After a historic performance by their rookie class in Week 11, the Oakland Raiders struggled to do much of anything on Sunday against the Jets. Their young team just wasn’t ready to compete, and they were blown-out by an inferior roster.

Today, we will break down the performances from their entire draft class from 2019. Here is the team’s rookie report card after Week 12.

DE Clelin Ferrell: C-

It was another relatively quiet game for Clelin Ferrell, who recorded just three assisted tackles on the day. He did finish the game with an assisted tackle for a loss, but he was held in check for most of the afternoon. Ferrell has been significantly better in the second half of the season, but Sunday wasn’t his best performance by any means. Look for him to bounce back in Week 13 against the Chiefs.

RB Josh Jacobs:  D+

For most of the season, you can make the case that Josh Jacobs has not only been the best rookie running back in the league but, arguably, the NFL’s top back. He’s dominated whenever he has touched the ball, excelling after contact.

However, Sunday just wasn’t Jacobs’ day as he touched the ball only 11 times for 36 yards. The Jets put in a game-plan to take away the running game, and they were able to do just that, limiting Jacobs’ impact on the game. Once the game got out of hand, Jacobs no longer had a role as the team opted to use Jalen Richard in his place.

SS Johnathan Abram: N/A

The No. 27 pick in the 2019 NFL draft suffered a shoulder injury in Week 1 and was placed on the injured reserve list. With Karl Joseph hurt and expected to fit free agency this offseason, expect Abram to slide back into the starting lineup in 2020.

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Week 12 wasn’t kind to the Oakland Raiders. Not only did they lose in humiliating fashion, but it was a game that the Raiders were favored in and needed to win to stay in the No. 6 seed in the AFC wild-card hit.

Several other wild-card contenders had big games in Week 12 as the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Titans all secured wins on Sunday. According to the New York Times playoff simulator, the Raiders playoff odds have dropped from 60 percent on Sunday morning, all the way down to 24 percent.

What is so discouraging about the Week 12 loss is that now Oakland will travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in what is essentially a must-win game. If Oakland were to lose that contest, they would drop to 6-6, and their playoff odds would decrease to 12 percent.

Oakland certainly isn’t out of the playoff hunt by any means, but their loss to the Jets set them back in a big way. Now, the team will need to steal a few wins the rest of the way as they will likely need to finish 10-6 to earn a wild-card berth. We shall see if Jon Gruden can get his team to win four of the next five games to make the playoffs.

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Week 12 did not go as planned for the Oakland Raiders as they were upset by the New York Jets. Not only did they lose, they were blown out by an inferior team despite Oakland having playoff aspirations. The game got so out of hand that the team benched Derek Carr in favor of Mike Glennon late in the third quarter. The Raiders now sit at 6-5, still in playoff contention in the AFC.

Here are your Week 12 offensive leaders for the Oakland Raiders:

Leading Passer: QB Derek Carr – 15/27 for 127 yards, 1 INT

Loading Rusher: RB Josh Jacobs – 10 carries for 34 yards

Leading Receiver: RB Jalen Richard – 6 receptions for 47 yards

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Week 12 is upon us. The Raiders are in New York which means a 10 a.m. Pacific start time. Making the trip was nickel cornerback Lamarcus Joyner who was questionable with a hamstring injury. It was always a bit of a stretch that he would play and he will sit for his second straight game.

Raiders

QB Deshone Kizer
T David Sharpe
C Erik Magnuson
DB Lamarcus Joyner
WR Keelan Doss
DT Terrell McClain
LB Preston Brown

Notes: Replacing Joyner at the nickel cornerback spot is Nevin Lawson.

Jets

DL Jordan Willis
DB Matthias Farley
LB Paul Worrilow
OL Leo Koloamatangi
LB C.J. Mosley
CB Darryl Roberts
CB Nate Hairston

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It seems every week the Raiders are fielding a different group of defensive backs. The starters in the season opener were Gareon Conley, Daryl Worley, Lamarcus Joyner, Karl Joseph, and Johnathan Abram. Now there is just one of them still on the field – Worley.

The first to go was Abram, who suffered a season-ending injury in the first game and was replaced by Erik Harris.

That group was steady for a bit, but starting a few weeks ago, a changeover began. First, it was the trading of Conley to the Texans for a third-round pick. Then it was the losses of Karl Joseph to a season-ending ankle injury and Joyner to a hamstring injury that had him miss last week against the Bengals and looking unlikely to go this week either.

With the loss of Joseph, the team signed free agent DJ Swearinger, and he was on the field 8 days later, playing 60% of the snaps. This week he will start. His quick acclimation to the Raiders’ defensive scheme is credited to Harris’s instruction.

“I think Erik Harris does an excellent job of making guys around him better,” said defensive coordinator Paul Guenther. “He’s like a coach out there, he can see the formations, understands what may be coming, alerting guys, maybe DJ being new, playing all the snaps that he did, if he wasn’t sure about something, Erik can correct him. I think Erik does an excellent job back there for us, and that goes understated.”

Before last season, Harris was seen as just a journeyman special teams maven. By late in the season, he had earned his way into the starting lineup. Then the team drafted Johnathan Abram at 27 overall, and by the end of OTA’s, Abram was already working with the first team. Harris was a big reason why Abram was able to come along as quickly as he did to start as a rookie.

But even from the sideline, Harris was showing the ability to read the offense and call out plays. Making for one of my favorite moments from offseason practices.

Erik Harris from the sideline calls out the coverage at the snap. Derek Carr yells back at Harris with a laugh after the play “Stop helping that man”. Harris responds “Hey, film study.”

— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) May 28, 2019

If you watch closely, you can see moments like this from Harris in which he is lining up teammates. That was especially necessary last week with Swearinger learning the defense on the fly.

“No, there weren’t any issues at all,” Swearinger said of his first game. “Me and E [Erik Harris], the corners and linebackers, we all did a great job communicating, and that is going to continue to get better. We are looking forward to moving forward to the Jets.”

Swearinger made the tackle in his first play of the game and went on to lead the team in tackles (7). He will start Sunday in New York, and he and Harris figure to stay on the field for every snap.

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[lawrence-newsletter]

The 2019 offseason was one to remember for the Oakland Raiders. The team signed several key veterans in free agency, such as Trent Brown, Richie Incognito, and Tyrell Williams. All three have had massive impacts for the team over the first 10 games of the season.

Oakland also had a fantastic draft class, finding a ton of playmakers on both sides of the ball. However, all that seems to be overshadowed by the decision to trade for wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The team desperately needed a No. 1 receiver and took a risk by giving up a third-round pick for Brown. That moved turned out to be disastrous as the team moved on from him before the season started.

In a recent article by Bleacher Report, the move to trade for Brown was named as the team’s biggest “boneheaded decision” of the offseason. Take a look at their reasoning behind the selection:

The Raiders traded for the embattled wideout after it first seemed like he was headed for the Buffalo Bills. Oakland ended up sending a third- and fifth-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for Brown, and they signed him to a three-year, $50.125 million extension as well.

Brown was sidelined for much of the offseason with a mysterious foot injury, and he got into a confrontation with general manager Mike Mayock before publicly begging for his release. After the Raiders obliged, he promptly signed with the Patriots, but that proved to be short-lived as well.

The Raiders are still dealing with the ramifications of acquiring Brown. Not only did they lose assets, but they remain wrapped up in a grievance over their decision to void the guaranteed money on his contract.

While the move certainly didn’t pay off for the Raiders, the team seems just fine without Brown’s services. Oakland is now a no-nonsense team that has a real chance to make the playoffs this season. Before long, Brown’s time in Oakland will be an afterthought.

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The awards keep streaming in for Raiders rookie defensive end Maxx Crosby after his four-sack game against the Bengals last Sunday. Despite his attempts to deflect personal praise for his performance. He was already named AFC Defensive Player of the Week and now he has been named the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week.

The votes are in.@CrosbyMaxx has been named @pepsi Rookie of the Week: https://t.co/uVSS5Amvnn pic.twitter.com/JS4KPcTTMD

— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) November 22, 2019

This award is given out by fan votes and Crosby was an easy choice this week as he was just the fourth rookie in NFL history to record four sacks in a game and the first in Raiders franchise history.

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