Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Voting opens for 2024 Pro Bowl: 4 Raiders who deserve your vote
We are entering the final portion of the NFL season. And the NFL has opened up voting for the 2024 Pro Bowl.
Through the first 12 games, which Raiders players deserve your vote? Let’s see.
Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 loss to Dolphins
There were more than a few people who were surprised at how the Raiders hung around with the Dolphins the entire game in Miami. Many thought the Raiders would get their doors blown off and that isn’t so much disrespect for the Raiders as much as it is respect for the Dolphins.
But Antonio Pierce has the Raiders playing inspired football. Even if, at times, it isn’t great football — at least not on the offensive side of the ball — it’s inspired. And that’s all you can really hope for if you hope to get the most out of the talent you have available.
Hence the reason this game was never more than a one-score difference for either team and went down to the wire before the Dolphins won it 20-13.
In a game of defensive heroics, Maxx was still the heroic-est. But this time he got a little help from the other side of the line.
We pick things up in the third quarter. That’s when the Raiders stopped letting the Dolphins get to the end zone. Crosby stopped their second drive almost single-handedly. They moved to first down at the Vegas 36. Then Crosy got in the backfield to make the stop on run stuff for one yard. Next play he helped make a tackle on a two-yard catch. And on third down, got pressure to force a bad throw. The Dolphins attempted a 50-yard field goal and missed.
The next drive ended when Koonce got pressure up the middle on a stunt to force an incompletion, leading to another field goal attempt. This one connected from 41 yards out. Koonce would get pressure to help end the next drive as well with the Dolphins again settling for a field goal.
The fourth quarter saw three possessions by the Dolphins for a total of 19 yards of offense. The first had Koonce made a run stuff, then ended with a vicious tackle by Crosby to make the stop well shy of the sticks. The second was upended with Koonce forcing a holding penalty that the Dolphins couldn’t overcome. The final possession, they got their only first down on the fourth quarter, but it still ended three plays later with Crosby getting a pressure to force an incompletion. That defensive stand gave the Raiders offense one more shot with just under two minutes remaining.
After the Raiders went up 10-7 in the first quarter, the Dolphins led out the second quarter looking like they might respond with a touchdown to retake the lead. Hobbs saw to it that didn’t happen. Once they got to the 30-yard-line, Hobbs made two tackles on short catches. The Dolphins would still drive to inside the five-yard-line. They would go for it on fourth-and-one from the three-yard-line and it was Hobbs who came up to make the initial hit behind the line and Pola-Mao finished it off for the turnover on downs.
In the final seconds of the second quarter, the Dolphins were up 14-10 and driving. That was until Hobbs punched the ball out to force a fumble and give the Raiders the ball at the Miami 32-yard-line. The ensuing field goal made it a one-point game at the half.
First play of the third quarter, Pola-Mao picked off a deep Tua Tagovailoa pass. He later teamed up on a stop on third down.
Hobbs and Pola-Mao finished third and fourth on the team in tackles respectively. And they combined for two of the Raiders’ three takeaways in the game.
Cole was launching some punts into orbit in this game. His first punt went 50 yards with an illegal blindside block at the end of it to start the Dolphins’ drive at the 14-yard-line.
He added a 53-yard punt in the second quarter that was fair caught. And later in the quarter broke off a beauty that traveled 61 yards and bounced out of bounds at the 12-yard-line.
Then in the third quarter he booted a 51-yard punt the was fair caught at the 15. And, finally, he kicked another 53-yarder with an illegal block on the return that started the Dolphins possession at their own 10.
A couple weeks ago against the Giants, Cole had four punts of 63 yards or more, which set a record. But this game was better in some regards, because of those big punts, only one was stopped inside the 20-yard-line. And two of them went for touchbacks. In fact, in Sunday’s game in Miami, on six punts, Cole had zero touchbacks and the Dolphins started their drive inside the 20 four times. That usually means better hang time and better placement. Which is preferable to just simple punt distance.
It might not surprise you to learn that Spillane led the Raiders in tackles (13). He also had a tackle for loss and a pass breakup that was very nearly an interception. Because of course he did. He’s become quite the ball hawk this season.
His first tackle of the game went for a loss. Then on the Dolphins’ first drive of the second quarter, he had three run stops, including a stop on third and ten just short of the sticks. The Dolphins went for it on fourth-and-one from the three and couldn’t convert.
Spillane was a big factor in stopping the Dolphins on their final two drives, thus giving the Raiders offense two more shots at tying the game late. He was in on the tackle on third-and-15 to force the first punt. Then he was in on the run stop on their second to last play as well.
WR Davante Adams — Got open a lot in this game. It wasn’t his fault Aidan O’Connell only connected with him on one deep shot. But it was the Raiders’ one TD in the game.
LB Luke Masterson — Forced the fumble on the Dolphins’ first drive to start the Raiders second possession already in scoring range.
DC Patrick Graham — While Antonio Pierce gets credit for this team playing inspired football, Graham should get some love for his work as well.
Raiders Ballers & Busters in win over Packers
It was another nail-biter for the Raiders Monday Night, but this time they came out on top, finishing with a 17-13 win over the visiting Packers.
Just like the Raiders first win of the season, it was a low-scoring affair. This one featured four turnovers, with three of them coming via interceptions by the Raiders.
The Packers struck first with a long drive to go up 3-0 in the first quarter. Come the second quarter, the Raiders put together a hard-fought drive to go ahead 7-3 and added a field goal off their first takeaway to take a 10-3 lead at the half.
The Packers took one back early in the third quarter and took advantage of the short field to tie it up at 10-10. Then they got a huge 77-yard reception from Christian Watson, but couldn’t finish it off and went up 13-10 on a short field goal.
The goal-line stand by the Raiders defense inspired the Raiders offense and they put together their best drive of the game to go up 17-13. And that would prove to be the final score.
Earning Defensive Player of the Week was a pretty good sign that Crosby was the Top Baller for the Raiders in this game.
Several drives he stopped almost single-handedly. He got a pressure that led to a run stuff on the first drive that ended a play later with a punt. Early in the second quarter, the Packers had a four-play drive, with Crosby making a run stop for a loss and a pressure that led to a two-yard catch.
Later in the second quarter, with the Raiders just having taken a 10-3 lead, he had another run stop for a loss and another pressure that led to an incompletion to force a three-and-out and give the Raiders another shot at scoring before the half. Then, just for good measure, he got one more pressure on the final play of the second quarter.
The Raiders came back to take the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. And Crosby set out to keep it. The ensuing Packers drive made it to the Vegas 40-yard-line. Then Crosby broke through for a sack to back them up to the 47. In their attempt to get that yardage back, Jordan Love threw his second interception.
A quick three-and-out for the Raiders offense and Crosby and Co. were back on the field. No problem, Crosby returned the favor, getting pressure on a screen attempt to force an incompletion and laying a hit on Jordan Love that led to another incompletion.
The turnover crew. And for once, that’s a good thing for the Raiders.
Spillane got things started, when he read Jordan Love’s eyes on a pass in the second quarter, picking it off and returning it to the seven-yard-line. The Raiders offense was unable to do anything with it and settled for a field goal to go up 10-3.
Spillane got another one, this time off a pass breakup that was tipped in the air by Peters. It stopped a drive that had moved into Vegas territory as the Packers looked to either pull to within a point or take the lead.
Peters’s big day started before that, however, when he made a touchdown saving tackle off a 77-yard catch by Christian Watson. Peters was called for a horsecollar, but who cares. He gave the Raiders’ defense a chance and they held the line to keep the Packers out of the end zone.
Robertson was the one who gave up that 77-yard catch to Watson, but he got the last laugh when the 5-9 cornerback leapt high above the 6-4 receiver to make the game-sealing interception.
While the Packers made a point to try and take their former teammate Davante Adams out of the game, Meyers was the beneficiary.
On the Raiders’ first scoring drive, he had a ten-yard catch on third and five and the touchdown catch from nine yards out. He would help put them in scoring range again just before the half with an 18-yard sliding grab on third and ten, followed by a 16-yard catch. Unfortunately Daniel Carlson’s 53-yard field goal was blocked.
The team’s final scoring drive was kept alive with an eight-yard catch by Meyers on third and four. After that, the Raiders finally managed to get Adams involved and went for their second touchdown.
His first punt was a beauty that went 55 yards and bounced out of bounds at the seven-yard-line. His next punt was fair caught at the ten-yard-line. His third punt went 53 yards with a two-yard return to the 17. His final punt was also stopped at the 17-yard-line, which was the best field position the Packers had off of any of his punts in the game.
Jacobs put up 89 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown. A good portion of that came on two drives late in the game. He led off a drive late in the third quarter with a 24-yard run that began with a wicked dead leg fake out that left Jaire Alexander reaching at air. He added a six-yard run on the next play and would end up finishing off the drive with a touchdown run from two yards out.
His best play early on wasn’t even with him touching the ball. In fourth and one from the 16-yard-line, the Raiders ran a sweep with DeAndre Carter that was converted because Jacobs laid a big time block. They punched it in for the touchdown two plays later.
Late in the game, when they needed him most, he got the ball on six of seven plays for 29 yards of offense and put the Raiders in scoring range. But Carlson’s 52-yard field goal clanked off the right upright.
He had 63 yards of offense on those two drives alone, first to take the lead, and then to try and run clock and extend it.
Raiders Week 4 Ballers & Busters
It was a third straight loss for the Raiders in a game that most of the way didn’t even look close. Though the Raiders were able to make it interesting late, pulling one play away from a potential tie — they could not get over the hump and watched another one slip by them.
Crosby didn’t get the headlines because of Khalil Mack’s insane six-sack day, but the man who would eventually replace Mack with the Raiders had a good day as well. Crosby put up two sacks of his own and even led the Raiders in tackles.
Easily his best game of the season. Jacobs led the team with eight catches for 81 yards for a total of 139 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.
He and Aidan O’Connell got off to a slow start in this one, but as the game went on, they got more acquainted. In the end, Adams nearly dragged the Raiders kicking and screaming back from the depth. Five of his eight catches came on the Raiders’ final two drives, including a 19-yard catch on fourth and ten that put them in first and goal at the three. O’Connell threw an interception on the next play.
Speaking of interceptions, the Raiders got their first of the season in this game. Moehrig had two chances at picking off a Justin Herbert pass. The first one was in the end zone and he got both hands on it, but was bumped in the air by the receiver and was unable to come up with it. But the next time he got a shot at it, he made the catch.
Unfortunately, a penalty on the return would make it the equivalent of a fair catch on a punt, but that wasn’t his fault. Had his return stood, he would’ve put the Raiders in great field position.
It was good to see a couple of the Raiders’ interior linemen do some good work. Jenkins tied for second on the team in tackles, many of which were for a loss or little to no gain. He also batted a pass down at the line. Nichols held up at the line to make the stop on two separate QB sneak attempts. His tackle on Justin Herbert on a scramble just short of the sticks set up a fourth and one stop and gave the Raiders’ offense one more chance to tie it.
Cole averaged 53.8 yards per punt on five punts. This included a 61-yard punt and a 70-yard punt that was downed at the five-yard-line.
Johnson was laying blocks much like we saw a lot of last season, opening some sizable holes for Josh Jacobs to run through. This included a block downfield on a Jacobs catch, allowing him to go for 21 yards on third and 18. That set up a field goal to pull to within two scores.
How did the Jets beat the Bills Monday night? Do Raiders have the firepower to do it too? Let’s take a look.
Four plays into the Monday night matchup between the Jets and Bills, the Jets lost their great hope. That when Aaron Rodgers — the biggest acquisition of the 2023 offseason by any team — was lost to an injury.
At that point most of the NFL world thought the Bills would trounce the Jets. You know, the. 13-3, reigning AFC East champion Bills?
And yet, the Jets hung around, took the game to overtime, and then sealed it on a huge punt return for a touchdown.
There are two questions that arise from this.
1. How?
2. Can the Raiders do it too?
The first question is easier to answer than the second one. As to whether the Raiders can do it too, the answer is cliche, but true — anything’s possible.
What we *can* do is lay out how the Jets did it and tell you what the Raiders have to offer should they wish to replicate the Jets’ success.
The Jets sacked Josh Allen five times. No easy task considering how elusive Allen can be. Three of those five sacks came from interior defenders including two from former Raiders DT Quinton Jefferson.
Keep in mind the Bills were without Carl Lawson for the game, so the interior DL did much of this without a strong edge rusher to help out.
Can the Raiders do it?
It’s interesting to note that a former Raiders DT had two sacks in the game, because they never should have let Jefferson walk and they haven’t done a great job of replacing him. The Raiders interior DL is one of the least threatening units on any team, let alone the Raiders.
Like the Bills, the Raiders will be without a pass rusher as Chandler Jones is still away from the team dealing with his personal issues. The Raiders do have Maxx Crosby, but he may be once again going at it with little or no help.
Strong safety Jordan Whitehead may as well have been Josh Allen’s VISA card cuz he was everyone he wanted to be. Whitehead had not one. not two, but THREE interceptions in the game! Not many quarterbacks can survive that.
And, sure, Whitehead probably had some help from the aforementioned DL pressure, but you don’t pick off three passes by accident. You have to have some tremendous instincts, smarts, and hands to be that opportunistic.
Can the Raiders do it?
The man lining up at the strong safety spot for the Raiders these days in Marcus Epps. He was one of the team’s priority free agent signings this offseason after his first full season as a starter in Philadelphia.
Can Epps ball hawk like that? If he can, it would be a real first. Epps has as many career interceptions (3) as Whitehead had Monday night alone. And Epps had none of those picks in his 17 starts last season.
In last week’s season opener, Epps would have had a forced fumble, but it was wiped away by a Marcus Peters illegal contact penalty. Epps also gave up a 21-yard catch and one of the Broncos’ two touchdown catches. Fellow safety Tre’von Moehrig gave up the other one. Moehrig has just one career interception and had none last season.
So, the answer, again, is not likely.
Garrett Wilson is a certified stud. He made Aaron Rodgers’ replacement Zach Wilson right on a pass with one of the most unreal catches you’ll ever see. Wilson threw for him in the end zone with Pro Bowl cornerback Tre’Davious White all over him. The ball was right at White, but Garrett Wilson reached back and batted the ball away, tipping it to himself to make the TD catch.
Can the Raiders do that?
To answer this question, you need only listen to Aaron Rodgers, who put a post on social media this offseason touting how much he loves his number 17 receivers. Currently that’s Wilson. But for several years that was Davante Adams.
So, yeah, the Raiders can absolutely do that. Adams has often done that. He makes his QB look right a lot and makes their job easier with his ability to get open either via his superb route running or his long speed.
Breece Hall had a big night, first breaking off a 23-yard run and later bursting for an 83-yard run. He finished with 127 yards on 10 attempts. Toss in the 33 yards on 13 carries by Dalvin Cook and the Jets backs put up 160 yards on the ground, while averaging seven yards per carry.
Can the Raiders do that?
Well, the Raiders *do* have the NFL’s reigning rushing title holder. Josh Jacobs easily had the most rushing yards last season. Though, you may not have known it by how he was running last week.
Not to say that was all his fault. He had a few plays where he broke a tackle at or behind the line of scrimmage and made something out of nothing. But after missing all of training camp while refusing to sign the franchise tender, he didn’t really look like he was in the form he was last season.
I would expect Jacobs will be more like the back he was last season now that he’s been hit a few times. After all, he had his great 2022 season after playing significant minutes during the preseason, so we know he does his best work when he’s seen some live game action.
The Jets got the win in dramatic fashion. After forcing a punt quickly in overtime, return man Xavier Gipson took it to the house for the walk-off win.
It was a great return, but it’s important not to give *all* the credit to the man with the ball. He had ten guys blocking as well.
The drama on special teams actually started before that. The game made it to overtime on a 50-yard field goal from Tyler Bass that hit the left upright and still went through.
Can the Raiders do that?
The Raiders have arguably the best kicker in the league in Daniel Carlson. And there is no question they have the best kick squad in the league when you factor in punter AJ Cole.
It was lack of clutch special teams play from Broncos kicker Wil Lutz that helped the Raiders escape Denver with a win last week. Lutz missed an extra point and a 55-yard field goal. The Raiders won the game 17-16.
Carlson missed just one field goal inside 50 yards last season and nailed 11 field goals of 50 yards or more. And Cole has averaged at or near 50 yards per punt for the past two seasons.
As for punt and kick returns, the Raiders don’t threaten much. Ameer Abdullah returned 26 kicks last season. He averaged 20.9 yards per return with a long of 33 yards. The longest punt return was Hunter Renfrow for 17 yards.
Raiders announce 9 Team Captains including Josh Jacobs, Robert Spillane, Marcus Epps
Today the Raiders named nine team captains. Four on offense, three one defense, and two on special teams.
Leading the way this fall#RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/eQuGX6j4Zc
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) September 1, 2023
Those captains are as follows:
Offense
QB Jimmy Garoppolo
RB Josh Jacobs
WR Davante Adams
LT Kolton Miller
Defense
DE Maxx Crosby
LB Robert Spillane
S Marcus Epps
Special teams
K Daniel Carlson
P AJ Cole
Of note among the captains is Josh Jacobs who just took the practice field for the first time this week after sitting out all of camp until he received a new one-year deal in lieu of signing the franchise tag.
Also of note is Robert Spillane and Marcus Epps who signed with the team this offseason. They were chosen over returning starters at those positions Divine Deablo and Tre’von Moehrig.
Third year starting cornerback Nate Hobbs may have also been a fine choice as a captain. But no players who were captains last season were stripped of that status this year.
We have reached the Top 10 in our countdown of the Top 25 players on the Raiders roster.
We’ve now moved inside the top ten in our ranking of the current players on the Raiders roster. In some ways this could be the most controversial because there is probably some consensus on who the top five players are on this team, but who rounds out the top ten is probably less decided.
Even still, this is how I see the back portion of the top ten stacking up.
NFLPA puts out their list of Top 5 at each position and 6 Raiders make the cut
This year, along with the NFLPA putting out their first ever Players’ 1st Team All Pro, they did something unique. Instead of doing a first and second team the way the AP does, they asked players at each position to give their top five.
Once they tallied up the scores, they put out a top five at each position. The Raiders saw six players make the top five at their position. Those positions are Running back, Fullback, Wide receiver, Edge rusher, Kicker, and Punter.
It’s notable that even though Adams was named number two behind Justin Jefferson that it was Adams who was named first team All Pro. So, these top fives don’t line up like a simple first team, second team, third team type of thing.
Raiders players who may have made the list in years past, but whose 2022 seasons were upended by injuries include TE Darren Waller and LB Denzel Perryman. Should they return to health and to form, they could push to make the team next season.
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The final single game Ballers & Busters for Raiders this season is a doozy.
After the Raiders scored 34 points on the 49ers stout defense and took them to OT in Week 17, there was some expectation going into the season finale that they might play a competitive game against the rival Chiefs.
They did not.
This one got out of hand quick, turning into a three-score game by half time. Welp, at least we can’t say they blew a big lead this time, right?
The first third-down conversion of the game for the Raiders offense was a pretty over-the-shoulder grab by Adams for 13 yards. It set them up in scoring range on the first drive. Had Stidham’s pass to Adams at the goal line been a little lower, Adams would have scored a touchdown. But instead, they opened with a field goal.
Adams caught a 22-yard pass and forced a pass interference late in the second quarter to put the Raiders in KC territory. But a 24-yard catch by Adams was wiped away on a penalty on the Oline, and two plays later, the Raiders turned the ball over, so they would get no score out of the promising drive.
Even with the missed opportunities, Adams still led the team with 73 yards receiving, putting him over 1500 receiving yards on the season.
He trotted out and nailed a 54-yard field goal to end the first drive and scored all the points the Raiders had in the game. Which was six points.
Kick squad was doing their thing. Cole only had two punts, but they were good ones. The first one went 63 yards and was downed at the two. The other went 59 yards with a five-yard return for a 58.5-yard net for the game.
We look at the Ballers & Busters for Raiders in their Thursday Night loss to the Rams
Coming off a full team win over the Chargers last week, the Raiders came in feeling pretty good about themselves against a banged up Rams team that had lost six straight. And the old collapsing Raiders showed up.
A 13-3 halftime lead gave way to a scoreless third quarter and a late comeback win by Baker Mayfield and the Rams. And thus both teams’ streaks came to an end on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Jones answered the question as to whether his three-sack game last week was a one-off. It wasn’t. He had another big week as did Crosby. Though Crosby usually does.
Crosby ended the Rams’ first possession with a tackle for loss on an end around on third-and-one for a three-and-out.
Leading 13-3 in the second quarter, Crosby had another tackle for loss and on the next play closed off the outside, leading to another tackle for loss. Two plays later, the Rams were at the Vegas 23-yard-line where Chandler Jones punched the ball out of Cam Akers’s hands and then recovered the fumble himself.
The Raiders held the Rams scoreless in the third thanks in large part to Crosby and Jones getting pressure from both sides to force an incompletion and the the two of them teaming up for a sack.
On the two drives to win the game for the Rams, Crosby looked to be held several times, but none were called. Jones was held at least once that was called and had a QB hit on an incompletion. And the two of them again teamed up for a sack.
Can’t blame these two for the collapse. They were playing their hearts out all the way to the bitter end.
After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, the rest of the way for the Raiders it was Carlson. He connected on a 52-yard field goal and two others. You just wanted to see probably a TD instead of a field goal on at least one of them. Or perhaps one more field goal, but that’s not on Carlson. He did his job.
Speaking of players you’d like to have seen less of…AJ Cole. No offense to him. He knows no one wants to see him take the field. But we did see him. And he showed he’s a weapon. He had two punts downed inside the 20, including a 64-yarder that was downed at the two-yard-line prior to the final drive by the Rams. Literally nothing more he could have done to try and keep the Rams from driving for the win than to force them to go 98 yards to do it.
Adams made one of the most unreal catches on the opening drive. First pass of the game, with Jalen Ramsey all over him. Ramsey literally holding one of his arms down and putting his other hand over Adams’ eyes, Adams still made a ridiculous one-handed grab for 32 yards. That set up the TD on the opening drive.
Later, he caught a 35-yard pass in which he waited to the last instant to snatch the pass to Ramsey was unable to bat it away. That one should’ve set up another score, if not for Derek Carr throwing an interception in the end zone.
Adams even laid a couple nice blocks in the game. Too bad he was abandoned in the second half.
Hollins did most of his damage on the ground, taking three end-arounds for a total of 40 yards. He also had a couple of catches in which he found the soft spot in the zone and sat in it nicely.
The left side of the Raiders line was secure in this one. Miller didn’t allow much in the way of pressure while Parham did work in the run game. He even twice forced his man to be flagged for illegal hands to the face to try and keep from being blocked.
