By the end of last season, it was quite apparent who the Raiders beats players were. It was Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller. And to begin this season, they continued to show everyone what they already knew.
Jacobs was the star in the season opener, posting three touchdowns and 143 yards from scrimmage. And they beat the Carolina Panthers.
Waller was the star in the Las Vegas home opener in week two, catching 12 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. And the Raiders upset the visiting Saints.
In both instances, while one was putting up big numbers, the other had a decent game. And the Raiders jumped out to 2-0 on the season. Since then, that has not been the case, and they have gone 0-2.
Week three in New England, the Patriots made it their mission to take Darren Waller out of the game. They double-teamed him most of the game and even when they didn’t, they made it look like they were going to. He finished with two catches for nine yards and the Raiders lost.
Sunday, the Bills decided the way to beat the Raiders was to take away Josh Jacobs. They did and the Raiders lost.
“They probably revved up their run defense they probably said, ‘Hey, let’s make the Raiders prove that these backup receivers and linemen can do some of the things we want them to do,’ said head coach Jon Gruden following the Raiders 30-23 loss. “I think a lot of it had to do with that. They loaded the box, they came with some timely blitzes and we still had some good runs at times.”
It could be the Bills defense were trying to rebound from a getting run all over in week three against the Rams – a game they still ended up winning, mind you. But according to Jacobs, the Bills didn’t do anything different. They were just doing it really well.
“They actually did exactly what we thought they were going to do on film,” Jacobs said of the Bills run defense. “They are so fundamental. Each player stays in his role. They execute. If a linebacker is supposed to be in the A gap, he is in the A gap. He is where he is supposed to be and for a runner that is the hardest defenses to play because it’s hard to make those defenses make mistakes. They were very disciplined. That is a credit to them.”
Whatever it was the Bills were doing, it held Jacobs to just 3.1 yards per carry and to one yard or less on eight of his 15 carries. One of those times was a stop for no gain on fourth and one late in the game for a turnover on downs. He was also stopped for a loss three times.
To be fair, the Raiders are down a couple of starters on the offensive line. That said, they were arguably in much better shape today than they have been most of the season. They have had their starting full starting offensive line for all of three snaps all season. And the previous couple weeks they’ve had third-stringers at both left guard and right tackle.
Sam Young’s return at least meant they had a second-stringer at both left guard and right tackle.
What it tells us that opposing teams can beat the Raiders simply by taking away a top weapon is that this team is not as multi-faceted as they had hoped they would be. Derek Carr has spread the ball around quite a bit, but there has yet to be an instance where someone other than Darren Waller or Josh Jacobs has stepped up. And when either of them is held down, the offense stumbles.
After putting up 34 points in each of the two wins to open the season, the past two weeks they have put up a combined 29 points while the game was still in reach. It would be great if they could win a low scoring game now and then, but that would require a strong performance from the defense and there is no indication we can expect any games like that from this Raiders defense anytime soon.
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