or maybe it just made no difference.
Nothing was going right on either side of the ball for the Raiders.
On offense — McDaniels’s responsibility — the ground game was less than non-existent. The Bills seemed to know exactly what the Raiders were going to run every time Josh Jacobs got the ball. He was stopped for a four-yard loss on the first play of the game and it didn’t get better as they day went on.
Despite Jakobi Meyers being out with a concussion, Hunter Renfrow was once again absent from the offense, not getting his first target until literally the last pass of the game.
Then early in the fourth quarter, with the Raiders down three scores in fourth and three at their own 42, they punted. There’s no way that McDaniels could possibly think the Raiders could afford to punt the ball away, get it back, and score three times in the final 13 minutes of the game.
It had the look of throwing in the towel. And if that’s the case, just take out the starters and call it a day. But he didn’t do that. No, for some reason, in the final minutes, down FOUR scores, McDaniels still had Davante Adams in the game, leading to him getting nailed on a deep ball in triple coverage and head to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion. That’s a great way to make this more than one loss.
When the Bills got the ball back off the Raiders punt, they did what they had done on five of their previous six drives — the went for a score. To make it worse, they took 7:32 off the clock in the process to take the final lead of 38-10.
The whole game was long drives for the Bills and short ones for the Raiders. It’s the reason the Bills had more than twice the time of possession than the Raiders. The third quarter alone saw the Raiders with just four snaps with the Bills driving for two scores.
And the Bills converted on three of four fourth down attempts. All three on drives that ended with touchdowns.
CB Jakorian Bennett
After an decent enough opener, the rookie fourth round pick had his welcome to the NFL moment. Several of them, in fact.
The second Bills TD drive saw Bennett give up a 19-yard catch and then let Dawson Knox get behind him for a wide open touchdown. The next TD drive, he gave up a 17-yard catch on third and eight and the Bills headed into the half up 21-10.
First pass of the third quarter went for eight yards with Bennett playing too deep. The next play was his to make on the left side. He was stopped flat-footed on a run play, failing to cut off the outside and giving up a 16-yard run. That drive also went for the touchdown.
The final Bills touchdown drive saw Bennett give up a 40-yard catch on third and six to put the Bills in first and goal. They punched it in three plays later.
RB Josh Jacobs
He finished with -2 yards rushing on nine carries. His previous worst rushing performance on at least nine carries was 24 yards, putting him 26 yards behind that. It wasn’t always his fault, but YAC is a thing he has always been known for. And he didn’t get much of any of that in this one. And sometimes it was barely a bump and he was down. Not the Josh Jacobs we came to know last season or at really any point in his career.
LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten
First play of the game Van Roten was driven deep into the Raiders’ backfield to get Josh Jacobs stopped for a four-yard loss.
The next possession for the Raiders ended with James letting Daquan Jones get such a free run at Garoppolo, he couldn’t get the ball off on the screen pass. The ball was tipped and intercepted.
The next possession ended with Parham getting driven into the backfield and James’s man getting in Garoppolo’s face again, to again bat the ball down.
Next possession, Parham was beaten to give up a tackle for a loss of three, leading to a stalled drive and a field goal.
Next possession was a three-and-out thanks to Van Roten. On second down, he again driven into the backfield to give up a tackle for loss. And on third down he gave up a hit on Garoppolo leading to an incompletion and a punt.
DT Bilal Nichols, DT John Jenkins, DT Byron Young
We jump to the other side of the line for another hapless performance from the Raiders defensive line. Leading to the Bills putting up 183 yards and two touchdown on the ground. They stopped literally nothing.
Nichols gave up the first down on the first fourth down keeper. The next play they punched it in for the TD. The next drive, he jumped offsides. Next drive, he got in the backfield only to whiff on the sack attempt, allowing a ten-yard completion. Then later in the drive, Jenkins gave up a nine-yard run and he and Young gave up a four-yard run on first and goal from the eight. It was a couple nice plays from Trevon Moehrig that kept that drive from ending in another score.
The first drive of the third quarter, Jenkins gave up another fourth down conversion on the QB sneak that put the Bills in first and goal. They scored a few plays later.
The final scoring drive began with Young giving up runs of nine yards and seven yards and ended with Nichols and Jenkins giving up runs of three and four yards to put the Bills in third and goal from the one. They scored easily from there.
CB Nate Hobbs
A pass interference penalty in the end zone on Hobbs set the Bills up in first and goal at the one, leading to their second touchdown.
Hobbs was one of the first players blocked on a 43-yard kick return in the second quarter that set the Bills up at the 47-yard-line. Though, to his credit he assisted in tight coverage at the end of that drive to make the only fourth down stop of the game.
Hobbs didn’t make the play at the end of the next drive. He gave up the toucheown from 11 yards out.
To lead out the Bills second drive of the third quarter, Hobbs had a free run at Josh Allen on the blitz, but whiffed to give up an eight-yard catch. That drive led to a field goal.
It looked for a moment like the Raiders would have their first takeaway when Maxx Crosby got pressure and hit Allen as he threw and Roderic Teamer picked it off. But it was not to be because Hobbs was flagged for illegal contact. Instead the drive went for another TD.
DE Tyree Wilson
Another invisible performance for the Raiders seventh overall pick. The only time I noticed him was when he was giving up containment on the edge on runs or missing the tackle.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo
Neither of his interceptions should have been thrown. The first, he should’ve just eaten it and taken the sack. The second was to a covered Josh Jacobs. Matt Milano made a spectacular play, but he was in position all along and best case scenario, it is caught for minimal gain. That’s a read he should’ve looked off for a better option.
Garoppolo would complete just 16 passes for 185 yards. And this time, he is just as responsible for Hunter Renfrow’s lack of targets as McDaniels.