Ballers & Busters – Page 10 – Syndication Server

Ballers & Busters for Raiders preseason Week 3 vs. 49ers

Sunday was the final dress rehearsal for the Raiders. And for many players, it was their last chance to make a strong impression in their push to earn a spot on the roster.

There wasn’t much in the way of great impressions in this one. The Raiders were handled from start to finish by the 49ers and lost 34-10. It must be noted that the 49ers had their actual starters in the game early on and kept potential starting QB Trey Lance in the game into the third quarter. But if the Raiders want to prove they have depth, they need to be able to hang with those guys and they simply didn’t.

That being said, there were some diamonds in the rough, so we’ll start there as per usual.

Ballers

S Karl Joseph

The former top pick by the Raiders returns after a year away in Cleveland. He is in line to be the next man up at either safety spot and could be shooting to prove to his coaches that he deserves a chance to start at some point. His performance in this game should help those efforts greatly.

On the first drive, the 49er’s first-team offense cut through the Raiders fringe roster lineup like a hot knife through butter. There were only two plays on the drive that were stopped for less than four yards and one of them was Joseph making the tackle on first and goal from the five to stop a run at two yards.

It was a similar story on the second drive, with Joseph making two more run stops including one for two yards. And again, on the 49er’s third scoring drive, they were in first and goal at the five and Joseph made a tackle for a loss on a broken play.

That drive ended in a field goal. So too did the 49er’s final drive of the first half, thanks to Joseph knocking down a pass for the end zone with a few seconds left on the clock. And just to round things off, Joseph also had a tackle on special teams too. Welcome back, Karl.

CB Damon Arnette

Remember how I said on the first two drives, there were only a couple of plays that were stopped for a short gain or no gain? Well, the other two stops were Arnette defending passes. That’s a strong day considering he only played 26 snaps, which was the first three drives and he was taken out by midway through the second quarter.

CB Amik Robertson

Twice on the 49er’s second drive, Robertson made a play that put them in third down. The first time he ran his receiver’s route for him on a deep and cut him off so it fell incomplete. The second time was a play in which Robertson chased down a run out right to stop it for two yards.

He was part of two more stops on the 49er’s final drive of the first half to help hold them to a field goal. Robertson also had an outstanding gunner tackle on a punt return to stop them at the 16-yard-line. A facemask on the 49ers would start their drive at the 8-yard-line. He led the team with two special teams tackles.

WR Dillon Stoner

The Raiders scored twice in this game. Both drives featured long catches by Stoner. He had a 27-yard catch on their field goal drive early in the second quarter and a 32-yard catch on third and 15 on their touchdown drive in the third quarter. He would lead all receivers in the game with three catches for 69 yards.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders preseason Week 2 vs Rams

Preseason is now through its second week and the next wave up cuts are upcoming. But before that happens, we take a look at the players who stepped up and those whose performances may have them stepping down.

Ballers

CB Nate Hobbs

Hobbs was balling from start to finish in this game. So much so that he earned a game ball from Jon Gruden despite Gruden saying he doesn’t usually do that for preseason games.

In the third play of the game, the Raiders had the Rams in third-and-11. They went for a screen out right and Hobbs sniffed it out all the way, flying into tackle the receiver for a loss just as he caught the ball. This forced a punt out of the back of the Rams’ endzone and gave the Raiders great field position at the LA 32-yard-line. They would drive for a touchdown from there.

Two possession later, the Rams were again lined up in third down and Hobbs came flying in again, this time on the blitz. The QB was able to escape, but on his run out right, he would be pressured again and end up throwing incomplete.

Early in the third quarter, the Rams got the ball back up 10-7. On the first play of the possession, the Rams went for a big play deep up the middle of the field. Hobbs read the QB, chased down the pass, and leapt in the air to pick it off. The Raiders would take over and drive for a game-tying field goal.

The final drive Hobbs added a big hit tackle and a pass breakup giving him 4 combined tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, and two passes defended. Have yourself a day, rook.

LB Javin White

White got the start at linebacker again. And he came roaring out the gates. He made the tackle in the first play of the game for the Rams offense, Helping stop a run at one yard.

The second drive, the Rams lined up in second-and-18 and White very nearly picked the ball off. He had perfect position and had the ball hit both his hands, but couldn’t reel it in. The Rams would punt after the next play.

The next possession he ran down a pass deep up the left side and got his hands up to knock it down.

With questions surrounding starter Nicholas Morrow’s foot, along with White showing off his coverage abilities seemed like it could open the door for him to make the regular-season roster. Those hopes came crashing down in the third quarter when White went down with a serious knee injury and was carted off the field. It looks like the Oakland native and UNLV star’s dreams of making the Raiders roster will have to wait another year.

OT Alex Leatherwood

The rookie starter played the first quarter (16 snaps). But in those snaps, he was perfect. Gave up no pressures and even was the leader blocker on a couple of nice runs on the Raiders’ first scoring drive.

WR Marcell Ateman

Ateman made up for a rough preseason opener with two outstanding catches in this game. The first came late in the first quarter with Nate Peterman throwing a ball just barely out of reach of the defender. Ateman shows great concentration to catch the ball around the defender for 16 yards.

The second catch was the biggest play of the game for either team. Midway through the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 10-10, the Raiders lined up at the 29-yard-line. Gruden called double eight’s number. He made a double move, Peterman sold it with a pump fake, the defender bit hard and Ateman was wide open up the left side for the touchdown.

TE Alex Ellis

Ellis quietly led the Raiders in catches in the game (4). Showing why he is on this roster and why he could earn a job. It might be on another team, or on the Raiders’ practice squad, but a job.

His first catch came in the two-minute drill late in the first half. It went for 15 yards. But the Raiders weren’t able to capitalize on it. Peterman threw for him a couple more times on the drive, but the first pass was knocked down and the second was stopped for two yards.

In the third quarter, Peterman found Ellis again for big yards. On third and four from their own 33-yard line, Ellis broke open for a 21-yard catch and run. But once again, the Raiders couldn’t capitalize on it.

Ellis’s final catch went for three yards on third and four. It set up fourth and one and the Raiders went for it and converted to move into field goal range and tie the game at 10-10.

WR DJ Turner

The undrafted rookie had a workmanlike performance that deserves mentioning. He had a 16-yard catch, a 23-yard punt return, made a block on an 8-yard run, and even made a tackle. Yes, a tackle. It came after an interception with Turner stopping the return at nine yards and keeping the Rams from getting good field position out of it.

[lawrence-newsletter]

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders vs. Seahawks

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Preseason Week 1 vs. Seahawks

Our first preseason action in two years was quite an event for the Raiders as it was the first game at Allegiant Stadium with fans in attendance. They put on a good show, beating the visiting Seahawks 20-7 with a few standout performances along the way.

Ballers

WR Zay Jones

It was a bit of a coming-out party for Jones, who head coach Jon Gruden had been touting for his work ethic for the past couple of years. He got things started with a six-yard catch on the first drive. Two plays later on third and 8, he made a spectacular 28-yard catch on the left sideline. Then it was a 21-yard catch on the right sideline to set the Raiders up in first and goal from the four-yard line. Three catches on three targets for 57 yards is a solid game, let alone the first drive.

RB Trey Ragas

With Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake not playing in the game, Ragas put his stamp on this game right away. He picked up eight yards on his first run. Then after BJ Emmons and Nate Peterman couldn’t punch it in, Ragas finished it off with a touchdown on fourth and one.

On the next scoring drive, he had an eight-yard run on third and one to keep the drive alive and put the Raiders in field goal range. The next drive, he had two nine-yard runs and a six-yard run on third and one. He should’ve had a catch as well, but Nate Peterman missed him in the right flat and instead threw into coverage and was picked off.

He did have a couple of catches on the first drive of the third quarter to finish with 16 touches for 82 yards and a TD.

DT Darius Philon

The defense held the Seahawks scoreless in the first half and Philon was a big part of that. The big play was a hard sack from the blindside on Geno Smith. The sack was cornerback Nate Hobbs on a corner blitz, but Smith was too busy dealing with Philon bursting up the middle into his face to notice Hobbs. The result was Smith getting rocked and nearly fumbling the ball.

In the second quarter, he teamed up with Solomon Thomas on a run stuff for a loss. He helped end the next drive when he got pressure on third and eight and Clelin Ferrell cleaned it up to stop the QB for one yard on the scramble.

QB Nate Peterman

Solid game overall for Peterman. The two throws for Jones the first drive was impressive. He also had a sustained second drive that ended in a short field goal.

On his interception, he looked off Ragas open in the flat trying for more and ended up paying the price, as he got hit while he threw and was intercepted. But he recovered to lead the Raiders on another drive for a field goal to end the first half.

Peterman played all but one snap in the game, finishing 29 of 39 for 246 yards and the one interception.

WR Keelan Doss, WR DJ Turner

After the “starters” left, it was the Turner & Doss show the rest of the way. Doss had six catches on six targets while Turner had seven catches on eight targets. No one else had more than three catches in the game.

On the second and third scoring drives, it was a steady dose of Turner & Doss. That goes especially for Doss who, with 31 seconds left in the half, had a huge 17-yard catch along the left sideline to the 11-yard-line, getting out of bounds to stop the clock. He added a 13-yard catch on third-and-eight on the first drive of the second half.

RB BJ Emmons

While he wasn’t the workhorse in the game that Ragas was, Emmons had several big runs in the game. On the second drive of the game, the Raiders were in third and four from the Seattle 31-yard-line. Emmons went left, broke a tackle and broke off a 22-yard run to put the Raiders in first and goal from the nine-yard line.

The final scoring drive, with the Raiders in second and 11 from the 13-yard line, Emmons ran for 11 yards to set up first and goal from the two-yard line. On the next play, he went over the top to dive in for the touchdown. Safe to say his day ended happily.

CB Keisean Nixon

A solid overall game for Nixon. He never got burnt or committed a penalty in coverage. He also ended each of the last three Seahawks drives.

Early in the fourth quarter, on third and 14, Nixon made a fantastic open-field tackle on DeeJay Dallas to stop him at two yards. The Raiders got the ball back with great field position and drove for their final TD.

On the ensuing Seahawks possession, they went three-and-out. On third-and-nine, they tried to go for the long ball up the left sideline and Nixon stuck on his man and made a textbook pass breakup deep downfield.

The Seahawks would get the ball one more time in the game with 1:44 remaining. After driving into Raiders territory, they set up in second-and-ten from the 45, and Nixon stopped the play at six yards to end the game. Nixon finished second on the team in tackles (3). He keeps proving why the Raiders have kept the former undrafted free agent around.

[lawrence-newsletter]

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