Tag: Andre James

Raiders, Colts final injury report: RB Josh Jacobs ‘game time decision’

Raiders, Colts final injury report: RB Josh Jacobs ‘game time decision’

It looks like Raiders could be without two of their offensive starters again this week as they head to Indianapolis to face the Colts. Tight end Michael Mayer has been ruled OUT while running back Josh Jacobs is officially Doubtful.

“That’s going to be a game time decision, just be honest with you,” head coach Antonio Pierce said of Jacobs’s status for Sunday. I mean, no need to rush it. If he can go at one o’clock on Sunday, I’m happy with that.”

Both players missed all practices this week.

Both Mayer and Jacobs missed Monday’s game in Kansas City and the Raiders, while they won the game, weren’t able to do much on offense.

Zamir White had a big day replacing Jacobs, but 58 of his 145 yards rushing came on the final drive thanks in large part to the Raiders’ defense putting the Raiders in a position to run out the clock late.

Starting center Andre James (ankle) and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (knee) were both Questionable after being limited in practice all week.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 16 win over Chiefs

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 16 win over Chiefs

A month ago the Chiefs boat raced the Raiders in Las Vegas to go 8-3 on the season take a commanding lead in the AFC Playoff race. At that time, it seemed you could chalk up another win for the Chiefs when the Raiders came to Arrowhead on Christmas Day.

Since then things have taken a turn for both teams. The Chiefs have been very beatable and the Raiders defense has been extremely stingy and opportunistic.

These teams collided on that same trajectory and the result was a stunner with the Raiders defense almost singlehandedly taking down Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs 20-14.

Raiders, Chiefs Thursday injury report: LT Kolton Miller returns to practice

Raiders LT Kolton Miller returns to practice

Wednesday Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce expressed optimism the Raiders would get back three offensive starters this week — RB Josh Jacobs, LT Kolton Miller, and C Andre James.

Two out of three aint bad.

Thursday saw Miller and James return to the practice field. Jacobs was still not practicing, though there are still two more practices for him to return.

The Chiefs also got their left tackle back. Donovan Smith practiced Thursday.

Missing for the Chiefs were LB Nick Bolton, LB Cam Jones, RB Jerrick McKinnon, WR Kadarious Toney.

Missing for the Raiders Thursday along with Jacobs were DE Maxx Crosby (knee), TE Michael Mayer (toe), G Dylan Parham (illness), and RS DJ Turner (shoulder).

We all know Crosby is going to play. He wouldn’t miss any games, let alone against his favorite QB Patrick Mahomes. We’ll wait and see with everyone else.

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce expresses confidence Josh Jacobs will play vs Chiefs

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce expresses confidence Josh Jacobs will play vs Chiefs

Playing hurt is something Josh Jacobs has done a lot of in his career. In fact, he’s become known for playing some of his best football when he’s banged up late in the season. Which should tell you something about how injured he was against the Vikings two weeks ago.

He suffered a knee injury early in the game, fought through it for a while before eventually leaving the game and not returning. The Raiders lost the game 3-0.

When the Charger came to town four days later, Jacobs was not ready to go and was rendered inactive for the game.

Now with the team having a 11 days between that Thursday night game and their Christmas Day game at Arrowhead, head coach Antonio Pierce doesn’t see Jacobs missing this one.

“I think he was close the last week,” Pierce said of Jacobs. “That was a decision we all made in the best interest of him. For himself. If I had to be a betting man, I would think he would play this game.”

Along with Jacobs, there were two Raiders starting offensive linemen who also didn’t play last week — left tackle Kolton Miller and center Andre James.

“Same deal,” Pierce said of Miller and James. “If I was a betting man, those guys are going through the process. This is a game you want to play in now. You don’t want to be sitting at home watching it on television, you want to be there.”

Keep in mind, the Raiders have yet to practice this week, so this could just be unbridled optimism by Pierce. A combination of the long week off and this being the big annual Arrowhead matchup with a suddenly very vulnerable looking Chiefs team.

Raiders vs Chargers final injury report: LT Kolton Miller, C Andre James OUT

LT Kolton Miller, C Andre James OUT for Raiders. WR Keenan Allen OUT for Chargers

It’s a short week for the Raiders and Chargers who meet Thursday night. That means it isn’t much time for injuries to heal. As such, both teams will be without a few starters and in danger of being without a few more.

The Raiders today officially ruled out left tackle Kolton Miller and center Andre James. In addition, Josh Jacobs was listed as questionable after missing the entire week with a quad injury.

Showing up on the injury report was Davante Adams with an illness.

Thayer Munford will start at left tackle for the Raiders, Dylan Parham will start at center and Jordan Meredith will start at left guard (replacing Parham).

The Chargers will be without WR Keenan Allen. They were already without Justin Herbert who was placed on injured reserve this week. So, replacement Easton Stick will now not have their best receiver on the field as he makes his first career start.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 10 win over Jets

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 10 win over Jets

The way this one played out was pretty much exactly as everyone expected. In the lead up to the game, I basically kept thinking to myself ‘first to 16 wins’. That’s because ain’t nobody was gonna be scoring more than one touchdown and if either team did, that would be the deciding factor.

That team was the Raiders, who beat the Jets 16-12.

Ballers

LB Robert Spillane

Even if you remove his late game clutch interception, Spillane might still have been the best player in this contest. And that’s saying a lot.

Spillane was on a mission. At least four times in this game, plays he made were the deciding factor in stopping a Jets’ drive.

Come the second quarter, the Jets had scored on their first three possessions to go up 9-3. Thanks to Spillane, they wouldn’t score again until the fourth quarter.

Their next three possessions ended with Spillane making the play. A run stuff for no gain on third and two, a sack on second and two, and forcing a hold on third and 21 then making the stop on third and 22.

Then with the Jets within four at 16-12 and driving late in the fourth quarter, he stepped in front of the Zach Wilson pass for his third interception of the season. This one with a cast on his right hand. Unbelievable.

TE Michael Mayer

It was a back-and-forth game with the Raiders failing to take the lead once in the first three quarters. That ended on the first play of the fourth quarter when Aidan O’Connell escaped pressure and put a ball up high where only Mayer could get it and Mayer leapt in the air, plucking it from over the top of the defender to the go-ahead score.

It was Mayer’s first touchdown as a pro and it was a beauty. And in a game like this, it proved to be enough to get the W.

DE Maxx Crosby

This game started poorly for the Raiders, with a 41-yard catch and run that put them in scoring range. It would go no further thanks to Crosby. He flew in for what should be credited as a sack. And when I say that, I think a rule change is in order, which states that if you have the player wrapped up and he is flagged for intentional grounding, that should be a sack. For the purposes of the game, it was the same. The Jets lost ten yards and a down and couldn’t make it back up, settling for a field goal.

It was big plays on each drive that put the Jets in scoring range. Their third one came off of an interception and moved them into first and goal at the three. A touchdown here may have been devastating in a game this close. So, Crosby wrecked it. He forced a holding penalty that backed them up to the 13. Then was in on the run stop on second and goal and the Jets would settle for a third field goal.

DT Jerry Tillery, DT John Jenkins, DT Adam Butler

Jenkins had a run stuff on the Jets’ first drive. Tillery upended the second drive when he forced a holding penalty. Butler ended the third drive on third and goal when he batted the ball down at the line.

The next possession, Jenkins had another run stuff for no gain. Then the drive after that, he got one of his big mitts on a pass to bat it at the line. Come the third quarter, Butler had a tackle for loss on a three-and-out.

The first drive of the fourth quarter ended with Tillery getting all the way out to the left boundary to help Divine Deablo lead Zach Wilson out of bounds to end the drive. And on the Spillane interception, it was Tillery who got around his man to get pressure in Wilson’s face and force the throw.

RB Josh Jacobs

His two fumbles in the game really had me thinking whether he deserved to be on this list. In the end I decided that because his hard running was such a key factor in the Raiders scoring 16 points in the first place, he deserved more credit than blame.

His first fumble came on the tail end of a 40-yard burst and it bounced out of bounds. The run put the Raiders at the 13-yard-line. The next play he ran for five yards to the eight. Two plays later, they scored the touchdown.

In the early going, yards were tough to come by for Jacobs against a stout Jets defensive front. Even so, his running was a major factor in several scoring drives. Their second scoring drive came near the end of the second quarter and featured runs of six yards and eight yards — both of which the Raiders made the first down on the next play.

The third scoring drive saw Jacobs convert a third and two and a fourth and one along with the longest play of the drive that went for 12 yards on a catch in the left flat. That drive tied the game at 9-9.

Just prior to his lost fumble late in the fourth, Jacobs showed he is still a strong runner late in games, when broke several tackles and carried defenders the final five yards of a seven-yard first down run. He also had a nine-yard run and converted on third and one on that drive.

Jacobs finished with 116 yards rushing — his first time going over 100 yards this season — and added two catches for 11 yards.

K Daniel Carlson

The Jets have the man once known at ‘Greg the Leg’ and ‘Legatron’. And the Raiders have the best in the game today in Carlson. Both kickers were doing work in this one, with Carlson splitting them from 40, 41, and 54 yards.

Honorable Mention

WR DeAndre Carter — Had a 32-yard kick return to the Jets 45 that helped lead to the game-tying field goal. Later had a 15-yard run on fourth and one.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 win vs Giants

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 win vs Giants

You won’t see many more lopsided victories than the Raiders had over the Giants Sunday. It was made all the more amazing when compared to how they looked over the first eight games of this season.

They stopped the Giants with a three-and-out to start things off and then drove for a touchdown. The next three Giants drives were a turnover on downs, consecutive sacks to put them in third and 27 and a punt, and a three and out.

Then midway through the second quarter, the Raiders drove for another touchdown, intercepted the ball, scored a third touchdown, intercepted the ball again, added a field goal at the end of the first half, and another one to begin the third to go up 27-0.

It was enough to make your head spin. At least if you were the Giants.

Ballers

HC Antonio Pierce

He brought the Raiders ready to play and itching to get him a big win in his debut of the post-Josh McDaniels era. The players came out pumped and the Giants got caught under the wheels of that bus.

The offense scored over 20 points for the first time this season, Josh Jacobs had a season-high rushing yards, and the defense had eight sacks, two turnovers off interceptions, and four others on downs. Then they sparked up cigars afterward to celebrate being out from under Josh McDaniels’s thumb and finally having fun again.

DE Maxx Crosby

Crosby came into the game outside the top ten in sacks. And left tied for second with TJ Watt. And even with three sacks in the game, he was still more valuable than his sack total.

The first Giants possession saw them line up in fourth and one to go for it. Then Maxx got the right guard to jump and they had to punt instead. The next drive saw the Giants again go for it on fourth and one. This time Crosby led the way in making the stop at the line for no gain.

The third drive ended with Crosby chasing down Daniel Jones for the sack. Jones attempted to get away from Crosby and tore his ACL.

Already up 27-0 in the third quarter, Crosby saw to it they didn’t close that gap. He got pressure on first down and got his second sack on third down to force another three-and-out. That series pretty much slammed the door on the Giants’ chances of coming back. But just for good measure, he would add one more sack early in the fourth quarter.

Even with the Raiders defense finally stepping up to match his energy, he still led the way for this team. And had cigars ready for the whole team after the game.

CB Amik Robertson

With the Raiders up 14-0 in the second quarter, the Giants knew they needed to make a big play. QB Tommy DeVito launched one for the end zone and Robertson flew over, got up in the air and picked it off, much like he did to win the game against the Packers a few weeks ago. He would get up and return this one to th 40-yard-line and the Raiders would capitalize on the turnover with their third touchdown of the day.

Early in the fourth quarter, he made a hard hit on a catch to knock the ball out on fourth down. And a bit later he added a forced fumble to his stat line just for good measure. Have yourself a game, Amik.

RB Josh Jacobs

Set the tone early and kept it going. He had 31 yards on on four runs on the opening touchdown drive, 33 yards and the touchdown run from two yards out on the second scoring drive, and scored again from two yards out on the next drive.

He already had a season-high 85 yards rushing by half time and the Raiders led 24-0. He surpassed 100 yards for a moment before a loss on a run put him back at 98 yards.

DT Bilal Nichols, DT John Jenkins

The 34-year-old was playing like he was ten years younger, showing rare pass rush and sideline-to-sideline run stopping abilities for a 327-pounder. He got pressure on the second play of the game to force an incompletion and the Giants started the game with a three-and-out.

The second Giants drive saw them line up in third and three and Nichols made the run stop short of the sticks. Then on fourth and one, he teamed up with Crosby and Jenkins to stop the tush push for no gain.

The first possession of the second quarter saw Jenkins race down the line to make a tackle for loss in the left flat, leading to another three-and-out.

Pressure was coming from all over the Raiders line, but Nichols was doing some nice complementary football with Crosby in this one. On consecutive plays in the fourth quarter Nichols had a pressure that led to a Crosby sack and then Crosby had pressure that led to a Nichols sack. That’s how it’s supposed to be done.

QB Aidan O’Connell

The rookie scored on the opening drive while delivering a strike on a slant to Jakobi Meyers that went for 25 yards.

The next scoring drive, he reminded us that Hunter Renfrow is on this team with consecutive connections to the shifty slot receiver for 19 yards and 13 yards to put the Raiders in first and goal. They scored the TD on the next play.

Following the Amik Robertson interception, O’Connell threw deep on the first play for a gorgeous 50-yard hookup with speedster Tre Turner to put the Raiders in first and goal at the ten. They scored three plays later.

He opened the second half by completing passes on four third downs, converting the first three and putting them in field goal range with the fourth one to make it a 27-0 game.

The rookie didn’t have massive numbers, but he delivered some strikes, ran the offense perfectly, and didn’t turn the ball over. Not much more you can ask of him than that.

LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, RT Jermaine Eluemunor

The entire Oline played every snap, didn’t give up a single sack, and opened holes for Josh Jacobs to hit 100 yards and two touchdowns.

On the second TD drive, Eluemunor and Van Roten made key blocks on a 15-yard Jacobs run and Eluemunor laid a key block on the touchdown run. Miller, Parham, and Van Roten got out left to make key blocks on a 15-yard catch in the left flat by DeAndre Carter to get things going in the third quarter.

Honorable Mention

WR Jakobi Meyers — Scored the Raiders first TD on a sweep and made some nice blocks in the game as well.

RB Ameer Abdullah — Did some great dirty work on offense and special teams.

WR Tre Tucker — Made an incredible diving 50-yard grab that set up the Raiders’ second touchdown of the game.

Busters

None

This was about as flawless a performance as you’ll see on both sides of the ball. The Raiders were up 24-0 by half time and were up 27-0 midway through the third before the Giants got on the board for the first time. Hard to find blame for anything when one team scores that much and gives up nothing.

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week, they responded in big way

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week and they responded in big way

For as bad as the Giants have been this year, their defensive line has been pretty good. And defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is known for bringing the heat on opposing quarterbacks.

The duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence have a combined 11.5 sacks and 24 QB hits. But on Sunday in Vegas they combined for zero in both categories.

The entire starting five for the Raiders played every snap in the game. Those five from left to right were LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, and RT Jermaine Eluemunor.

New interim head coach Antonio Pierce — who spent the latter half of his ten-year NFL career as a player with the Giants — was determined to make sure these guys were put in the best position to help the Raiders offense function at a high level.

“I was in every meeting with the Oline this week. I was their best friend,” said Pierce, with a smile. “I was encouraging them, I was trying to learn the terminology obviously, coming from the other side of the ball the last two years and not really focusing on their terminology, their techniques, their fundamentals and how they coach and talk. But being over there just to give words of encouragement because that’s a good group. And they’re a tight knit group. And I think that was showcased last night. If you really go back and watch the game, watch where guys come off the ball to the second level. It was impressive. They set the tone the first drive of the game. They are the reason why we’re going to move forward and keep moving forward is because of those guys.”

Along with allowing zero sacks in the game and just one QB hit on rookie Aidan O’Connell, the line opened up holes for Josh Jacobs all game long. It led to Jacobs having his best game of the season, and for a moment late in the game going over 100 yards (before a tackle for loss put him back to 98 yards).

Jacobs setting the tone along with the ability for O’Connell to survey the field and find his receivers went a long way to helping the offense score 30 points when they hadn’t broken 20 points in the previous eight games this season.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 3 loss to Steelers

Raiders Ballers & Busters vs Steelers

The home opener began with festivities, with the family of Ken Stabler receiving his Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence during pregame. And the game started with some defense on both sides that was reminiscent of those 70s rivalries.

The Steelers were stopped for a three-and-out on their first two possessions and the Raiders were stopped for a three-and-out in between.

Then the Raiders offense put on a nice-looking drive that would have made Stabler and Company proud to go up 7-0 on their old rival Steelers.

But the Steelers answered quickly on a play in which Calvin Austin III looked like Cliff Branch, going 72 yards for the touchdown.

From there, it was a whole lot of Steelers and not enough Raiders. Even still, we will start, as we often do, with the Ballers.

Ballers

WR Davante Adams

Adams was open a lot in this game and even when he wasn’t, Jimmy Garoppolo was looking for him. The result was 13 catches for 172 yards and both of the Raiders’ touchdowns.

The first pass of the game went to Adams for five yards. Then he began the next drive with catches for nine and 19 yards and finished it off with a 32-yard touchdown catch.

Four times in the second and third quarter, Adams made catches to convert on third and and get the Raiders Pittsburgh territory. The first two drives ended in an interception, while the third ended with a turnover on downs.

Finally, in the fourth quarter, his efforts paid off. He started the drive with a 26-yard catch and finished it with a touchdown on third and goal from the one.

Adams had a 12-yard catch on the Raiders’ last drive, but when the chips were down and he should’ve been given a shot to catch the potential game-tying score, the Raiders settled for a field goal instead.

DE Maxx Crosby

The two Super Stars on this team shined as bright as ever Sunday night. You just kind of wish they didn’t have to so often do it on their own. Crosby ended three of the Steelers’ six first-half possessions, first with a pressure to force an incompletion, then by getting the sack, and then with a run stop and another pressure to force an incompletion.

Unfortunately, the Steelers also scored on three of those six possessions, including one thanks in part to Crosby not keeping his cool and drawing a personal foul penalty for pulling a player off the pile.

Crosby did his best to wreck the Steelers’ first drive of the third quarter with a QB hit resulting in an incompletion, a run stuff, and forcing Kenny Pickett to throw the ball away on third down. They would still manage to add three points on a 57-yard field goal, though.

Not surprisingly, Crosby would lead the team with two QB hits and had the Raiders’ only sack in the game.

CB Nate Hobbs

Hobbs led the team with two pass breakups and tied for third in tackles. Both of his pass breakups came on third down. The first held the Steelers to a field goal early in the second quarter and the second came after the Raiders pulled the game to within eight to force a three-and-out when the Raiders desperately needed it.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 2 loss to Bills

Raiders Week 2 Ballers & Busters

Safe to say this is one the Raiders would like to put behind them. But hopefully not before they try and learn from it. If there is anything to learn other than that they just can’t hang with a team like the Bills.

Things looked promising on the opening drive for the Raiders, just as they did in the opener in Denver. But it didn’t last long. A 7-0 lead in the first three minutes was a 21-10 deficit at the half and ended with a 38-10 demolition.

It’s hard to pinpoint much of anything that was actually working for the Raiders. Which should be pretty clear in this weeks Busters. But before we get to those details, let’s get the few Ballers out of the way.

Ballers

WR Davante Adams

As if often the case, Adams is a rare bright light in the darkness. He made a 16-yard back shoulder grab to convert the first third down of the game and then ended the opening drive by taking a screen pass 17 yards to the house.

The other scoring drive for the Raiders, Adams caught a 19-yard pass on third and 11 and later in the drive put the team in scoring range by breaking off his route and getting behind the DB to make a 21-yard catch.

He finished with six catches for 84 yards and a touchdown.

T Kolton Miller

He kept Garoppolo’s blind side protected all day and on the Adams touchdown screen, he got out wide to make the block.

S Marcus Epps

Epps did his best to stop to the Bills from scoring in the first quarter. He broke on a pass in the flat to stop it for a loss and two plays later made the stop on third down to bring up fourth and one. But as happened most of the day, the Bills converted it and went on to score anyway.

The one time in the game the Raiders were actually able to stop the Bills  on fourth and short, Epps set it up by making the stop on a Josh Allen scramble at the goal line.

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