Tag: Carolina Panthers vs Las Vegas Raiders

Antonio Pierce did not rule out QB change for Raiders following ugly loss to Panthers

Antonio Pierce did not rule out QB change for Raiders

As happy as Antonio Pierce was after his team came from behind to beat the Ravens in Baltimore, he was equally furious with their subsequent embarrassing defeat the the Panthers on Sunday.

Late in the game, with little chance of coming back, Pierce took out Minshew and put in Aidan O’Connell. He said it made the change in the hopes of bringing a spark. And, with the backdrop of garbage time, O’Connell drove the team down the field for a touchdown.

The next day, Pierce was non-comital on whether the job remains in the hands of Minshew going forward.

“We got to get with the players and evaluate everything from yesterday first,” said Pierce.

Gardner Minshew was heralded for his play late in the win in Baltimore and his head coach approved. But this is a ‘what have you done for me lately’.

In that regard, Minshew is coming off 22 of 36 for 214 yards, one touchdown and one interception and an 84.5 passer rating. While his potential replacement — and former starter — went 9 of 12 for 82 yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 120.8.

It may be smart not to make a knee jerk reaction based on one game. And it would be a bit surprising to see Pierce pull the plug on Minshew so quickly. But it’s definitely a situation worth watching closely.

The Raiders will welcome the Cleveland Browns for Week 4 next Sunday.

Raiders HC Antonio Pierce not backing down from ‘business decisions’ comment ‘I don’t bite my tongue’

Antonio Pierce is standing firm on his accusation of Raiders players making ‘business decisions’ in the loss to the Panthers. Adding ‘I don’t bite my tongue’

Following the Raiders’ embarrassing loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Antonio Pierce took to the podium where he made a strong statement. It didn’t just suggest there were certain players were not putting out maximum effort, he flat out said it, going as far as to say there were those who made “business decisions.”

Pierce added that the team might also have to make some business decisions as well, suggesting those player who he didn’t see as putting full effort on the field could be benched or perhaps gone from the team.

Some have speculated who he could be talking about. Naturally, Davante Adams has been brought up considering all the talk of him being unhappy — something Adams has refuted — and the possibility of a trade happening this season involving him. But that is all speculation at this point.

The question I had was whether Pierce was just speaking from an emotional place and in turn might he pull back some on his strong words when given the chance to cool down.

Nope.

“I don’t bite my tongue,” said Pierce when asked if he regretted his choice of words after the game. Then he repeated it.”I don’t bite my tongue.”

He said he hasn’t made any of those business decision yet. That he would need to get with the team first. And he wouldn’t be more specific either, saying simply “Whatever helps the Raiders win. Right now that performance is not going to help any team, let alone the Raiders.”

Last season, Pierce saw Marcus Peters out there not putting in maximum effort. And once he thought Jack Jones was read to go, he benched and then cut Peters and put in Jones.

So, you know Pierce won’t put up with lack of effort. It’s just a matter of there being a better option for whoever he benches or sends packing.

Raiders Week 3 snap counts: Rookie OL debut, Maxx Crosby with unusually low playing time

Raiders Rookie OL make their debuts while Maxx Crosby missed more playing time than usual.

For the first time this season, the two offensive linemen the Raiders selected in the draft took the field. Second round pick Jackson Powers-Johnson came in at right guard and third rounder DJ Glaze entered the game at right tackle.

JPJ came in late in the game, just to mix things up and give him some reps. Oddly he came in at right guard considering he had been lining up at left guard early on and Cody Whitehair has been lining up there in his absence.

Glaze came in early due to an injury to Thayer Munford that knocked him out of the game on just his second snap.

It was noted that during the game Maxx Crosby was coming out for some plays. Not something he is known for doing. It was because his high ankle sprain was bothering him.

In total Crosby missed 13 snaps. That’s a lot for him. He didn’t even miss that many snaps when he had his serious knee injury late last season. The only other time in the past three years Crosby was out of a game for more snaps than Sunday was the blowout win over the Chargers last year, when the Raiders had put the game away and his presence was no longer needed.

Offense
 Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Cody Whitehair G 64 100% 3 10%
Andre James C 64 100% 3 10%
Kolton Miller T 64 100% 0 0%
DJ Glaze T 62 97% 3 10%
Davante Adams WR 61 95% 0 0%
Jakobi Meyers WR 59 92% 0 0%
Tre Tucker WR 52 81% 4 13%
Gardner Minshew II QB 51 80% 0 0%
Dylan Parham G 43 67% 3 10%
Brock Bowers TE 42 66% 0 0%
Michael Mayer TE 31 48% 3 10%
Alexander Mattison RB 28 44% 0 0%
Ameer Abdullah RB 22 34% 17 57%
Jackson Powers-Johnson G 21 33% 3 10%
Zamir White RB 14 22% 0 0%
Aidan O’Connell QB 13 20% 0 0%
DJ Turner WR 8 12% 26 87%
Harrison Bryant TE 3 5% 13 43%
Thayer Munford T 2 3% 0 0%
Defense
 Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Tre’von Moehrig FS 74 100% 2 7%
Robert Spillane LB 74 100% 0 0%
Jack Jones CB 71 96% 0 0%
Jakorian Bennett CB 69 93% 0 0%
Maxx Crosby DE 61 82% 0 0%
Nate Hobbs CB 57 77% 0 0%
Christian Wilkins DT 56 76% 6 20%
Marcus Epps SS 54 73% 0 0%
Luke Masterson LB 52 70% 13 43%
John Jenkins DT 47 64% 7 23%
Adam Butler DT 43 58% 3 10%
Tyree Wilson DE 34 46% 0 0%
Isaiah Pola-Mao FS 27 36% 25 83%
Charles Snowden DE 26 35% 17 57%
Nesta Jade Silvera DT 26 35% 7 23%
Janarius Robinson DE 17 23% 6 20%
Jonah Laulu DT 11 15% 7 23%
Amari Gainer LB 10 14% 22 73%
Tommy Eichenberg LB 5 7% 20 67%
Special Teams
 Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Kana’i Mauga LB 0 0% 24 80%
Christopher Smith SS 0 0% 21 70%
Amari Burney LB 0 0% 20 67%
Thomas Harper FS 0 0% 11 37%
AJ Cole III P 0 0% 8 27%
Jacob Bobenmoyer LS 0 0% 8 27%
Sam Webb CB 0 0% 8 27%
Daniel Carlson K 0 0% 7 23%
Darnay Holmes CB 0 0% 6 20%
Andrus Peat G 0 0% 3 1

Injury news: Maxx Crosby fighting high ankle sprain, Raiders defense flounders

Maxx Crosby says he’s fighting a high ankle sprain. Meanwhile Raiders defense looked lost.

One thing became apparent in Sunday’s loss to the Panthers and that was that the Raiders is not able to function at a high level if Maxx Crosby is not himself. He was obviously not right. And the Raiders got routed by the Carolina Panthers as a result.

No one really wondered if Crosby would play this week. He played through a knee injury last season that had him in the hospital two days before the game. That time he missed practice all week and was Doubtful for the game. This time he was limited all week and Questionable.

But it’s possible this time what he was dealing with was actually harder to fight through.

“It’s a high ankle,” Crosby said of his injury. “It’s shitty, but I’ll be good. I’ll be better.”

“It sucks. It’s unfortunate. I mean I hurt it literally the second to last play in Baltimore. Just part of the game, you know. Every time I go out there I’m going to try and be out there with my teammates. If I’m 100% or 50% it doesn’t affect if I’m going to go out there.”

Even a 50% Maxx Crosby is better than a lot of guys can do at 100%. But it’s possible that this defense can’t function at a high level with a 50% Maxx Crosby.

Every facet of this defense failed Sunday in the loss to the Panthers. They gave up chunks on the ground while Andy Dalton had a near perfect day through the air. Several times, enjoying lots of time to work.

The Raiders did have a couple sacks, but Crosby wasn’t involved in either one.

And when I say Crosby wasn’t involved, I don’t mean he just wasn’t the one who made the sack. I mean he wasn’t a factor at all in the sack. One was an unblocked blitz from Robert Spillane while the other was Christian Wilkins and Charles Snowden swarming on the right side to split the sack.

We’re talking about the AFC Defensive Player of the Week here. It’s highly unusual for Crosby not to be a factor to say the least.

It’s unusual for Crosby to come off the field at all. And he was on and off the field several times, which is a sure fire indication he was not right.

Without him, the defense was not the defense we had come to recognize over the past 12 games under Antonio Pierce.

“You can’t pinpoint one thing. A lot of things go on during a game. If you don’t play complementary football, you start slow, all those things don’t help, I know that.”

Raiders winners and losers in 36-22 defeat vs. Panthers

The Raiders looked helpless against the Panthers in their home opener in Las Vegas. Who is most to blame?

The Raiders failed in spectacular fashion in their home opener against the Panthers on Sunday, losing by a lopsided 36-22 final tally.

Nothing went right for the home team, as the offense was toothless except for a 97-yard drive in the first half and the defense allowed one big play after another.

The Panthers (1-2) looked like a different team with new starting quarterback Andy Dalton. He sliced and diced the Raiders defense on his way to 319 passing yards and three touchdowns. On offense, the Raiders couldn’t get the ball to wide receiver Davante Adams or tight end Brock Bowers after they starred last week in Baltimore.

Here are the winners and losers for the week after this setback defeat for Las Vegas (1-2).

Winner: WR Tre Tucker

Before this game turned into a blowout, the Raiders offense evened the score at 7-7 with a 97 yard touchdown march. The key play was a 54-yard strike from quarterback Gardner Minshew to WR Tre Tucker.

The drive ended with a touchdown run by running back Alexander Mattison. The Panthers scored the game’s next 26 points to put the game away; the Raiders didn’t score again until a garbage time touchdown catch by WR Jakobi Meyers made the score 33-15. Tucker added a late touchdown catch of his own on a throw from QB Aidan O’Connell.

Loser: HC Antonio Pierce

After the Panthers announced their plan to start Dalton over for former No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, it was clear the Raiders coaching staff had to adjust their practice-week preparation. On Sunday, it appeared the Raiders didn’t know what him them from the start, and that falls mostly on coach Antonio Pierce.

Plus, Pierce’s decisions on a couple short-yardage situations were highly questionable. Trailing 14-7, the Raiders ran on a 3rd-and-7 play to set up a 4th-and-3, only to miss on a short pass attempt to Bowers. That drive stalled after starting at the Raiders 40-yard line.

Later in the game, Las Vegas went for a 4th-and-1 play on its own 37-yard line. A QB sneak from Minshew went nowhere, and the Panthers scored a field goal for a 27-7 lead. The Raiders went three-and-out on their next possession, one of many such drives on the afternoon.

Loser: OC Luke Getsy

Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy seemed determined to get the Raiders run game going, and the strategy missed the mark. Las Vegas totaled just 55 yards on the ground, and by the second half, the home crowed often booed after a run play.

The poor run game ruined whatever game plan Getsy had prepared, as Minshew never got into a rhythm with is receivers.

Loser: Raiders defense/DC Patrick Graham

The Raiders defense allowed 256 yards of offense in the first half and 437 yards overall. The Panthers ran over, through, and around Patrick Graham’s defense, as they had a 100-yard rusher in RB Chuba Hubbard and a 100-yard receiver in WR Diontae Johnson.

The Raiders pass rush was especially missing in action. Defensive end Maxx Crosby made little impact, and the Raiders depth at defensive end looks troubling on Crosby’s opposite edge. The lack of pressure played a factor in at least five pass plays of more than 20 yards for Carolina.

Loser: WR Davante Adams and TE Brock Bowers

A week ago, it appeared the Raiders had found their answer on offense: get the ball to Adams and Bowers. This week, the two combined for seven catches and 81 yards receiving.

Making matters worse, Adams had the ball knocked from his hands multiple times, including a 3rd-and-2 play as the Raiders trailed 14-7 in the second quarter.

Loser: DB Nate Hobbs

Defensive back Nate Hobbs was in the middle of a lot of action on Sunday, and most of it went against the home team. In particular, Hobbs allowed his opponent to cut across his face inside on a key 3rd-and-8 play late in the first half, leading to a 35-yard catch and run by Johnson, who made Hobbs look silly on his tackle attempt.

 

This drive ended with a touchdown catch by WR Adam Thielen to give the Panthers a 21-7 lead at halftime.

Hobbs had a pass breakup and a tackle for loss later in the game, but like the Raiders late touchdowns, it wasn’t nearly enough.

Loser: LBs Luke Masterson and Tommy Eichenberg

With starting LB Divine Deablo out with injury, reserves Luke Masterson and Tommy Eichenberg were called on to step up. They only made an impact for the opposing team, as the Panthers ran up the middle with abandon and kept the Raiders reserve linebackers off balance all afternoon.

Loser: DE Tyree Wilson

After the season-ending injury to DE Malcolm Koonce, the Raiders are desperate for answers at defensive end opposite Crosby. Las Vegas just happens to have selected a defensive end with a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft a couple of years ago in Tyree Wilson, who returned from his own injury to play against the Panthers.

It didn’t matter, as Wilson made little to no impact. Will he ever turn the corner and help the Raiders win? At this point, it seems unlikely.

Loser: Offensive line/run game

If Getsy wasn’t convinced he should stop trying to run the ball first and pass second, he should be ready to switch his game plan by now. The Raiders offensive line appeared to struggle run blocking and RB Zamir White was again a non-factor, finishing with 34 yards on 10 carries.

Raiders fans have seen a lot of poor performances over the last few decades, and this pathetic showing ranks among the worst of them. This was a prime opportunity for Pierce’s new regime to turn a corner; last week, the Raiders won a game everyone expected them to lose, but good teams win games they are expected to win. They fell flat trying to do just that against the Panthers.

The Raiders get another chance for a home win next week against the Browns, and Pierce’s bunch would probably do well to forget about what outcome people expect in that matchup. Rather, they need to tune out the noise and create the outcome they want.

Antonio Pierce says some Raiders players made ‘business decisions’ in loss to Panthers

An emotional Antonio Pierce made a serious accusation about his Raiders players along with what sounded like a threat.

Post game after a loss can be an emotional time. And Antonio Pierce can be an emotional guy. He’s also an open and honest guy. It’s part of what his players love about him. If what he said after the Raiders ugly loss to the Panthers is more honesty than emotional reaction, there may be some players who have some explaining to do.

“There was definitely some individuals that made business decisions,” Pierce said, suggesting a lack of effort. “And we’ll make business decisions going forward as well.”

That sounds a lot like a threat or possibly just a signal that there will be a move made, either with regard to who starts or possibly who is even on the team.

Several Raiders players were asked in the locker room about what Pierce could have meant by this, but none either knew or would say if they knew what Pierce or to whom he could be referring.

Right off the top of your head, your mind goes to star players, banged up players, and those on the final year of their contracts. But it would probably be irresponsible to list off all the players that would fit those descriptions considering this is all just hypothetical and we really have no idea.

It’s also possible this is just a knee jerk reaction by a fiery coach who still has the mindset of a player. Undoubtedly he will be asked about it again tomorrow to see if he either stands by it or backs down from it.

Raiders ripped in home opener by winless Panthers 36-22

The Raiders fell back to earth hard to get run out of their own building by a bad Panthers team.

These Raiders are nothing if not interesting. Last week they defied the odds to beat the Ravens 26-23 in Baltimore. This week they come home and defy the odds again…losing badly to what was previously a hapless Panthers team.

This wasn’t even really a close one. The Panthers drove right down the field on the opening drive for a touchdown.

The Raiders responded with a three-and-out.

To be fair, the Raiders did eventually score a touchdown to tie it up. The big play was a 54-yard bomb to Tre Tucker and Alexander Mattison finished it off with a touchdown run to tie it at 7-7.

But the scoring stopped for the Raiders after that. Meanwhile the Panthers continued their deluge of scoring. And they did it on the arm of Andy Dalton.

Dalton made several gorgeous, perfect throws, including two touchdown passes — one to Diontae Johnson and the other to Adam Thielan — to put the Panthers up 21-7 at the half.

The Raiders got the ball first in the third quarter, but could do nothing with it. The Panthers got the ball and drove for a field goal.

The ensuing drive, Antonio Pierce made another one of the head scratching decisions to go for it in their own territory. On fourth and one, they attempted a QB keeper and it was stopped for no gain to give the Panthers the ball at the Vegas 37. They added another field goal off the field position alone to make it a 27-7 game.

By this point, the Raiders had converted just two third downs and twice turned the ball over on downs. Only this time the defense wasn’t bailing them out.

Andy Dalton was 22 of 31 for 286 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a 131.9 passer rating. That’s 36-year-old backup Andy Dalton. And his top receiver Diontae Johnson had six catches for 108 yards and a TD.

The mostly Raiders crowd was booing loudly as the Raiders offense floundered and the defense was getting gouged by Andy Dalton and the Panthers offense.

They would add another touchdown in the fourth quarter, just for good measure to go up 33-7.

Minshew would throw a garbage time TD and two-point conversion, both to Jakobi Meyers to get into double digits. Then he would throw a garbage interception to CB Mike Jackson at his own 25. They added another field goal to make it a 36-15 game.

Another garbage time TD, this time from Aidan O’Connell to Tre Tucker gave us our final score of 36-22.

Dalton continued his ownage of the Raiders in his career. He became the first QB this season to throw for over 300 yards (319) with three touchdowns in a game. He is now 4-0 in starts over the Raiders, with three different teams.

Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard finished with 114 yards on the ground while averaging 5.4 yards per carry.

The Raiders fall to 1-2 on the season. The Panthers improve to 1-2 on the season.

WATCH: Raiders QB Gardner Minshew with 54-yard bomb to speedster Tre Tucker

Gardner Minshew lauched a gorgeous deep ball to Tre Tucker to help Raiders tie it up with the Panthers in the first quarter.

Things just got interesting in the Raiders home opener against the Panthers. Carolina had scored a touchdown on their opening drive, but the Raiders were unable to answer initially. The defense held, and the Raiders got the ball back at their own three-yard line.

After moving out to the 20-yard-line, Gardner Minshew dropped back and let ‘er rip. Tre Tucker went deep on a post route and Minshew thew a perfect ball right into his arms in stride for a 54-yard completion.

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1837953774612369437

Minshew and Tucker connected on a few of these in the preseason so fans were waiting for them to break one off in the regular season.

The Raiders would capitalize on the deep connection too. A few plays later, they punched it in with Alexander Mattison to tie the game at 7-7 to begin the second quarter.

Raiders Week 3 inactives vs Panthers

These players won’t play in Raiders home opener vs the Panthers.

The inactives are out and there aren’t a lot of surprises among them.

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1837923650126991517

LB Divine Deablo was ruled OUT on the final injury report with an oblique and concussion. Luke Masterson will start at linebacker in his place.

CB DeCamerion Richardson was Doubtful with a hamstring injury. The team activated Sam Webb to fill the depth issue.

RB Dylan Laube has been inactive all three games this season so far. They have three backs active in Zamir White, Alexander Mattison, and Ameer Abdullah.

Tyreik McAllister and Ramel Keyton being inactive is a numbers game. They have all of their wide receivers healthy.

Jordan Meredith being inactive is because rookie round two pick Jackson Powers-Johnson is playing in his first game of the season.

Raiders vs. Panthers: How to watch, listen and stream Week 3 game

How to watch, listen and stream Raiders Week 3 home opener against the Panthers

After opening the season with consecutive road games, the Raiders finally will have their home opener in Week three. They welcome the winless Carolina Panthers and their newly named starting QB Andy Dalton.

Here is all the info you need to catch it.

Game information

Week 3: Carolina Panthers (0-2) vs. Las Vegas Raiders (1-1)

Date/Time: Sunday, Sept. 22, 1:05 pm Pacific (4:05 pm ET)

Where: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV

How to watch

The game will be broadcast by CBS and will air in the orange areas of the map via 506sports.com:

CBS Broadcast team: Spero Dedes (play-by-play), Adam Archuleta (analyst) and Aditi Kinkhabwala (sideline)

How to stream

If you are located in the orange areas of the map, you can stream the game using FuboTV (try it free).

If you are not located in the orange areas of the map, you can stream the game using NFL Sunday Ticket via YouTube and YouTube TV.

How to listen

Raiders radio: Las Vegas on KOMP 92.3FM, 920AM or see their regional affiliate stations.

Broadcast team: Jason Horowitz (play-by-play), Lincoln Kennedy (analyst).

Charlotte NC: WRFX 99.7 FM The Fox as well as their regional affiliate stations.

Broadcast team: Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Luke Kuechly (analyst), Jim Szoke (analyst) and Sharon Thorsland (sideline) are on the call.

Panthers coverage: Panthers Wire