Busters
TE Darren Waller
After the Titans led out the game with a touchdown drive, the Raiders looked to answer with their own. They would get to the five-yard line. On third down, Carr threw for Waller in the end zone and it went right through his hands and they settled for a field goal.
Down 21-10 in the second quarter, the Raiders lined up in third and seven. Carr threw deep for Waller who had a step on his man. The pass was a bit long, but had Waller laid out for it, he may have had a shot. Instead, he tried to make a one-handed grab and it bounced off his hand incomplete.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the Raiders were down 24-13 and drove to the six-yard-line, looking to score again. Carr threw for Waller over the middle. The pass was high and hot, but catchable and Waller had it slip through his hands where it was intercepted off the deflection.
That was two touchdowns and a huge play that Waller had bounced off his hands. In a game that came down to two points, those were obviously huge mistakes.
LT Kolton Miller, LG Alex Bars, C Dylan Parham, RG Jermaine Eluemunor
In an ironic twist, everyone but the rookie making his first start at right tackle had a terrible game.
Both Miller and Bars had missed blocked that led to tackles for loss on the Raiders opening drive. The second drive touchdown was made all the more difficult thanks to a false start by Eluemunor on first and goal from the one. And just prior to the lone sack on Carr in the game, it was Bars who gave up a pressure that led to an incompletion.
Bars led out the first drive of the third quarter by giving up a run stuff. Then he and Miller both missed their block attempts on the same guy on a run out left that should have gone for good yards if either had made the block.
Then in third-and-four from the nine-yard-line, Miller was flagged for a false start. In the next play, Eluemunor gave up a hit on Carr resulting in an incompletion and another field goal.
The next possession was a three-and-out that started with an Eluemunor holding penalty and ending with Parham and Bars missing their blocks on a screen that was stuffed for a two-yard loss.
How they even scored a field goal midway through the fourth quarter is a wonder. Considering Bars started it off by giving up a pressure while also being flagged for holding and Miller giving up a hit on Carr.
The 60-yard catch and run by Mack Hollins almost didn’t happen because Carr was hit hard right after releasing the ball by Bars’s man. Then it was marched back 15 yards by a Parham unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. In the next play Parham missed his block to get the screen play stopped for a loss.
QB Derek Carr
Once again, Davante Adams was a near non-factor. He had just 36 yards on five catches. His first catch went for just three yards and then he was sent on an end-around for a loss. When we say to get the ball in the hands of your best player, that’s not really what we had in mind.
Don’t just take it from me though…
You can blame McDaniels, Waller ,the defense, everyone, but where's Carr's vision on these plays?? You have arguably the best receiver in the game wide open over and over and over and you don't look his way? Of course you will continue to lose games. pic.twitter.com/Y5HpwTft7E
— RedDeadRaider (@RDR_RAIDER) September 27, 2022
After the Raiders added a field goal to start the third quarter, they got the ball back in scoring position off an interception. Then they not only went three-and-out but were knocked out of scoring range. Carr took too long to get the team lined up on third-and-13 and was flagged for delay of game. They then conceded possession with a ridiculous screen play on third-and-18 that was stopped for a loss.
The offensive line wasn’t the only thing that made it tough for the Raiders to score on their final possession. On three straight plays, Carr overthrew Adams, overthrew Keelan Cole on third-and-ten, and then on fourth-and-ten was flagged for yet another delay of game penalty. It was only because of the incredible catch by Hollins on the ball Carr threw to his outside shoulder that the drive (and the game) didn’t end right there.
LB Divine Deablo, S Johnathan Abram
The first positive play of the day for the Titans was Abram giving up a 23-yard screen play. The Titans still ended up in third-and-ten three plays later. So Abram was out of position to give up a wide-open catch that went for 11 yards. Two plays later, Deablo gave up a 10-yard run to the 25. The next play Abram bit on the play action to give up eight yards on the reverse. Then on the final play, Abram went on the blitz and Deablo didn’t take the tight end, leaving him wide open for the touchdown.
That was probably their worst drive. But they weren’t without their issues the rest of the way either. Abram added a missed tackle on a ten-yard run on the Titans’ third touchdown drive. Then Deablo gave up catches of 13 and 15 yards; the latter leading to a field goal to end the first half.
The Titans’ second drive of the third quarter saw them lined up on third and nine from their own two-yard-line. A stop would’ve been big. But on the dump pass, Abram missed the tackle and Deablo took a terrible angle, leading to a 30-yard catch and run. The next two plays saw Deablo give up runs of four and 13 yards.
Yeah, the defense stepped up in the second half, but for the most part it was despite Deablo or Abram.
DC Patrick Graham
The Titans are known for being unable to sustain scoring drives after their opening drive. And yet they were able to drive for touchdowns on their first three possessions of this game. For an offense that is supposed to be one-dimensional. That’s not good at all. Even the second-half shutout isn’t enough to make up for that.
HC Josh McDaniels
Before a single snap occurred, we knew the line was going to make life difficult. Because they have been in every game. The Alex Bars start in particular seemed strange. I mean, John Simpson hasn’t been a world-beater, but he’s been better on his worst day than Bars was in this one. The only possible explanation for calling up Bars from the practice squad to start is if something is wrong with Simpson.
Down 21-10 late in the second quarter, the Raiders got the ball back with a minute left. That usually means they will have the last chance to score. But instead, they would go three-and-out, taking a grand total of 28 seconds off the clock. And with 21 seconds left on the clock, the Titans moved into scoring range and added a field goal to extend the lead to 24-10 at the half.
You would figure being down 14 points would light a fire under them in terms of making the most of their time. But with possession to start the third quarter, the Raiders took over eight minutes off the clock on the drive and still managed just a field goal out of it.
McDaniels’s former Patriots mate on the opposite sideline then said, ‘I see your bad play calls and raise you a couple’. First by calling for a run up the middle on third-and-one that everyone, including the Raiders, saw coming a mile away and therefore had crowded the line to stop it. Then, despite that play being stopped for a loss, the Titans STILL went for it on fourth-and-four and the Raiders stopped it for a turnover on downs, giving them great field position.
So much bad coaching.
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