Tag: AJ Cole

Raiders 2024 midseason awards: Top newcomer, breakout player, best position group, more

It’s the midway mark for the NFL season. And it happens to also be the bye week for the Raiders. So, with that in mind, let’s dole out some awards.

It’s the midway mark for the NFL season. And it happens to also be the bye week for the Raiders. So, with that in mind, let’s dole out some awards.

This was an easy choice. Bowers has been on a record pace this season for rookie tight ends. His 580 yards receiving is best among tight ends and his 57 catches is second in the league at any position behind only Jets WR Garrett Wilson.

Not a lot of competition for this award. But prior to Wilkins’s injury he was one of the best free agent signings of any team this offseason. They’re hoping he can return this season.

He was benched four games into his rookie season. Now he’s playing at a high level as an earned starting cornerback. He hasn’t logged an interception, but he routinely shows great skills and sticky coverage on some very talented deep threats.

No Raiders players are either coming back from a major injury or coming back to previous from off of a down season. Perhaps that will change by season’s end, but for now, there’s simply no one who fits this award.

If you’d prefer to put Luke Getsy here, I get it. But, personally, I don’t think a lot was expected of Getsy. He was not nearly the Raiders top choice for the job and was somehow even worse. Minshew was expected to at least add a steady presence at QB to settle down the offense. He wasn’t seen as someone who would win games for the Raiders, but rather not lose them. And he hasn’t lived up to that.

Not only did he not jump in and take the reins of the offense in camp as the Raiders had hoped, he’s been benched several times this season as he has thrown more interceptions (8) than touchdowns (8).

When all else fails — and it has — at least the Raiders have their kick squad. Daniel Carlson and AJ Cole are still arguably the best kicking duo in the league.

You could also go with “Only good game” as the title of this award. That win in Baltimore looks more and more like a fluke the farther down the line we get from it. Their other win was because Deshaun Watson was so determined to lose it for the Browns. The Ravens game was the only game this season the Raiders actually went out and earned the victory. Not coincidentally, it was also the only game they increased their scoring in the second half.

There were many to choose from for this one. Just pick one, really.

Could go with the home opening loss to the Panthers in which they never led and Andy Dalton led offense to put up 33 points in in the first 47 minutes.

Maybe the Rams where the Raiders turned the ball over four times?

Perhaps the Chiefs game where the running backs averaged less than a yard per carry?

Or the Steelers game where Pittsburgh rattled off 26 unanswered?

Or the Broncos who had a 100-yard pick six and rattled off 34 unanswered?

There’s always this past week against the Bengals when the Raiders gave up scores on the Bengals first five drives — four of which went for touchdowns — and allowed a season-high 41 points?

Too many options to choose from to pick just one.

Best punter in the league. Periodt.

Yes, the best rookie has also been their best offensive player. Not ideal, but there’s no one else who is even a viable candidate for this award.

He won AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the team’s come-from-behind win in Baltimore in Week two. He’s been battling an ankle injury for several weeks, which has limited his effectiveness, but he’s still their top defender.

Ballers for Raiders Week 1 loss to Chargers

Ballers for Raiders Week 1 loss to Chargers

Even in a tough loss like this, the plain truth is not everyone was bad. In fact, through three quarters, the Raiders had a lot going for them and it was still a two-point game. That doesn’t happen by accident.

So, before we get into how it all fell apart, let’s give credit to those who kept the Raiders in this game through three quarters.

Ballers

DE Maxx Crosby

While the Chargers are pumping their chests at how well their rookie tackle held up against Crosby, he still was a major factor in this game. The Chargers started the game with a three-and-out. And the final two plays featured a Maxx Crosby tackle for loss and a sack off a stunt. So much for Alt deleting Crosby.

He ended another drive in the second quarter with a QB hit on third down to send the two teams into the locker room with a 7-6 Raiders lead.

The Chargers went on a long drive early in the third quarter. but it also featured two Crosby run stuffs and ended with a Crosby pressure for an incompletion, so the Chargers settled for a field goal.

He finished with a sack, three QB hits, and five tackles, one for a loss.

LB Robert Spillane

Spillane led the team with ten combined tackles (seven solo). Two of those tackles ended drives. On one possession in the second quarter, he made the tackle on all three downs including a tackle for loss. He started out a three-and-out in the third quarter with a tackle as well.

CB Jakorian Bennett

He stayed in Quentin Johnston’s hip pocket up deep up the left sideline to knock the ball away and end the Chargers’ second possession with a three-and-out. He didn’t give up a catch all day after that either.

RB Alexander Mattison

After a couple of drives with Zamir White going nowhere, the Raiders put in Mattison. And he had the highlight reel play of the game for them. Mattison caught a pass in the right flat and looked to be stopped, but he evaded one tackler and hurdled Asante Samuel Jr without breaking stride and took it 31 yards to the house. He finished with nine touches for 62 yards and a TD.

DT Christian Wilkins

With the way the Chargers were able to break through on the ground in the second half, it may be hard to remember the Raiders had them hemmed up before that. Wilkins led the way in that department with three run stuffs. He finished second on the team with six combined tackles (five solo).

P AJ Cole

His first punt went 57 yards and was fair caught at the 13. His second punt went 52 yards and was also fair caught. His pooch punt in the fourth quarter was fair caught at the eight. He finished averaging 53 yards per punt with three stopped inside the 20 and one touchback.

T Thayer Munford

While Kolton Miller was having all kinds of issues on the left side, Munford held his own on the right side. Not giving up any sacks or run stuffs.

Honorable Mention

WR Davante Adams — Led the team with 59 yards on five catches. His two catches for 29 yards on the Raiders third drive both came on third down to set up the team’s only touchdown of the game.

CB Nate Hobbs — Chased down two long runs to keep it from being a touchdown. The first one ended in a field goal.

Continue to the Busters…

Antonio Pierce defends questionable punt decision on Raiders critical 4th down vs Chargers

Antonio Pierce defends poor decision to punt on Raiders critical 4th down vs Chargers

Down six. In fourth and one at the opposing team’s 43 with just over seven minutes left. That seems like the perfect time to go for it, doesn’t it? It sure seemed that way to most who were watching when the Raiders were in that position. And yet, head coach Antonio Pierce decided to go with the non-aggressive move and punt it away.

What happened next was the Chargers essentially put the game away. They drove right down the field for a touchdown to seal the 22-10 win.

Pierce defended his decision after the game.

“We considered going for it,” said Pierce. “It was a long one, it got stopped earlier in the game. Momentum. Punter had done a good job pinning those guys back. I think we had two or three punts inside the 20. Defense was a strength for the most part of the game. Keep them backed up with three timeouts.”

There are some problems with these reasons.

Yeah, they were stopped earlier in the game on 4th and one. It was early in the gme in their own territory on a play where it would’ve actually made sense to punt it. So, that makes for the wrong decision twice. But, again, that was the second drive of the game. When the Chargers defense was fresh, having played a total of six snaps up to that point. No reason to make decisions in the fourth quarter based on plays in the first quarter. Not the least of which being that it signals a lack of faith in your offense.

That drive only served to put an underline and an exclamation point on the poor decision by Pierce to give the ball back to the Chargers without even attempting to keep driving down the field.

But even before the result, the decision was the wrong one. The Raiders had added a field goal on the previous drive to make it a one-score game, the defense held strong — which they hadn’t done much of in the second half up to that point — and Tre Tucker had a nice punt return to gain the field position advantage.

So, yeah, there was momentum. And punting it gave that momentum away. And for what? 35 yards on a punt? Pinning them back? Even if they stayed pinned back, they’d still have more field to punt it back again after running the clock down more.

And they didn’t stay pinned back. They got out of it in three plays and two plays after that, they were at the Vegas 14. Courtesy of a 61-yard run. While you can’t predict that specifically, the signs were there that the Raiders were losing the battle at the line of scrimmage by the end of the third quarter with consecutive big chunk runs of 10 yards and a 12-yard touchdown.

That’s a sign you need to keep the ball out of the hands of the Chargers at all costs and keep your defense on the sideline as long as possible.

That play call to punt on that fourth down was punting on this game.

Ballers from Raiders preseason Week 1 vs Vikings

The positive standout performances from the Raiders first preseason game.

Welcome to year 17 of Ballers & Busters. The first ever B&B came out in preseason of 2008. So, let’s get it going for 2024, shall we?

There was a lot to like about what we saw from the Raiders first preseason action of 2024. They went on four scoring drives in the first half and held the Vikings to one to take a 20-7 halftime lead.

Things went awry in the second half, but, hey, preseason.

That being said, since the preseason tends to focus a lot on individual performances, let’s get to it.

Keep in mind, there are no Top Ballers or Top Busters for preseason. I pretty much just listed them in order of appearance.

S Tre’von Moehrig

After giving up a 19-yard catch on the second play, Moehrig settled in. He made two run stops on that same drive and had tight coverage for an incompletion on third and two from the four-yard line. The second Vikings drive, Moehrig made what could’ve been a touchdown saving tackle, stopping a run at 16 yards. He finished with a team-leading six tackles, all solo.

CB Jakorian Bennett

With the Vikings in 4th and two from the four, they went for it and Bennett was there to break up the attempt in the end zone to hold the Vikings scoreless on their opening drive and give the Raiders the ball back.

WR Jakobi Meyers

On third and three on the first drive, Meyers got open deep and made a leaping 24-yard grab. The next play he made the catch on a zero route in the left flat, stepped away from a tackler and ran for eight yards. Two plays later, in third and three, Aidan O’Connell looked for him again and he made a 13-yard catch to put the Raiders in Minnesota territory. One play later, they were in field goal range.

CB Jack Jones

The Raiders took a 3-0 lead into the second quarter. In third and eight, the Raiders blitzed, forcing JJ McCarthy to make a quick decision. He thought he had a man open, but Jack Jones undercut the route and picked off the pass, giving the Raiders the ball back. Jones then took his ball and went home (the sideline).

WR Tre Tucker

The offense came in after the turnover, this time with Gardner Minshew at QB. The second play saw Tucker make an adjustment on a pass slightly behind him on a cross, to make the catch for 29 yards. The next drive, he made an even more impressive adjustment. Going deep, he was turned inside, but the pass was headed to his outside shoulder, so he turned away from the pass, relocated it in the air and then laid out to make the catch for 44 yards. The Raiders would score touchdowns on both drives. The second one, Tucker laid a key block for Zamir White to run it in. He added a nice punt return at the end of the half as well.

QB Gardner Minshew

All three Minshew possessions, the Raiders scored. The first two for touchdowns. The first drive featured a 29-yard pass to Tre Tucker and a scramble for seven yards on third and three. The touchdown was on a perfect strike to DJ Turner at the right pylon. The second TD drive he aire out for a 44-yard connection with Tucker and found Cole Fotheringham for 11 yards on third and six. He finished 6/12 for 117 yards and one TD with a passer rating of 112.2.

LB Amari Burney

Burney came to play. The 2023 sixth round pick clearly set out to let everyone know he was still here. His biggest play was late in the third quarter, when he ended a drive by coming up to make a stop at the line for no gain on third and one. That was his third run stuff of the day. The first went for a loss and the other for one yard. His four tackles in the game were tied for second on the team. He even had a QB hit in the game.

P AJ Cole

In the second half, when nothing was working for the Raiders on offense, Cole would come in an remind them that at least he can tilt the field. He had two punts of 60 yards – one that was fair caught at the 14 –, one for 56 yards that went out of bounds at the five, and one that went 43 yards that was fair caught at the 11. Weapon.

Honorable Mention

DE Malcolm Koonce – Had a run stop for no gain and a pressure leading to an incompletion on the first drive.

QB Aidan O’Connell – Went 7/9 for 76 yards on the opening drive, twice converting on third down.

LB Robert Spillane – Put on the pressure that rushed McCarthy into his throw that Jack Jones picked off.

WR DJ Turner – Beat his man and streaked toward the end zone to score the Raiders first touchdown of the day from 20 yards out.

DT TJ Franklin – Blocked a field goal attempt in the second quarter.

S Phalen Sanford – Caught the ball off the Franklin blocked field goal and returned it 42 yards to the Minnesota 40-yard-line.

K Daniel Carlson – Lined up for a 56-yard field goal off the blocked field goal and return and nailed it to give the Raiders a 20-7 lead. Carlson hit two other chipshot field goals in the game.

Continue to the Busters…

Zamir White joins 7 other Raiders players to participate in ‘Battle for Vegas’ charity softball game

The full roster of Raiders playing in ‘Battle for Vegas’ charity softball game

Coming up on July 13th is the fifth annual Battle for Vegas charity softball game. This year it will feature seven Raiders players with punter AJ Cole as team captain.

Here is the full team Cole roster:

Raiders punter AJ Cole
Raiders RB Zamir White
Raiders K Daniel Carlson
Raiders RB Alexander Mattison
Raiders G Dylan Parham
Raiders S Tre’von Moehrig
Raiders CB Jakorian Bennett
Raiders T Thayer Munford Jr
Former Oakland A’s legend Jose Canseco
Former Oakland A’s legend Ozzie Canseco

This team will face off against Jack Eichel and current members of the Vegas Golden Knights including Zach Whitecloud, Keegan Kolesar, Nic Hague, Brendan Brisson along with former Golden Knights players Ryan Reaves and Logan Thompson. They are joined by Athletics alumnus Terrence Long and Ricky White.

The game will take place the Las Vegas Ballpark at Downtown Summerlin on Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m.

Ticket prices start at $35 each with proceeds once again to be directed to the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation with beneficiary charities including Best Buddies Nevada and select other local charities.

Gates open at 6:00 p.m. The Home Run Derby, sponsored by the Athletics, begins at 7:00 p.m. with the ceremonial first pitch by Chance, mascot of the Vegas Golden Knights, and Stomper, mascot of the Athletics.

Raiders P AJ Cole named to PFWA All-NFL Team, DE Maxx Crosby to All-AFC Team

Raiders P AJ Cole named to PFWA All-NFL Team, DE Maxx Crosby to All-AFC Team

As a member of the Pro Football Writers of America, I have a vote on their season awards. Two players who definitely got my vote for the All NFL and All AFC squads were DE Maxx Crosby and P AJ Cole.

The results are out and Cole made the All-NFL team on special teams while Crosby was named to the All-AFC Team on Defense.

Crosby made the All-AFC Team along with Browns DE Myles Garrett. But Crosby was snubbed for the All NFL team by Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson.

Since the Bengals are also in the AFC, it doesn’t really make much sense that Crosby was named to the All AFC Team, but somehow a different AFC defensive end made the All NFL Team.

Alternatively, if Trey Hendrickson is the best in the NFL, would he not also be considered best in the AFC? Make it make sense.

Either way, congrats to AJ Cole and Maxx Crosby on making their respective All-NFL and All-AFC squads.

Raiders 2023 Season Ballers

Can you believe it’s been just over a week since the Raiders season ended? It seems like a lot longer than that considering how much discussion there has been about the direction of the team moving forward. But, yes, this time last week we were …

Can you believe it’s been just over a week since the Raiders season ended? It seems like a lot longer than that considering how much discussion there has been about the direction of the team moving forward.

But, yes, this time last week we were detailing the Ballers & Busters from the season finale. And that means it’s officially time to round up the season’s Ballers and the season’s Busters for the final account.

As the name goes, we begin with the Ballers.

Raiders 2023 season awards: Rookie of the Year, MVP, Breakout Player, more

It’s the week for All Pro teams. But while those teams compare players across the league to each other, around these parts we tend to focus on just the Raiders. Which brings us to our 2023 Raiders season awards.

It’s the week for All Pro teams. But while those teams compare players across the league to each other, around these parts we tend to focus on just the Raiders. Which brings us to our 2023 Raiders season awards.

Breaking: Raiders P AJ Cole named AP All Pro First Team, Maxx Crosby Second Team

Breaking: Raiders P AJ Cole named AP All Pro First Team, Maxx Crosby Second Team

The All Pro Team that matter most is out. The AP All Pro. Making the team for the second time in his career was Raiders punter AJ Cole.

Cole had a league-beat 45.1 net punting average. And his 50.4 average yards per punt was the most among those with at least 55 punts (75).

He also had the longest punt this season of 83 yards while his 34 punts stopped inside the 20 were the most of anyone with fewer than 95 punts.

Edge rusher Maxx Croshy had a stellar season as well. He just missed the cut for the AP First team with Myles Garrett and TJ Watt taking those spots. But Crosby did secure a spot on the second team along with Micah Parsons.

Crosby led the league with 23 tackles for loss, led all edge rushers with 90 combined tackles. He was also sixth in the league with 14.5 sacks, and seventh with 31 QB hits. All better than Garrett who was selected for the First Team over him. Watt led the league in sacks and QB hits.

Cole and Crosby were both named to the NFLPA All Pro First Team this week as well.