For just the second time in the history of Ballers & Busters, I was able to put the word “playoff” in the title. But unlike the other time, the word signaled the Raiders played up to the level of a playoff team. Not being forced to give a rookie QB his first-ever start helped with that.
In what proved to be easily the most competitive game of the Wild Card weekend, the Raiders and Bengals spent a good portion of this game one score away from each other.
That’s the positive news. The glass-half-empty look is the Bengals took the lead on their first drive of the game and never let go of it.
The Raiders’ biggest problem was that they would go on a long drive only to stall in the red zone. In five trips into the red zone, they came away with just one touchdown. And unlike their win in the season finale, they went away from Josh Jacobs entirely in the fourth quarter in an attempt to quickly score twice. But appropriately enough, it was two more failed trips to the red zone that did them in.
Ballers
CB Nate Hobbs
The standout rookie showed up big time on the biggest stage for this team. He made the first tackle of the day as the gunner on special teams. The Bengals would drive for a TD on their first drive, but none of the catches given up were by him.
After a Derek Carr fumble gave the Bengals the ball at the Vegas 15-yard-line, the defense stiffened with Hobbs in tight coverage on third down to force Burrow to throw the ball away. It limited the damage on the turnover to a field goal which was a big win in the early going.
Early in the second quarter, Hobbs once again showed his gunner prowess, making the stop on the return at the 18-yard-line. He then made the second tackle of the possession on a four-yard run that was stopped short of the marker to bring up third and one.
The Bengals converted, but a few plays later they were again in third-and-one. This time Burrow tried Hobbs and he knocked the pass down to force them to go for it on fourth down. They would convert and finish it off for a TD, but Hobbs did his part to not make it easy.
The Bengals got the ball to start the third quarter and were moving into scoring range again. They were lined up at the 34 on first down and Hobbs had tight coverage to force an incompletion and two plays later, on third and 15, he made the tackle short of the sticks to force another field goal.
The biggest possession of the game for this defense came with 3:34 left. They needed a quick stop in order to have any chance to win it. Down seven, with no timeouts, even one first down would mean an almost certain end to their hopes. Two run stops brought up third and 11. Burrow completed the pass to his tight end and Hobbs teamed up with KJ Wright to make the stop short of the first down to keep the Raiders’ hopes alive.
RB Josh Jacobs
I mentioned in the opening that the Raiders went away from the ground game entirely in the fourth quarter. They were down ten and switched to the pass to move the ball quickly. Much the same way Justin Herbert led two touchdown drives to send the season finale to overtime.
That game plan was a real shame because Jacobs was really starting to pick up steam, just as he did in overtime of that Chargers game.
Early in the second quarter, Jacobs broke off his longest run of the season, streaking 35 yards to put the Raiders at the Bengals’ 12-yard-line. His efforts were somewhat squandered with consecutive incompletions leading to a field goal.
Late in the third quarter, Jacobs started picking up yards in chunks. On four consecutive players, he ran for eight, seven, five, and seven yards. The drive would end up in first and goal from the nine-yard line.
On second down, they ran it up the middle and for a moment it looked like the Raiders would be lining up in third and goal from the one, but Jacobs’s run was courtesy of a John Simpson hold and two plays later the Raiders again lined up for a field goal.
To play what-if for a second, had that Jacobs run counted, the Raiders may have stuck with him on third and goal from the one and may have scored. If that had happened, it would have been a 23-20 game instead of 23-16.
And, again, if all other things were the same, the Bengals add a field goal to make it 26-20. In a six-point game, the Raiders may not have gone away from the run as they did. Not that they had a legit excuse to completely shut down the run game, but that’s the decision they made.
Even still, Jacobs became a weapon in the passing game. He caught a pass for 13 yards on the first drive for a field goal and a 15-yarder to lead out the final drive.
Despite only getting 13 carries in the game, he ran for 83 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and put up 127 total yards on 17 touches.
DE Maxx Crosby
Midway through the third quarter, the Bengals had yet to punt in the game. They had scored on every one of their drives with two touchdowns and three field goals. That streak ended when on third and 12, Crosby came up the middle on a stunt and flew in to wrap up Burrow for the sack.
The Raiders’ final defensive stand to maintain a shot at driving for the tie was led by Crosby. He teamed up with Carl Nassib to stop the run for a loss of two on first down. Then on the sweep to Jamarr Chase on second down, he stayed with it to make the stop for one yard to bring up third-and-11. The Bengals couldn’t convert and the Raiders offense got the ball with 1:51 to work with.
TE Darren Waller
Welcome Waller back among the Ballers. In just his second game back after missing five weeks to injury and COVID, Waller looked much more in sync with the offense. The false start that helped stall the first drive notwithstanding. Waller also had a seven-yard catch on third and three to keep that drive alive, so there’s that.
The Raiders’ first touchdown of the game came in the final seconds of the second quarter. On third and six from the 25-yard-line, Carr found Waller for an 11-yard completion. Two plays later, Carr and Zay Jones hooked up for the score to make for a more manageable 20-13 halftime deficit.
Down ten with 6:41 left in the game, the Raiders needed to score quickly. A touchdown would have been preferable, but a field goal was vital. The first big play was a 13-yard completion to Waller. The drive would reach the ten-yard line. And on third and three, Waller broke open out right, Carr saw him and threw it only to have the pass be a bit too low and bounce off Sam Hubbard’s helmet. Big missed opportunity on what looked like a sure first down and a possible score.
With one more shot to score, the Raiders started moving. They got a big assist from a terrible roughing the pass penalty on the Bengals that added 15 yards to a 15-yard Jacobs catch and run. A sack on Carr threatened to spoil the gift, but on third and 17, Carr threw an absolute laser through a defender and Waller made the seemingly improbable catch with the defender blocking his view for 23 yards. That set the Raiders up at the 19-yard-line.
From there, unfortunately, Waller was not targeted again and the Raiders were unable to finish off the drive.
K Daniel Carlson
The Raiders scored 19 points with 13 of them off of Carlson’s leg. He nailed all four of his field goals, including a 47-yarder. He did this in the season finale, but that was at home in a dome. This was on the road in a cold outdoor stadium. Same result. Money.
DT Quinton Jefferson
With a second straight Raiders possession ended in a sack that had AJ Cole punt out of the back of their own end zone, the Bengals would once again take over inside Vegas territory. Once again the defense stiffened and on third and goal from the four-yard-line, Jefferson sacked Burrow to force them to settle for another field goal.
LB Denzel Perryman
Perryman joked in his season-ending press conference about how everyone gives him crap about his coverage abilities. But he was actually pretty great in his coverage duties in this game. In the first play of the game, he put a hit on Bengals star receiver Jamarr Chase to knock the ball out incomplete. Later in the drive, he had a run stop too, which is what he is more known for.
The longest catch of the day Perryman gave up went for seven yards. He also made a stop on a five-yard Chase catch. Again, no small thing for Perryman to be making stops on a wide receiver the caliber of Chase.
Early in the fourth quarter, when a Bengals TD would have basically killed the Raiders’ hopes, he made a run stop short of the sticks to bring up third and one. And then had containment on the outside to keep Joe Mixon from getting the edge and he was stuffed for no gain by Johnathan Hankins. The Bengals would settle for a field goal.
And speaking of things Perryman is known for, he also led the Raiders in tackles (9) and solo tackles (6).
Honorable Mention
CB Casey Hayward — Had tight coverage on several incompletions as well as a pass breakup. And had the presence of mind to call a timeout when the Raiders had 12 men on the field.
LB Divine Deablo — Finished second on the team in tackles despite not playing the second half due to a concussion.
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