Tag: Daniel Carlson

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 17 vs 49ers

Plenty of Ballers in this game, but more Busters led to another late collapse.

It was the first game of the post-Derek Carr era in Las Vegas. And not only did the offense not skip a beat, it looked better than it had all season long. Meanwhile the banged up defense look as bad as it had at any point this season.

Thus how the two teams went into overtime tied at 34 and the Raiders ultimately lost 37-34.

Ballers

QB Jarrett Stidham, WR Davante Adams

Stidham was perfect to start this game, driving the Raiders down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive while going three-for-three for 58 yards and a 24-yard touchdown pass to Darren Waller.

The second drive, Stidham got Adams involved. His first pass went to Adams who broke wide open for a 27-yard gain. A few plays later, Adams forced a pass interference to give the Raiders a first and goal at the five-yard-line. They would get to the one and settle for a field goal to go up 10-7.

Just before the half was up, the two had their first gorgeous connection. Stidham put it up along the left side of the end zone for Adams who caught it over a defender and tapped his toes for the touchdown to give the Raiders a 17-14 lead at the half.

A couple minutes into the third quarter, they connected again. Again it was for a touchdown. This time Stidham rolled out left and kept his eyes downfield with defenders closing in. All the while Adams was working to break open. Just as Stidham reached the left sideline and was about to get nailed, Adams got behind the defense and Stidham threw it to him for a 60-yard touchdown. Adams later said Stidham congratulated him on the sideline with blood in his teeth. Instant respect.

The 24-14 lead would disappear in the fourth quarter and become a 27-24 deficit. Then a 34-27 deficit with two minutes left. Then Stidham went back to work, first finding Mack Hollins for 21 yards, then throwing one up for Adams who made a spectacular adjustment and diving catch for 45 yards. A couple plays later, the Raiders tied it up at 34.

In the overtime period, Stidham dropped back and was hit as he threw, causing the ball to flutter and was picked off and returned to put the 49ers in position for the game-winner.

Stidham finished with 365 yards and three touchdowns. That’s the most passing yards by a Raiders quarterback since week 11 of the 2021 season. And matches Derek Carr’s highest TD total of any game in the past four years.

Adams had seven catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns. His second best game of the season.

CB Tyler Hall

The Top Baller from last week in Pittsburgh, Hall is showing up with some big time plays of late. He had two pass breakups in the fourth quarter that helped end drives. The first was on a deep ball near the goal line. The second was at the goal line on a pass that wasn’t even to his man. He just read Purdy’s eyes and came off his man to knock down a would-be touchdown pass to George Kittle. Hall also didn’t give up a catch on 26 snaps.

TE Foster Moreau, TE Darren Waller

Moreau rebounded from a rough game in Pittsburgh to be a reliable target and blocker in this one. Waller looked to be back to his old self as well.

The first play of the game went to Moreau on a swing pass that went for 20 yards. The final play of that drive, Stidham again rolled right, this time dropping one in for Waller who had gotten behind the defense for the touchdown.

Waller’s stat line was interesting. He had three catches for 72 yards. That’s an average of 24 yards per catch. But in actually, his three catches all literally went for exactly 24 yards each.

Moreau’s second catch came in the fourth quarter. Stidham threw for him with the defender’s back turned and Moreau reached over the defender’s back and pulled the pass in for 21 yards. Two plays later, he caught one over the middle for 14 yards to set up a long field goal to tie the game at 27-27.

The 49ers answered with a touchdown to go up 34-27. Then it was Waller getting open in the end zone to force a pass interference that put them in first and goal at the one and another game-tying score.

K Daniel Carlson

Without Carlson’s big leg, this game doesn’t get to overtime. He came in and split the uprights on a 57-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. What a weapon he is.

Honorable Mention

CB Amik Robertson — Climbing the ladder to take a ball away from George Kittle is no small thing. That’s what Robertson did to give the Raiders their only takeaway of the game.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 14 vs Rams

We look at the Ballers & Busters for Raiders in their Thursday Night loss to the Rams

Coming off a full team win over the Chargers last week, the Raiders came in feeling pretty good about themselves against a banged up Rams team that had lost six straight. And the old collapsing Raiders showed up.

A 13-3 halftime lead gave way to a scoreless third quarter and a late comeback win by Baker Mayfield and the Rams. And thus both teams’ streaks came to an end on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Ballers

DE Maxx Crosby, DE Chandler Jones

Jones answered the question as to whether his three-sack game last week was a one-off. It wasn’t. He had another big week as did Crosby. Though Crosby usually does.

Crosby ended the Rams’ first possession with a tackle for loss on an end around on third-and-one for a three-and-out.

Leading 13-3 in the second quarter, Crosby had another tackle for loss and on the next play closed off the outside, leading to another tackle for loss. Two plays later, the Rams were at the Vegas 23-yard-line where Chandler Jones punched the ball out of Cam Akers’s hands and then recovered the fumble himself.

The Raiders held the Rams scoreless in the third thanks in large part to Crosby and Jones getting pressure from both sides to force an incompletion and the the two of them teaming up for a sack.

On the two drives to win the game for the Rams, Crosby looked to be held several times, but none were called. Jones was held at least once that was called and had a QB hit on an incompletion. And the two of them again teamed up for a sack.

Can’t blame these two for the collapse. They were playing their hearts out all the way to the bitter end.

K Daniel Carlson

After scoring a touchdown on their opening drive, the rest of the way for the Raiders it was Carlson. He connected on a 52-yard field goal and two others. You just wanted to see probably a TD instead of a field goal on at least one of them. Or perhaps one more field goal, but that’s not on Carlson. He did his job.

P AJ Cole

Speaking of players you’d like to have seen less of…AJ Cole. No offense to him. He knows no one wants to see him take the field. But we did see him. And he showed he’s a weapon. He had two punts downed inside the 20, including a 64-yarder that was downed at the two-yard-line prior to the final drive by the Rams. Literally nothing more he could have done to try and keep the Rams from driving for the win than to force them to go 98 yards to do it.

WR Davante Adams

Adams made one of the most unreal catches on the opening drive. First pass of the game, with Jalen Ramsey all over him. Ramsey literally holding one of his arms down and putting his other hand over Adams’ eyes, Adams still made a ridiculous one-handed grab for 32 yards. That set up the TD on the opening drive.

Later, he caught a 35-yard pass in which he waited to the last instant to snatch the pass to Ramsey was unable to bat it away. That one should’ve set up another score, if not for Derek Carr throwing an interception in the end zone.

Adams even laid a couple nice blocks in the game. Too bad he was abandoned in the second half.

WR Mack Hollins

Hollins did most of his damage on the ground, taking three end-arounds for a total of 40 yards. He also had a couple of catches in which he found the soft spot in the zone and sat in it nicely.

LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham

The left side of the Raiders line was secure in this one. Miller didn’t allow much in the way of pressure while Parham did work in the run game. He even twice forced his man to be flagged for illegal hands to the face to try and keep from being blocked.

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Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 vs Broncos

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 vs Broncos

It was a nail-biter for these two teams trying to fight their way out of the ranks of the worst teams in the NFL. It was also a field goal festival as neither team does well in putting the ball in the end zone.

The game went back and forth all game with regulation ending with a 16-16 tie. Then the Raiders got the ball first and ended it in three plays.

Ballers

ED Maxx Crosby

It was the offense that won the game in overtime. But it was Crosby who got this game to OT in the first place. As the game went on, it was clear Russell Wilson was downright terrified of Crosby every time he got near him. And you can’t blame him, honestly.

With the Broncos up 10-7 approaching halftime, they lined up in third and one from inside the five-yard-line. Melvin Gordon took the handoff and looked like he would pick it up, but Crosby punched the ball out. The Broncos recovered, thinking they could at least get a field goal out of it. Crosby had other plans. He blocked the field goal try and in two plays turned a long Broncos drive into zero points.

He then ended three consecutive Broncos drives in the third quarter with two sacks and a pressure to force an incompletion. He would end another Broncos drive in the fourth quarter and they settled for a field goal to take a 16-13 lead. Holding them to three turned out to be the answer as the Raiders tied it up at the end and won it in OT.

WR Davante Adams

It was Adams’s savvy route running that sealed the Broncos’ fate. He had noted the way Patrick Surtain was covering him and made it look like he was running an over route only to run a corner route. Surtain sold out for the over, leaving Adams wide open for an *easy* 35-yard walk-off touchdown.

Adams scored both the Raiders’ touchdowns in the game. The first one came in the second quarter from 31 yards out. This after making a 23-yard catch to start out the drive. In total, he had seven catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns.

One of his more heads-up plays wasn’t a catch at all. Early in the fourth quarter with the Raiders down 13-10, Carr stared him down, causing the pass to be batted at the line and Adams turned defender to slap the ball down to keep it from being intercepted. That allowed for Daniel Carlson to come out and hit a 57-yard field goal to tie it.

LB Denzel Perryman

Perryman was definitely back. His presence is noticeable on this defense and he was feeling good too.

The defense started to pick things up in the second half. It started with Perryman shooting into the backfield to make a tackle for loss, helping lead to a three-and-out. He also led out the fourth quarter with a tackle for loss which led to another three-and-out.

Perryman finished tied for the team lead with five solo tackles, two for a loss and two QB hits.

RB Josh Jacobs

Jacobs was just churning out first downs in this game. He had three in the drive late in the first quarter to put them in scoring range, including a 14-yard run. He had two more on their touchdown drive in the second quarter.

Jacobs started out their second scoring drive with a 15-yard run. Then he had three consecutive runs for a total of 18 yards to set up their third score. And he made a 43-yard catch to set up their game-tying field goal at the end of regulation.

Jacobs finished with 109 yards on the ground and 160 yards from scrimmage.

G Dylan Parham

Somebody had to block for all those Jacobs runs. And often times that man was Parham. The rookie left guard was a rare bright spot on this shoddy Raiders offensive line. And he did his work without his lefthand man, Kolton Miller in the lineup.

Parham cleared the way on two good runs by Jacobs on their first drive into scoring range and the second went for a first down. And his block on a five-yard Jacobs run in the fourth quarter set up the long field goal to tie it at 13-13.

K Daniel Carlson

Rather unexpected that Carlson is named a Baller in the game that had his first missed field goal in over a year. But after missing from 46 yards out, Carlson went on to make from 52 yards out, a career-high 57-yarder, and the game-tying field goal from 25 yards away at the end of regulation.

He may have had a 56-yard field goal as well, but for some reason, Josh McDaniels opted to punt it instead. It was a strange decision to say the least, especially considering Carlson nailed the 57-yarder in the thin Denver air.

Honorable Mention

S Roderick Teamer — Looked better than Johnathan Abram did on his best day. Had some nice coverage and solid tackles and filled in well for Duron Harmon when he left with cramps.

LT Jermaine Eluemunor — Filled in admirably for the injured Kolton Miller. He wasn’t stellar, but wasn’t a glaring liability either, which is saying a lot considering the difficulty of the position.

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Auburn Morning Rush: Johni Broome reaches points milestone, Tigers miss on recruit

Here is the latest for this edition of the Auburn Morning Rush:

Happy Wednesday, Auburn fans.

Basketball is where this chronicle begins, and it’s a healthy dose of good and bad news. The good news is that forward Johni Broome has reached a career milestone in Auburn’s game against Winthrop, but the bad news is that Auburn won’t be making another addition to its 2023 recruiting class after officially making its first signing a few days ago. Additionally, there’s some Auburn news from the NFL — a former Auburn kicker is performing well and a former Tigers cornerback made the trip back to the Plains for A&M weekend.

Here is the latest for this edition of the Auburn Morning Rush:

The Minnesota Vikings are still kicking themselves over cutting Daniel Carlson

In the case of former Auburn kicker Daniel Carlson, revenge is best served on a kicking tee.

Following a successful career at Auburn, kicker [autotag]Daniel Carlson[/autotag] was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings during the 2018 NFL Draft.

His time in Minnesota would not last long, as he was cut just two games into his NFL career. The final straw for the Vikings came in a 29-29 tie with the Green Bay Packers, where he missed three field goals. Minnesota cut Carlson the next day, in favor of signing Dan Bailey.

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was asked about the change, and his response was snide, asking a rhetorical “Did you see the game?”

It was at that moment, that Carlson’s pro career began to change for the better. Since signing with the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders in September 2018, Carlson has made 108 of 121 field goals and has only missed seven extra points in 140 attempts.

Removing Carlson from the roster was a move that the Vikings would ultimately come to regret. As Carlson has become an All-Pro kicker while Zimmer, as well as former general manager Rick Spielman, are no longer with the franchise.

Spielman, the Vikings general manager that cut Carlson, said in a video tweet Tuesday that letting Carlson go is something that he wishes he could re-do.

“He’s had a great career since we cut him, and he’ll continue to have a great career and may go down as one of the best kickers in NFL history,” Spielman said on Twitter. “That I do regret.”

Carlson has been an asset to the Raiders organization. Five of their 10 wins last season were thanks to Carlson’s kicks in the final seconds.

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Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman most regrets cutting one player

This from Spielman makes too much sense

On his Twitter account, Rick Spielman talked about cutdown day and who it was the most difficult to cut.

After first talking about it being the hardest to cut veterans, Spielman spoke about the one player he found the most difficult to cut: Daniel Carlson

In the 2018 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected Carlson in the fifth round out of Auburn. After having kicker issues during the 2017 season, Carlson was thought to be the long-term answer at a position that the Vikings have seemingly struggled with for the majority of the last 25 years.

Unfortunately for both sides, Carlson didn’t last long. During a week two game against the Green Bay Packers, Carlson missed three field goals, including one a the end of overtime that would have won the Vikings the game.

The next day, Carlson was cut and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders shortly thereafter.

“He’s had a great career since we’ve cut him,” said Spielman. “He will continue to have a great career and may go down as one of the best kickers in NFL history. That I do regret.”

Hard to disagree with Spielman here. It’s easy to wonder what Carlson’s future with the Vikings would have looked like.

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Ex-Vikings GM regrets cutting Raiders PK Daniel Carlson more than any other player

Ex-Vikings GM regrets cutting Raiders PK Daniel Carlson more than any other player

As the NFL preseason nears its close, general managers across the league have some tough decisions ahead of them. Soon, robust rosters will be cut from 80 players to 53.

Since it’s that time of year, former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman reflected on how difficult those decisions can be. But the cut he regrets the most happened during the regular season, and it benefitted the Raiders in a significant way.

Spielman cut placekicker Daniel Carlson in 2018, just two games into Carlson’s rookie season. Las Vegas signed Carlson soon after that, and he’s been one of the best kickers in the NFL since. He lead the league in field goals made in 2021, earning a second-team All-Pro nod along the way.

At the end of his video, Spielman says that Carlson could become one of the greatest kickers in NFL history. I mean, ouch. You can tell the regret runs deep.

And it’s easy to see why. The Vikings drafted Carlson in the fifth round but gave up on him far too quickly. Spielman can also blame the Vikings’ obsession with beating the Packers, as Carlson’s three missed field goals in Lambeau Field aided his knee-jerk reaction.

In Las Vegas, Carlson has never missed a field goal at Allegiant Stadium, and he tied for the league lead in points scored last year. In total, he made 40 of his 43 attempts in 2021.

Plus, he’s clutch. Carlson made five game-winning field goals a season ago, and he hit all five of his attempts — including the game-winner — in the Raiders’ classic win against the Chargers to close the regular season.

So it’s no wonder Spielman regrets his decision. Vikings fans surely do as well. Judging personnel in the NFL is an inexact science, but the story of how Carlson became a Raider is one all NFL general managers should be familiar with, especially with roster cuts on the horizon.

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Even as a kicker, Anders Carlson follows this classic fantasy football rule

Has Anders Carlson ever drafted his brother, Daniel, in the early rounds of fantasy football?

Over the years, fantasy football has become more popular. It seems that everyone is involved in multiple leagues once the calendar flips to September.

Most leagues play for cash, while others play not to finish last to avoid a humiliating punishment. Either way, the goal is to win every week at all costs.

There are two unwritten rules of drafting a fantasy football roster… 1. running backs are your foundation, and 2. draft a kicker as late as possible.

But, if you play fantasy football, and also kick for a college football program, should you always follow rule No. 2? Auburn kicker [autotag]Anders Carlson[/autotag] says absolutely.

Carlson spoke with the media recently and was asked about his fantasy football draft strategy. Carlson’s older brother, Daniel, is currently kicking for the Las Vegas Raiders. His teammate, Alex McPherson, also has a brother, Evan, that plays professionally for the Cincinnati Bengals. Even with that many ties to the position in the NFL, Carlson says that he tries to avoid drafting a kicker early in the draft.

“I mean, I’m trying to win if I’m playing,” Carlson said of his fantasy football strategy. “You’ve got to take running backs first, right? And then you’ve got to see who is best.”

Carlson was also asked if he felt obligated to draft his brother in any round.

“I just kind of like to watch him, enjoy him doing his own thing,” Carlson said. “So, unless it’s the smartest pick to take him, I usually don’t.”

Of course, Carlson would like to be partial and draft a team the way he would like. He knows that his older brother is almost always going to make a field goal when he is up for an attempt.  However, Carlson does not want the off chance that he misses to keep him from winning a matchup during the week.

“Obviously, I like to watch my brother, he’s not going to miss anyway,” Carlson said. “But, if he does, I don’t want him to affect my fantasy team.”

So, take this as a lesson. Never, under any circumstance, draft a kicker in an early round.

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Nick Brahms named to Wuerffel Trophy watch list

Auburn center Nick Brahms is being recognized for his work off the field.

From playing football for Auburn to flying planes and serving the community, it is easy to see that [autotag]Nick Brahms[/autotag] is not lazy.

Brahms, the four-year starter at center for Auburn football, is being recognized for his hard work off the field by being named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list.

The Wuerffel Trophy, named after former Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy award winner Danny Wuerffel, is the award given to the college football player who shows dedication in community service over the year.

This is the second-consecutive season that Brahms has made the preseason watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy. According to the press release from Auburn athletics, Brahms was one of 30 Senior CLASS Award candidates and was a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America selection in 2021. He was also one of 13 student-athletes at Auburn to receive the Academic Excellence Award by the 1A Faculty Athletics Representatives.

Brahms is the third Tiger to be named to the Wuerffel Trophy watch list since 2018, joining [autotag]Derrick Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Daniel Carlson[/autotag].

Last week, Brahms was named to the Rimington Trophy watch list, the award given to the nation’s best center.

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Every NFL team’s most underrated player heading into 2022

These players don’t get the recognition they deserve in the NFL.

The NFL has no shortage of superstars who are the face of the league. But there are plenty of impact players in the NFL who don’t necessarily get the recognition they deserve.

Whether overlooked or ignored all together, these players are significant contributors for their respective teams. They’ve had proven success but haven’t necessarily gotten the praise they deserve.

Our NFL Wire editors examined the most underrated player for each team heading into the 2022 season, highlighting why they’re deserving of recognition.