Tag: AJ Cole

Raiders 2021 Season Ballers & Busters

Ballers & Busters for Raiders 2021 Season

The Raiders 2021 season ended a little over a week ago with their Wild Card loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. So, now it’s time to tally up the scores and name out Season Ballers and Season Busters.

Ballers

DE Maxx Crosby

Ten times, Crosby was named a Baller and five of those times he was Top Baller. He consistently got pressure on the quarterback, finishing the regular season with over 100 pressures (101). Then, as you might expect, he was a Baller one more time in the team’s playoff game. He finished with eight sacks, 30 QB hits and 13 tackles for loss.

WR Hunter Renfrow

Eight times Renfrow was a Baller and three of those times he was Top Baller. He started strong and ended strong being named a Baller for the first four games and the last two with a couple in-between. He finished with 103 catches for 1038 yards and nine touchdowns.

P AJ Cole

Six times Cole was a Baller. Though being the punter, he was never Top Baller, he consistently did his job at the highest level and earned the team’s only First-Team All-Pro nod because of it.

K Daniel Carlson

Seven times a Baller and twice a Buster. Carlson was clutch late in the season when the Raiders needed him most. The Raiders were playing some close games. From the start of the Raiders’ four-game win streak to end the season along with their Wild Card matchup in Cincinnati, he didn’t miss. And had he missed any of his field goals, the Raiders wouldn’t have made the playoffs.

DT Quinton Jefferson

Six times a Baller, twice a Top Baller. Jefferson was part of a rotation at the defensive tackle spot. He distinguished himself more and more as the season went on to be named a Baller three times in the team’s final four games including the Wild Card game.

RB Josh Jacobs

A Baller eight times this season, with seven of them coming down the stretch. That’s what we call a strong finish. And to think he did much of it while suffering from a rib injury.

LB Denzel Perryman

A Baller six times and a Top Baller once. For most of the season, he led the league in tackles. He was even among the league leaders despite missing two weeks to injury.

DE Yannick Ngakoue

Six times a Baller and once a Top Baller. Though he seemed to fade down the stretch, including being rendered invisible in the Wild Card loss to the Bengals, he still finished with a team-leading ten sacks and his presence on the left side helped keep opposing offense honest, leading to better pressure numbers across the line.

CB Nate Hobbs

Hobbs was a Baller four times this season, including being named Top Baller in the team’s Wild Card matchup. The fifth-round rookie came in immediately and solved the Raiders’ issue with finding a slot cornerback.

Honorable Mention

CB Casey Hayward — Though he just missed the cut as a Season Baller, he was a solid starter for the Raiders at outside corner. He was named a Baller four times and a Buster twice.

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Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, K Daniel Carlson named AP 2nd Team All-Pro

Raiders land two on All-Pro 2nd Team

Just one Raiders player was named First Team All-Pro. That’s punter AJ Cole who got it with 21 votes. But he wasn’t alone in the voting. Two other Raiders got enough votes to earn themselves a place on the Second Team.

DE Maxx Crosby got six All-Pro votes, which landed him on the second team along with Robert Quinn. TJ Watt and Myles Garrett made the First Team. Crosby led the NFL with 101 pressures, but his eight sacks weren’t enough to compete with Garrett’s 16 and certainly not Watt’s new NFL record 22.5 sacks.

K Daniel Carlson had a tremendous season, but found himself behind Justin Tucker in the voting. Carlson received eight votes and was named to the Second Team.

Just missing the cut was Cole and Carlson’s long snapper Trent Sieg whose four votes was tied for third.

Also receiving votes was LB Denzel Perryman (2) putting him tied for ninth in the voting. Perryman made his first ever Pro Bowl this year after leading the NFL in tackles much of the season.

Three Raiders players named to 2022 Pro Bowl

With three players making the team, the #Raiders will be well represented in the 2022 Pro Bowl.

The 2022 Pro Bowl teams were announced today. And the Raiders have three players named to the squad. They are DE Maxx Crosby, LB Denzel Perryman, and P AJ Cole.

Perryman has either led or been among the league leaders in tackles all season long. Even after missing the past two weeks, he still leads the league in solo tackles (78) and fourth in the NFL with 133 combined tackles.

Crosby may not have the sack numbers this season (5.0) but he has at time led the league in either pressure or QB hits. Sometimes he has led the league in both categories.

Cole leads the NFL in punt average. His 51.1 yards per punt would be tied for second in NFL history with Shane Lechler should he maintain it by season’s end.

Perryman led AFC linebackers in votes, but was sixth overall in the NFL. Several other Raiders players were among the league leaders in votes.

Should they actually play the game this year, it will be held in Las Vegas, so that’s convenient.

Raiders P AJ Cole went from lining up job outside football to one of NFL’s top punters

Raiders P AJ Cole went from lining up job outside football to one of NFL’s top punters

AJ Cole wasn’t expecting to make it in NFL. Now he’s chasing an NFL record.

Thursday was a banner day for the Raiders kick squad. Both kicker Daniel Carlson and punter AJ Cole signed four-year extensions with the team. Two men whose NFL career began in very different ways are now set for years as one of the league’s top duos.

While Carlson was a fifth-round pick – which is a high selection for a special teamer – Cole’s NFL career almost didn’t happen at all. In fact, he came to the Raiders trying to beat out their own fifth-round pick, Johnny Townsend. Not a recipe for success in most cases.

In addition, Cole had already been turned away by other NFL teams and was only in Oakland as a minicamp tryout. It was his basically he makes this team or he starts life outside of football.

“There was definitely some times when it was dark for me when I just wasn’t getting the opportunities that I wanted. When I really just had to ask myself am I good enough, is this really worth it to just keep pushing and keep going on,” said Cole. 

“Just so thankful to be here because there were definitely some times when I didn’t think I was good enough. Where I really felt like hanging it up. I was just talking earlier when I came to the tryout in 2019, I had a job lined up with IBM. That’s how little confidence I kind of had in the process. Not just that I didn’t believe in myself, it’s just so hard to make it.

There’s 32 of these jobs in the world and there are so many talented guys out there. I just think in order to make it in this business you have to be good and really lucky and I’ve been both of those things. I’ve just been so blessed and thankful for everything I’ve been through.”

Cole would first make the offseason roster, giving him his first step in proving he belonged. He would then beat out Townsend who was the incumbent punter. At which point he needed to prove to the Raiders that he was more than just a placeholder.

Now in his third year, Cole has not only proven his worth – both as a punter and a holder for field goals – he is staring down NFL greatness.

Currently, Cole is averaging 51.1 yards per punt which, if he could maintain it, would finish him tied for second in NFL history with none other than former Raiders great Shane Lechler. The only average better belonged to Sammy Baugh (52.9).

For Cole, though, he’s all about the net average. That and simply pinning the opposing team near their own goal line.

“I don’t really look at the gross so much, I’m really working on the net,” said Cole. “And really at the end of the day, my job whenever I go out there is to start the defense as close to the goal line as possible. That’s my number one priority. My number one priority is putting the defense in the best position to go out there and win games. So, if we punt from the 40-yard-line the rest of the season, that’s what it’s going to be. I’m not out there chasing that because that’s not my ultimate goal. I don’t think it’s too much of a big deal.”

At this moment Cole’s net average sits at 42.8 which isn’t top five in the NFL in the category but would be the second-best net average in a season in Raiders history. Lechler, of course, has the record with his 2009 season at 43.85 net yards per punt.

And let us also not forget his holding work which has helped Carlson to have two fantastic seasons and thus the reason the two sat at the podium together on Thursday to discuss their four-year extensions. As Cole said, “A rising tide raises all boats.”

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Raiders teammate on Renfrow: ‘If I played against Hunter, I would despise him’

In Week 4 of the NFL season, Hunter Renfrow wowed with a spectacular play that people are still talking about. On ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” on Oct. 4, the former Clemson star and current Las Vegas Raiders receiver made his presence felt on …

In Week 4 of the NFL season, Hunter Renfrow wowed with a spectacular play that people are still talking about.

On ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” on Oct. 4, the former Clemson star and current Las Vegas Raiders receiver made his presence felt on special teams against the Los Angeles Chargers.

On a fake punt attempt by the Chargers late in the first quarter, Renfrow moved up from his punt returner role and absolutely laid the wood on the Chargers’ Tevaughn Campbell after the ball was thrown to Campbell from punter Ty Long, knocking it loose for an incompletion and turnover on downs.

Raiders punter AJ Cole commented on Renfrow’s highlight-reel hit this week on the “Upon Further Review” podcast with Raiders.com’s Eddie Paskal.

“What a play that was by Hunter,” Cole said.

“It’s so fun to play (with) Hunter,” Cole added. “If I played against Hunter, I would despise him. But it’s so fun to have him on our team.”

Cole, a former NC State punter, recently had people buzzing with an outstanding special teams play of his own. On NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” this past Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, Cole put the hit stick on Chiefs returner Mike Hughes and forced a fumble.

Cole was asked which play he thinks is more impressive – his or Renfrow’s?

“I don’t think anybody’s surprised when Hunter does something athletic,” Cole said. “I think he’s got a pretty good reputation for like being good at football. So, I think mine would be the more surprising play. It’s a little bit more unexpected. Hunter’s is the better play because it actually took football awareness and IQ and all that good stuff. Like, when Hunter makes an amazing play, no one’s like, ‘Hunter Renfrow, that guy?’ Like, you know what I mean? But if I forced a fumble, people would be like, ‘The punter?’”

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