Tag: Andre James

Raiders offensive line starting to ‘settle in’ now with very positive results in win over Texans

Raiders Oline felt like they were starting to ‘settle in’ after win over Texans

It’s safe to say the Raiders offensive line is coming off their best game of the season. They not only played a big role in Josh Jacobs having arguably the best game of his career, but kept Derek Carr clean as well.

Jacobs ran for 143 yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Texans. Most of those yards (98) and all of the touchdowns occurred in the second half as the Raiders offensive line wore down the defense.

It is probably no coincidence that they had such a game with the same starting five for consecutive weeks for the first time this season.

Granted, right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor went out on the first drive and was replaced by Thayer Munford, the other starting four were the same and at the same positions where they had started prior to the bye week. And Munford has played enough snaps at right tackle, having him come in didn’t disrupt anything.

Right tackle has seen a great deal of change going back to training camp, preseason, and the regular season. But so too has the guard positions and even the center position.

While Andre James is the returning starter at the center position, both guard positions have new faces. And they haven’t always been the same new faces. 

The new face the coaching staff has been trying to find a home for is rookie Dylan Parham. The top pick (third round) seems to have found his home at left guard. And his chemistry with left tackle Kolton Miller is showing up on the field.

“It’s just everybody moving around and now we’re getting comfortable with one another and we’re starting to settle in a little bit more,” Parham said following the Raiders win over the Texans Sunday. “Once you know how another player plays, you can play off of them. It helps the whole offensive line. But that’s the thing, we’re all one as a unit. There’s five of us, but we’re all one. So, once we start getting on one course it helps us play a lot better, so I feel like that’s why we’re playing well as we go along.”

Being the only steady presence on the offensive line, left tackle Kolton Miller agreed wholeheartedly with Parham’s assessment.

“We’re learning more from each other and we hope to keep it up,” Miller said of he and Parham working next to each other. “He’ll probably be there for a while. He’s growing a lot as a young player, as a first year player. He’ll talk and that’s the biggest thing is communication with all these stunts. He’s been coming in with a veteran mentality as a rookie, so that’s been huge.”

Getting the run game going the way they have in recent weeks has helped the offense considerably. Mostly it takes pressure off Derek Carr and the receivers. It also keeps the defense honest, leading to open receivers when they do go to the air.

It was clear that balance was off over the first few games and some of that was because the offensive line was not performing well. There was clearly a lot more blame to go around, but the offensive line is crucial to the success of an offense and it wasn’t what it needed to be. 

From the looks of it, that is changing. It has led to two wins over the past three games, and the other game was a close loss to the Chiefs. And that’s with right tackle still being a bit of an issue. Get that one figured out and we will see more runaway wins like we saw last Sunday.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 5 vs Chiefs

Raiders made a game of it with the Chiefs. But fell short in the end again. So let’s look at the game’s Ballers & Busters

Monday Night was a much closer game in the end than most thought it would be. The Raiders jumped to a 17-0 lead and twice were within one point late. But in the end, that one point deficit was where it would stay and the Raiders would fall to 1-4 on the season.

Ballers

RB Josh Jacobs

Once again, Jacobs was running with a mission against a Chiefs Run D that was best in the league coming into the game. Jacobs made mincemeat of that top ranked run D.

His mission was never more evident than early in the second quarter when he followed up a 13-yard run with a 21-yard run that ended with him plowing through the safety. Jacobs had already scored the Raiders’ previous TD from one yards out and those two runs set up the Raiders’ third score to go up 17-0.

Late in the third quarter, Jacobs followed up another 13-yard run — he created himself with a broken tackle — with a 37-yard run. The Raiders had long since lost the lead and the field goal off that run brought them back within one at 24-23.

Jacobs’s second TD of the game brought the Raiders back to being down one late at 30-29 before the failed two-point conversion. That’s where it remained on their final drive which started with a couple Jacobs eight-yard runs; the second of which gave him a new career-high for a single game, breaking his previous mark (144) he set last week vs the Broncos.

His last run went for five yards on third-and-one, setting his new career-high at 154 yards. Unfortunately, the Raiders went away from him on their next third-and-one and fourth-and-one and the game was over on consecutive incompletions.

DE Maxx Crosby

Every play Crosby made was a big one. It started with a wicked inside spin move to get the sack to end the Chiefs’ first drive. The next drive he made a run stop for no gain and it ended with a missed field goal.

The second quarter featured Crosby’s second sack of the game. That one moved him into a tie for the league lead in sacks (6). Though it wasn’t enough to keep the Chiefs from scoring their first touchdown of the game.

After the Chiefs had completed the comeback to go up 24-23, the Chiefs were back on offense looking to extend their lead. That drive started with Crosby making a run stop for a loss. The Chiefs would still get the touchdown, but on the two-point conversion attempt, the Condor would get pressure on Mahomes and get his long arms up to bat down his pass attempt.

DE Chandler Jones

For the first time this season, Crosby had some help from the other side. Jones didn’t manage to get his first sack as a Raider, but he put plenty of pressure on Mahomes from his side of the line and made some run stops as well.

Jones helped set up Crosby’s first sack with a run stop on first down and pressure resulting in an incompletion on second down. He then broke up a screen pass on the next drive and two plays later the Chiefs would miss a field goal attempt.

The third possession went three-and-out and it was all Jones. Starting with a run stop at the line and ending with a hit on Mahomes to force an incompletion.

Those efforts helped the Raiders build their 17-0 lead to start the game.

T Kolton Miller

Miller didn’t give up any sacks or hits on Derek Carr and as far as I can tell, he didn’t give up any run stuffs either. In addition, he had blocks on several Josh Jacobs runs including his first touchdown run and a 21-yard run in the second quarter that set up the Raiders’ third score.

FB Jakob Johnson

Doing a fine bit of lead blocking for Jacobs was his fullback, including leading the way for Jacobs’s 37-yard run in the third quarter.

WR Davante Adams

Derek Carr went bombs away to Adams several times in this game. The first one went for a 58-yard touchdown. The next two were underthrown and Adams came back for them, forcing a pass interference. The second of them happened in the end zone, setting up their second touchdown.

The next long ball was easily the best pass and catch between Carr and Adams since they became Raiders teammates. Adams got behind two Chiefs defenders and Carr placed it perfectly in his hands in-stride for a 48-yard touchdown.

It was the last two passes to Adams that ended the game. The first would likely have set up the potential game-winning field goal, but Adams didn’t finish the catch before stepping out of bounds. The final pass, Adams and Hunter Renfrow ran into each other. The pass was way long, but it wouldn’t have mattered considering Adams and Renfrow were on the ground. It was a terrible way to end an otherwise great day for Adams who had three catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.

LB Divine Deablo

Deablo finished with a team leading ten tackles. On the last two Chiefs drives alone, Deablo had three run stuffs, one for a loss. His last tackle helped lead to the Raiders stopping the Chiefs on their final drive and keeping them from just running clock to give the Raiders offense one more shot.

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Raiders, Titans Week 3 Thursday injury report: C Andre James returns to practice

C Andre James returned to practice today for Raiders, giving him a good chance of returning this week from concussion.

Today the Raiders got their first bit of good news on the injury front since the before the season opener. At the end of that season opener, they lost center Andre James to a concussion. One severe enough that he was taken by ambulance to a local hospital following the game.

As of week two James had still not passed the concussion protocol and thus missed their home opener last Sunday. But today, he cleared a big hurdle in the protocol and has returned to practice.

Also returning to practice was defensive tackle Bilal Nichols who was lost in the third quarter of last Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury. Both James and Nichols were limited.

New to DNP were Neil Farrell Jr (shoulder) and Josh Jacobs (illness). Still not practicing were WR Hunter Renfrow (concussion), LB Denzel Perryman (ankle), and Tre’von Moehrig (hip).

Missing for the Titans were DB Ugo Amadi, OLB Bud Dupree, T Taylor Lewan (knee), and OLB Ola Adelyi (neck).

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Raiders rookie Dylan Parham running 1st team at center for injured Andre James

Rookie Dylan Parham figures to be in line to start at center for Raiders vs Cardinals should Andre James not be ready by Sunday.

Due to the trade the Raiders made to acquire Davante Adams this offseason, the team’s first draft pick didn’t happen until the third round. They used that first selection on Memphis offensive lineman Dylan Parham.

Even as the team’s ‘top pick’ in this draft, he wasn’t expected to start right away, either at guard or at center. ll that may have changed with starting center Andre James suffering a concussion in the season opener against the Chargers.

Views of practice today by media on hand noted that Parham has been running with the first team at center in place of James, which means Parhaps is the likely starter this Sunday against the Cardinals should James not be ready to return.

Parham had worked in at guard for some snaps during the season opener and played well. He may ultimately take over as the team’s starting right guard, but for now he is needed at center, so that’s where he is lining up. At least until James returns.

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Raiders, Cardinals Week 2 injury report: Raiders without 3 starters

Raiders without 3 starters on first injury report for week 2

After seeing a clean injury report heading into season opener, the Raiders knew there would be a few players on it this week. As it turns out, there were four players who missed practice Wednesday, including starters Andre James (concussion), Denzel Perryman (ankle), and Tre’von Moehrig (hip).

Also missing for Raiders was RB Brandon Bolden. While DJ Turner was placed on injured reserve. All left last Sunday’s game with injury and didn’t return. Though James’s injury occurred on the game’s final play.

The Cardinals were missing a lot more players, including TE Zach Ertz (calf), WR Andre Isabella (back), WR Rondale Moore (hamstring), S Jalen Thompson (toe), and DE JJ Watt (calf).

Former Raiders CB Trayvon Mullen  was limited with a toe injury as was offensive lineman Justin Pugh (neck).

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Injuries pile up for Raiders in season opener vs Chargers

Raiders got considerably banged up, losing six players to injury in the opener, including four starters

This camp and preseason the Raiders have been very careful to try and keep their players healthy. Then they took the field to play and watched their guys one-by-one hobble off the field.

CB Anthony Averett left with a thumb injury and did not return. This injury may have been what prompted the team to sign CB Nickell Roby-Coleman Monday morning.

S Tre’Von Moehrig left with an ankle injury and did not return, Veteran Duron Harmon stepped in a played the rest of the way.

LB Denzel Perryman left with an ankle injury and didn’t return.

RB Brandon Bolden left with a hamstring injury and did not return.

WR DJ Turner left with an ankle injury.

Andre James suffered an apparent concussion on the final play for the Raiders and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital following the game.

All but Bolden and Turner are starters for the Raiders, so obviously their losses would be significant.

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Once cloudy competition on Raiders Offensive line gaining some clarity

Raiders offensive line if the season started today

It was just over a month ago when the Raiders took the field for this year’s training camp. At that time, the only settled spot on the Raiders’ offensive line was Kolton Miller at left tackle. It would appear the rest of the line is taking shape as well.

Let’s look at each position and how it has changed, going from right to left.

Right tackle

At first, it looked like 2021 top pick Alex Leatherwood would get the first crack. Then it was Brandon Parker who was running with the first team. Both of them had dreadful performances in the preseason — first Parker at left tackle, and then Leatherwood at right tackle.

Rookie seventh-round pick Thayer Munford was given a look at right tackle and held his own, while Eluemunor played at left tackle. Munford is now out injured, and with Miller at his left tackle with the first team against the Patriots, Eluemunor was the first team right tackle while Leatherwood came in with the second team.

Eluemunor started at right tackle for Josh McDaniels in New England and he is getting a real shot to grab that job with the Raiders as well.

“I hear about what he’s been doing and the workouts he’s been doing and he looks great,” Derek Carr said of Eluemunor. “Really proud of where he was, where he’s come from, and where he is now. I’m excited to see him just keep growing.”

Right guard

It initially seemed like Lester Cotton Sr was a placeholder until Denzelle Good returned from injury. Then Good returned and promptly retired and Cotton has remained. The former undrafted free agent has drawn praise for showing vast improvement this year, going from practice squad player to projected starter.

Center

The only other offensive lineman besides Miller who has held onto the same spot he had when camp began is center Andre James.

Left guard

As recent as a week ago, it appeared John Simpson was going to return as the starting left guard. Now it’s not looking that way.

In last weekend’s game in Miami, it was rookie third-round pick Dylan Parham who got the start, with Simpson coming in later and Parham moved over to center with the second team.

That continued in joint practices with the Patriots on Tuesday, looking like Parham has passed up Simpson as the favorite to start at left guard.

“He’s got some areas that I’m sure he’s going to want to continue to improve in, but from where he’s started he’s come a long way,” Carr said of Parham. “He’s come a long way. He’s trying to do it the right way and at that position, you’ve got to do it the right way. He’s doing that and I’m proud of him. He’s working really hard and our coaches are pushing him to get everything out of him and he’s accepting it really well.”

Projected lineup

If the season ended today, the starting offensive line would be:

LT Kolton Miller
LG Dylan Parham
C Andre James
RG Lester Cotton Sr
RT Jermaine Eluemunor

This is, of course, barring any additions to try and upgrade the starting lineup with under three weeks until the start of the season.

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Ranking the top 25 players on Raiders roster: 16-20

We continue with our countdown of the Raiders top 25 players with 16-20

We continue with out countdown of the top 25 players on the Raiders roster. Now we enter the top 20 where we get a better feel for just how talented the Raiders roster is (or is not).

Here is how Raiders C Andre James went from undrafted tackle to replacing one of NFL’s best centers

Raiders C Andre James went from undrafted tackle to replacing one of NFL’s best centers

Two years ago, Andre James went undrafted as a tackle. And now he is being asked to replace one of the best centers in the game. The NFL can be a crazy place sometimes.

On day one of Raiders training camp, James stepped to the podium to speak with the media for the first time ever.

Prior to this year, he spent two years sitting behind Rodney Hudson as a relative unknown who seemed like he was closer to the roster fringe than replacing a player of Hudson’s stature.

That all changed this offseason in a big way. Hudson was traded to the Cardinals for a third-round pick — in large part as a cost-cutting measure — and suddenly the job was James’s to lose. A far cry from a guy who two years ago was passed up in the draft and has appeared on offense in just two games with one start in his young career.

The Raiders liked James because he has quick feet. Those feet served him well as a tackle at UCLA, while his 6-4 stature was more suited for a move inside. That combination of things had Tom Cable thinking center. Even if James was not.

“Coming in being undrafted was definitely kind of a blow,” James said. “Change of positions was also a big thing to me, it was like ‘we want you to play center’ and I was like ‘perfect let’s do it.’ Didn’t think I was going to play center. I knew I was going to play something interior because I didn’t think of myself as a tackle, but my mindset was just attack it, listen to everything I could, pick up everything I can from these older guys like Rodney and everything Cable’s told me and just take it day-by-day.”

This all seems like a real roll of the dice given James’s limited game experience. But if there was any doubt about the faith the coaching staff has in him, that was put to rest when they gave him an extension this offseason. It also put James’s mind at ease.

“It feels awesome, man, honestly,” James said of the faith the coaches have shown in him. “It gives me confidence having confidence from these coaches. It helps me elevate my game in a way that I have no need to worry and I can go out there and play as hard as I can.”

Rodney Hudson leaves behind some big shoes to fill. For James’s part, though, he benefited from having Hudson as a mentor. Sitting behind Hudson these past couple of seasons afforded James the time to work on the intricacies of the center position while learning from a master.

“Rodney is arguably one of the best centers in the league,” said James. “Every day I came in here, I got a little piece of information from him every day. That’s the same tack I take on it every day I just get a little better. Just work on the little things and it adds up over time to get a little better. So, everything I learned from him, I’m still using today.”

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