Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Minicamp is a wrap. Here’s 5 big questions facing Raiders defense
Minicamp is behind us. Next stop is training camp. Many questions face this Raiders squad they must answer over the next few weeks and months. We looked at the questions facing the offense. Now we turn to the defense.
The Saints may not be done adding former Raiders to the roster this offseason. Several could follow Derek Carr to the Big Easy, via @RossJacksonNOLA:
As former Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr gets settled in as the New Orleans Saints new starting passer, the timeline of his signing is worth dissecting. The Saints and Carr came to their contract agreement on Mar. 6 this NFL offseason. That gave the Saints signal caller about a week to court potential free agents to join the black and gold in New Orleans. And wouldn’t you know it, there is a long list of former Raiders teammates hitting the market this offseason.
Some of which, could impact the Saints to varying degrees. From bona fide starts, to camp tryouts, New Orleans will have no issues making its new quarterback feel comfortable if he has some teammates he would like to bring along with him. As much as we’d love to highlight big-time players like wideout Davante Adams and tight end Darren Waller, it’s unlikely a trade for either this offseason would make sense. Though a trade for wide receiver Hunter Renfrow should not be considered out of the question.
But that’s for another day. Here are five Raiders free agents that could follow Carr to the Big Easy:
It’s time for the Raiders to take the defensive interior seriously and get them a dominant force in the middle
We take a look on the interior defensive line for the Raiders ahead of free agency to give it a condition of either Strong, Stable, Unstable, Serious, or Critical.
Notes: The new staff overhauled this group for no reason last year. A solid group of interior DL from 2021 were changed out for a lackluster group.
Nichols and Billings were the two starters for much of the season. Then they signed Tillery after he was released by the Chargers. None made an impact while Tillery was an outright liability against the run.
The two rookies Farrell and Butler weren’t able to beat out anyone to get consistent playing time, which wouldn’t have been a tall order.
Why: It’s been a while since this team had a dominant force in the middle and that needs to change right now.
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The Chargers were led by unsung hero Morgan Fox on their defensive line in 2022.
The Los Angeles Chargers pass rush has been one of their most useful strategic advantages on defense, and has the power and speed to overwhelm most offensive lines across the NFL.
But that strength is mostly bolstered by their elite edge defender corps, which hosts perennial Pro Bowlers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. Their defensive line was comprised of 11 players who took snaps for the Chargers over the course of the 2022 season and accounted for just 11.5 sacks on the year.
Sixth-year lineman Morgan Fox accounted for six and a half of those sacks, leading the unit by a wide margin. Tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day notched two sacks on the season but led the team in combined tackles with 56 on the season, besting Fox by 18 in that category.
Among other key contributors up front for Los Angeles were Breiden Fehoko, Austin Johnson, Christian Covington, and Otito Ogbonnia, who combined for 71 total tackles but just one sack in the team’s 2022 campaign.
Tyeler Davison, Christopher Hinton, David Moa, and Joe Gaziano rounded out the Chargers’ depth on the line, but didn’t see much action as none in this group registered more than one sack or 10 total tackles.
Clearly, there remains a ton of room for improvement for the Los Angeles in this area, though they may find it difficult to upgrade their defensive line given the current state of their salary cap. Watch for the Chargers to look for a lineman in April’s draft, and for them to do their best to improve this group’s production in 2023.
The final single game Ballers & Busters for Raiders this season is a doozy.
After the Raiders scored 34 points on the 49ers stout defense and took them to OT in Week 17, there was some expectation going into the season finale that they might play a competitive game against the rival Chiefs.
They did not.
This one got out of hand quick, turning into a three-score game by half time. Welp, at least we can’t say they blew a big lead this time, right?
The first third-down conversion of the game for the Raiders offense was a pretty over-the-shoulder grab by Adams for 13 yards. It set them up in scoring range on the first drive. Had Stidham’s pass to Adams at the goal line been a little lower, Adams would have scored a touchdown. But instead, they opened with a field goal.
Adams caught a 22-yard pass and forced a pass interference late in the second quarter to put the Raiders in KC territory. But a 24-yard catch by Adams was wiped away on a penalty on the Oline, and two plays later, the Raiders turned the ball over, so they would get no score out of the promising drive.
Even with the missed opportunities, Adams still led the team with 73 yards receiving, putting him over 1500 receiving yards on the season.
He trotted out and nailed a 54-yard field goal to end the first drive and scored all the points the Raiders had in the game. Which was six points.
Kick squad was doing their thing. Cole only had two punts, but they were good ones. The first one went 63 yards and was downed at the two. The other went 59 yards with a five-yard return for a 58.5-yard net for the game.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The good and the bad for the Raiders from a crazy rollercoaster of a game vs the Patriots
You rarely see a team shoot themselves in the foot and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as much as the Patriots did in Las Vegas on Sunday. And even with all the self-mutilation they did in this game, they still managed to make a comeback from 14 points down to lead the Raiders 24-17 with under two minutes left in the game.
That blowing double-digit leads thing is the Raiders’ MO this season. And it was only because of the final utterly inexplicably boneheaded decision to try a double lateral at the end of the game that the Raiders were able to win this one in regulation.
Jones was the recipient of the ‘Right place at the right time’ award on that final play. He had missed the initial tackle on Rhamondre Stevenson that led to a big run which, for a moment, looked like he could go the distance. Everyone expected that last play to be stopped and the two teams to go to OT. But Stevenson lateraled it to Jacoby Meyers at the last instant.
That lateral wasn’t the big mistake. That came when Meyers decided to try and lateral it AGAIN, this time attempting to throw it way back to the entirely not athletic Mac Jones. Well, the lateral was complete to Jones, all right. It was just the wrong Jones. Then Chandler planted Mac with a stiff arm and took it back for the game-winning touchdown. Never seen anything like it.
Jones also had a pressure resulting in an incompletion two plays before that and made a run stop at the line on the previous possession leading to a crucial three-and-out. Earlier in the quarter, he hit Mac Jones from behind on third down to force the Pats to settle for a long field goal. All in all, a strong finish for Chandler.
He played 43 snaps (66%) and the only catch he gave up, he stopped in its tracks for four yards. He also had a big pass breakup on a deep pass to stop the Patriots’ first drive of the third quarter.
It’s not the number of snaps you have, but rather what you do with them. With 27 seconds left in the second quarter, Koonce came in on the punt team and streaked in to block the punt and give the Raiders the ball at the New England 20-yard-line. What looked like two teams that were headed for the locker room with the Raiders leading 10-3, would end up a scoring opportunity on which the Raiders were able to capitalize.
The first touchdown drive for the Raiders came early in the second quarter. On the drive, Carr completed a 19-yard pass to Keelan Cole on third and nine and finished off the drive with a perfect pass over the middle for a 25-yard connection with Darren Waller.
After the punt block, Hollins made the first catch for 11 yards. He then drew an illegal contact penalty on the next play. Then in first and goal from the five-yard-line, Carr put the ball into a tight window, at Hollins’s knee level and he made the grab for the touchdown to give the Raiders a 17-3 lead at the half.
A Carr pick-six saw the Raiders lead cut to 17-10. Then they were unable to get back on track on the next drive. But Hollins would do his part to tilt the field. AJ Cole launched a 47-yard punt to the goal line where Hollins was waiting to down it at the two-yard line.
Ultimately the Raiders’ lead would disappear, giving way to a 24-17 Patriots lead with under three minutes remaining.
Carr would look to Hollins again. The first pass was overthrown and the Raiders went three-and-out. However, had Darren Waller not been in the wrong area and tried to catch the pass intended for Adams, that looked like it would have been a long touchdown catch and run.
Carr and Hollins got another shot with two minutes left in the game. Carr overthrew Hollins again on third down. But, the next play, on their last possible chance, Carr hit Hollins on a comeback route for 12 yards. They thought the play was so nice, they did it twice to the same result.
A few plays later, Carr found Keelan Cole for a 30-yard touchdown. It didn’t look like Cole actually got both feel inbounds, but Carr’s pass was where it needed to be and the officials saw no definitive evidence to overturn it so the score was tied at 24-24.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Plenty of Ballers for Raiders in their solid all-around win over the Chargers
Easily the Raiders most impressive win of the season. And not just despite their two turnovers in the first quarter, but in part because of how they responded to them.
They kept believing in themselves and fought their way back into it to tie it up in the second quarter. Then got a takeaway of their own along with two big scores and stole the momentum to pull out the 27-20 victory.
It was Jones’s coming out party. He had a half-sack coming in and exploded with three sacks. But he did a lot more than just put up sacks.
Jones looked to have ended the first Chargers possession with a three-and-out when he made the tackle in Justin Herbert’s scramble to stop it short of the first down. The Chargers ran a successful fake punt to give themselves a few more plays, but couldn’t pick up another first down and punted anyway.
The next Chargers drive didn’t yield a first down. They went for it on fourth and two and Jones again made the stop on the Herbert scramble to stop it short of the sticks.
His first sack ended the Chargers’ next possession, forcing them to settle for a field goal. And he would have two more sacks before the end of the first half while getting the pressure around the edge that led to a fourth sack. He later had a batted ball on third and 12 to force the Chargers to go for it on 4th and 12.
The Raiders’ first scoring drive began with Adams making a catch on a zero route in the left flat and running for 12 yards. It moved into LA territory when Adams got open for a 19-yard catch to the 44-yard line.
Off the takeaway in the third quarter, Carr threw the ball for Adams on the first play. The ball was inside and low with Asante Samuel in his face and Adams still made the catch for the 31-yard touchdown.
The next time the Raiders got the ball, Adams got open on the flea-flicker. The safety opted to cover Mack Hollins deep so Carr launched it for Adams and the result was a 45-yard touchdown.
The final Raiders scoring drive had Adams make a three-yard catch on third and two, and a 16-yard catch. Carr threw for him for the touchdown, but the ball was knocked down and the Raiders settled for a field goal to take a 27-13 lead.
With the Chargers having pulled it to a one-score game at 27-20, Adams made a 15-yard grab to give the Raiders a fresh set of downs to burn more clock. That was his final catch to give him 177 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches.
Jacobs averaged 5.5 yards per carry in this game. And it wasn’t because he broke one while getting stopped for short yardage on most of the others. He was simply earning every yard all game long.
It didn’t start great or Jacobs. He fumbled a catch in the first quarter which he and the Raiders were lucky didn’t end up yielding any points for the Chargers.
Things got going for Jacobs in the second quarter. With the Raiders at the LA 29-yard-line, Jacobs broke a tackle in the backfield and took a run for nine yards. He got the ball again on the next play and it looked very much like the one he broke last week to beat the Seahawks in overtime. The only difference was he had just 20 yards to the end zone this time.
The Raiders’ third touchdown off the flea-flicker was set up by Jacobs having made a savvy run for 13 yards on the previous play. With the defense now preparing for him, Josh McDaniels called for the okeydoke and it worked like a charm just as it had last week. Paydirt.
On the next drive, Jacobs had runs of six, nine, 15, and nine to put the Raiders in scoring position and they took a 27-13 lead. Jacobs would finish with 144 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
Hobbs’s return was noticeable. He is the Raiders’ top cornerback every time he steps foot on the field. And he brings energy on every play.
He began coming up big for the Raiders at the end of the second quarter when he had tight coverage to force an incompletion on third down.
On the second play of the third quarter, Austin Ekeler took a screen pass and picked up good yards. But at the end of that run, Harmon punched the ball out. And after exchanging hands a few times — mostly Raiders defenders — it was Hobbs who finally fell on it to give the Raiders possession at the LA 31. The Adams touchdown pass followed.
After the game, Hobbs was asked about the fumble recovery and he was told it was Harmon. “Of course,” he responded.
With 2:48 left in the game, the Chargers lined up in 4th and nine needing a touchdown to tie it. Herbert went deep for DeAndre Carter, but Nate Hobbs was right there in tight coverage and Carter couldn’t make the catch, essentially ending the Chargers’ chances of tying the game up.
LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Alex Bars, RT Jermaine Eluemunor
The entire Raiders offensive line deserves credit for their work in this game. They gave up no sacks and no run stops for negative yards.
Several times, Derek Carr had all day in the pocket to find his receiver. And it was a big reason he had four passes over 30 yards and a 19-yard completion.
Crosby and Chandler Jones were both getting good pressure around the edges. Helping those pressures lead to sacks was Tillery. The former Chargers’ top pick was clearly energized to face his old team.
The first play of the game saw Crosby get the right edge to hit Herbert’s arm as he threw to force a fumble. It was recovered by the Chargers.
Two plays later, on the first third down of the game for the Chargers, Tillery flushed Justin Herbert from the pocket and Jones made the tackle on the scramble short of the first down.
After the successful fake field punt, Tillery and Crosby made short work of their new set of downs. They both got pressure to force an incompletion on first down and then did it again on third down, with Tillery getting a good hit on Herbert as well.
In the third quarter, Matthew Butler and Clelin Ferrell shared a sack. That sack was made possible because Tillery kept Herbert from escaping the pocket.
As often happens, Crosby only got better as the game went along. Come the fourth quarter, on three consecutive plays, he had a QB hit for an incompletion, a tackle on a run which he chased down way out in the right flat. and a pressure on a short catch.
Early in the second quarter, the Raiders were driving and found themselves in third and nine from the Chargers’ 43-yard-line. Then Carr found Hollins for 14 yards. Two plays later Josh Jacobs took the handoff on the right side of the line and, behind blocks from Hollins and Jakob Johnson, went 20 yards for the touchdown.
Come the third quarter, the Raiders went up 24-13 and got the ball back after a missed field goal. On the first play, Jacobs went for 13 yards behind another Hollins downfield block.
The next play was the flea-flicker. It was the same set up as last week when Hollins was wide open for the score. Only this time Hollins drew the safety on his go route which left Adams in single coverage. The result was the same. Touchdown.
Had Carr seen Hollins wide open in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter, the Raiders would have taken a 31-13 lead. But he threw for Adams and the ball was knocked away so they settled for a field goal.
They catch plenty of grief (including from myself) for their performances, so it’s only fitting they be recognized when things go right.
McDaniels made some pretty great play calls on offense and a week after the defense saw some serious lapses in coverage, to give up 34 points, they came out in this one and had their best performance of the season.
S Isaiah Pola-Mao — Came on the blitz several times, resulting in a sack, two QB hits, and a tackle for loss. He had six tackles in just 13 snaps. That’s efficient.
FB Jakob Johnson — Was doing his usual dirty work clearing potential tacklers from Josh Jacobs’s path. That includes the 20-yard touchdown run and a 15-yard run to set up the Raiders’ final score.
There simply wasn’t a performance that sunk to the level of a Buster. A respectable performance all around for the Raiders in this game.
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[lawrence-newsletter]
Here are four important things to watch during the Chargers’ matchup with the Raiders.
Here are four Los Angeles Chargers storylines to watch for during the lead-up to the team’s Week 13 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.
