What a transformation. In Las Vegas Sunday we saw a team playing some of the most inspired football I’ve ever seen them play. They had broken free from the shackles of the previous head coach and were ready to show what they were capable of.
What they were capable of, apparently, was a completely dominating performance in every phase of the game. Starting with the defense, which now has a former NFL linebacker taking the headset.
It’s Antonio Pierce’s job now and the vibe he created with this team was palpable.
Pierce said he took his cue from the team’s emotional leader, Maxx Crosby, who then went out and responded to his new coach’s faith in him with a three-sack performance. Giving him 9.5 on the season; tied with TJ Watt for the second most in the league.
“It was a blast,” said Crosby. “We had a lot of fun out there, you could feel it. The energy was crazy. We sustained it for the whole game. That’s what we talk about. AP talked about it during the week, just playing with swag, letting everyone’s personality come to light and I feel like everyone felt that today.”
The Raiders would finish with eight sacks in the game, their most in a single game since the 2010 season. Six different players got to the quarterback including Adam Butler, Bilal Nichols, Tyree Wilson, Tre’von Moehrig, and Robert Spillane. A couple of those sacks were set up by Crosby’s pressure on the outside.
Crosby came into this game so confident they were going to win, he purchased cigars for the entire team the night before and then they all went out there and rolled over the Giants in every facet of the game to earn the right to smoke them after the game.
Then he posted a video of he and his teammates smoking them. Along with — at the end — Mark Davis making an appearance.
I asked Crosby about that level of confidence, to which he responded “No question. No question.”
“That’s the confidence that you have to have in this league,” Crosby continued. “You have to go out there with ill intent and the intention to go win. If you have any doubt that you’re going to go out there and succeed, you’re already a step behind. We had a lot of confidence, so we were ready to go and you just felt it in the building.”
This one was never close. The Raiders played on another plane. They stopped the Giants for a three-and-out, then went for an opening drive touchdown and never looked back.
From the first play, Josh Jacobs was running well and he and his offensive line looked more in tune with each other than they had all season. The result was a season high 98 yards for Jacobs and 125 yards rushing for the team. No small feat against a tough Giants defensive line.
“Our mentality.” said right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor of the difference with their performance in this game. “They have a great Dline and Dexter Lawrence is a freaking tank, so giving attention to him and also knowing that we’re capable of running the ball too and we have one of the best backs in the league, if not the best back. And once we get him going, it’s hard to stop. Get him going, control the line of scrimmage, and take it upon ourselves to control the game.”
By half time, Jacobs had already put up a season-high 85 yards rushing, and the Raiders led 24-0, giving them not only their highest scoring game of the season, but by far their most lopsided lead.
“I think it’s the best we’ve played as a team,” said Jacobs, seemingly stating the obvious.
“The vibe and the energy is just electric right now. This is the most connected that I feel we’ve been as a unit. Just to go out there and have fun and celebrate after doing things good and the defense stepping up and holding their own.”
Jacobs had two of the Raiders’ first three touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was set up by two incredible deep catches — one an interception by Amik Robertson at one goal line and the next one on the very next play with Aidan O’Connell connecting on a 50-yard bomb to Tre Tucker. That put the Raiders in first and goal and Jacobs punched it in two plays later.
It was the second deep interception by Amik Robertson.
“That’s who I am, man,” Robertson said of his interception. “Just doing my job, getting myself into the scheme. Once I saw the ball up there, I knew it was mine.”
Nate Hobbs added an interception as well off a deflection. That led to a field goal just before the half.
“All we did was replicate what we’ve been doing all week,” said Hobbs. “We had energy all week. We have love for each other, we got each other’s backs so we went out there and played as a team.”
If anyone would have been expected to throw an interception in this game it was O’Connell who had two on the season in limited snaps. But the rookie didn’t turn the ball over at all and ran the offense efficiently along with new offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree.
It was a great first game of this new page the Raiders have turned to. Pierce literally handed the players a blank page to symbolize the fresh start. It’s a fresh start for him to as the interim head coach. And the players responded to him and stepped up.
“We wanted to do it for AP,” said Josh Jacobs. “We all sat down and were like no matter how this goes, we’re going to play with all we’ve got for that man. Because the position that he’s in and he’s going to be the face of the ridicule. We wanted to go out and play for him and show that we can do that in all three phases and we went out there and did that today.”
That 30-6 runaway win Sunday told that story pretty succinctly.
