Tag: Las Vegas Raiders vs Cincinnati Bengals

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Wild Card Playoff vs Bengals

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Wild Card Playoff vs Bengals

For just the second time in the history of Ballers & Busters, I was able to put the word “playoff” in the title. But unlike the other time, the word signaled the Raiders played up to the level of a playoff team. Not being forced to give a rookie QB his first-ever start helped with that.

In what proved to be easily the most competitive game of the Wild Card weekend, the Raiders and Bengals spent a good portion of this game one score away from each other.

That’s the positive news. The glass-half-empty look is the Bengals took the lead on their first drive of the game and never let go of it.

The Raiders’ biggest problem was that they would go on a long drive only to stall in the red zone. In five trips into the red zone, they came away with just one touchdown. And unlike their win in the season finale, they went away from Josh Jacobs entirely in the fourth quarter in an attempt to quickly score twice. But appropriately enough, it was two more failed trips to the red zone that did them in.

Ballers

CB Nate Hobbs

The standout rookie showed up big time on the biggest stage for this team. He made the first tackle of the day as the gunner on special teams. The Bengals would drive for a TD on their first drive, but none of the catches given up were by him.

After a Derek Carr fumble gave the Bengals the ball at the Vegas 15-yard-line, the defense stiffened with Hobbs in tight coverage on third down to force Burrow to throw the ball away. It limited the damage on the turnover to a field goal which was a big win in the early going.

Early in the second quarter, Hobbs once again showed his gunner prowess, making the stop on the return at the 18-yard-line. He then made the second tackle of the possession on a four-yard run that was stopped short of the marker to bring up third and one.

The Bengals converted, but a few plays later they were again in third-and-one. This time Burrow tried Hobbs and he knocked the pass down to force them to go for it on fourth down. They would convert and finish it off for a TD, but Hobbs did his part to not make it easy.

The Bengals got the ball to start the third quarter and were moving into scoring range again. They were lined up at the 34 on first down and Hobbs had tight coverage to force an incompletion and two plays later, on third and 15, he made the tackle short of the sticks to force another field goal.

The biggest possession of the game for this defense came with 3:34 left. They needed a quick stop in order to have any chance to win it. Down seven, with no timeouts, even one first down would mean an almost certain end to their hopes. Two run stops brought up third and 11. Burrow completed the pass to his tight end and Hobbs teamed up with KJ Wright to make the stop short of the first down to keep the Raiders’ hopes alive.

RB Josh Jacobs

I mentioned in the opening that the Raiders went away from the ground game entirely in the fourth quarter. They were down ten and switched to the pass to move the ball quickly. Much the same way Justin Herbert led two touchdown drives to send the season finale to overtime.

That game plan was a real shame because Jacobs was really starting to pick up steam, just as he did in overtime of that Chargers game.

Early in the second quarter, Jacobs broke off his longest run of the season, streaking 35 yards to put the Raiders at the Bengals’ 12-yard-line. His efforts were somewhat squandered with consecutive incompletions leading to a field goal.

Late in the third quarter, Jacobs started picking up yards in chunks. On four consecutive players, he ran for eight, seven, five, and seven yards. The drive would end up in first and goal from the nine-yard line.

On second down, they ran it up the middle and for a moment it looked like the Raiders would be lining up in third and goal from the one, but Jacobs’s run was courtesy of a John Simpson hold and two plays later the Raiders again lined up for a field goal.

To play what-if for a second, had that Jacobs run counted, the Raiders may have stuck with him on third and goal from the one and may have scored. If that had happened, it would have been a 23-20 game instead of 23-16.

And, again, if all other things were the same, the Bengals add a field goal to make it 26-20. In a six-point game, the Raiders may not have gone away from the run as they did. Not that they had a legit excuse to completely shut down the run game, but that’s the decision they made.

Even still, Jacobs became a weapon in the passing game. He caught a pass for 13 yards on the first drive for a field goal and a 15-yarder to lead out the final  drive.

Despite only getting 13 carries in the game, he ran for 83 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and put up 127 total yards on 17 touches.

DE Maxx Crosby

Midway through the third quarter, the Bengals had yet to punt in the game. They had scored on every one of their drives with two touchdowns and three field goals. That streak ended when on third and 12, Crosby came up the middle on a stunt and flew in to wrap up Burrow for the sack.

The Raiders’ final defensive stand to maintain a shot at driving for the tie was led by Crosby. He teamed up with Carl Nassib to stop the run for a loss of two on first down. Then on the sweep to Jamarr Chase on second down, he stayed with it to make the stop for one yard to bring up third-and-11. The Bengals couldn’t convert and the Raiders offense got the ball with 1:51 to work with.

TE Darren Waller

Welcome Waller back among the Ballers. In just his second game back after missing five weeks to injury and COVID, Waller looked much more in sync with the offense. The false start that helped stall the first drive notwithstanding. Waller also had a seven-yard catch on third and three to keep that drive alive, so there’s that.

The Raiders’ first touchdown of the game came in the final seconds of the second quarter. On third and six from the 25-yard-line, Carr found Waller for an 11-yard completion. Two plays later, Carr and Zay Jones hooked up for the score to make for a more manageable 20-13 halftime deficit.

Down ten with 6:41 left in the game, the Raiders needed to score quickly. A touchdown would have been preferable, but a field goal was vital. The first big play was a 13-yard completion to Waller. The drive would reach the ten-yard line. And on third and three, Waller broke open out right, Carr saw him and threw it only to have the pass be a bit too low and bounce off Sam Hubbard’s helmet. Big missed opportunity on what looked like a sure first down and a possible score.

With one more shot to score, the Raiders started moving. They got a big assist from a terrible roughing the pass penalty on the Bengals that added 15 yards to a 15-yard Jacobs catch and run. A sack on Carr threatened to spoil the gift, but on third and 17, Carr threw an absolute laser through a defender and Waller made the seemingly improbable catch with the defender blocking his view for 23 yards. That set the Raiders up at the 19-yard-line.

From there, unfortunately, Waller was not targeted again and the Raiders were unable to finish off the drive.

K Daniel Carlson

The Raiders scored 19 points with 13 of them off of Carlson’s leg. He nailed all four of his field goals, including a 47-yarder. He did this in the season finale, but that was at home in a dome. This was on the road in a cold outdoor stadium. Same result. Money.

DT Quinton Jefferson

With a second straight Raiders possession ended in a sack that had AJ Cole punt out of the back of their own end zone, the Bengals would once again take over inside Vegas territory. Once again the defense stiffened and on third and goal from the four-yard-line, Jefferson sacked Burrow to force them to settle for another field goal.

LB Denzel Perryman

Perryman joked in his season-ending press conference about how everyone gives him crap about his coverage abilities. But he was actually pretty great in his coverage duties in this game. In the first play of the game, he put a hit on Bengals star receiver Jamarr Chase to knock the ball out incomplete. Later in the drive, he had a run stop too, which is what he is more known for.

The longest catch of the day Perryman gave up went for seven yards. He also made a stop on a five-yard Chase catch. Again, no small thing for Perryman to be making stops on a wide receiver the caliber of Chase.

Early in the fourth quarter, when a Bengals TD would have basically killed the Raiders’ hopes, he made a run stop short of the sticks to bring up third and one. And then had containment on the outside to keep Joe Mixon from getting the edge and he was stuffed for no gain by Johnathan Hankins. The Bengals would settle for a field goal.

And speaking of things Perryman is known for, he also led the Raiders in tackles (9) and solo tackles (6).

Honorable Mention

CB Casey Hayward — Had tight coverage on several incompletions as well as a pass breakup. And had the presence of mind to call a timeout when the Raiders had 12 men on the field.

LB Divine Deablo — Finished second on the team in tackles despite not playing the second half due to a concussion.

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5 things that tripped up Raiders in Wild Card loss to Bengals

Red zone issues cap list of mishaps for Raiders in their Wild Card loss to Bengals

It was nice for Raiders fans to have their season go a week longer than usual. Well, actually it was two weeks considering the extra regular season game this year. But after most NFL teams’ seasons were done, they were still playing. Something they haven’t experienced but one time in the previous 19 years.

That extra time is up, though. They exited the playoffs without a win, falling to the high-powered Bengals.

Even with the Bengals playing as well as they have lately, the Raiders have been playing well above what anyone expected as well. And they kept it close most of the game. But they knew they couldn’t afford for a lot to go wrong in order to win. But a lot did go wrong.

Here are the five issues the Raiders had that kept them from pulling this one out.

1. Red zone woes

Let’s just start with this stat:

That’s right. A zero passer rating in goal-to-go situations. But equally problematic is that he was passing the ball seven times in the first place. The Raiders didn’t stick with the run as they should have. Josh Jacobs carries it just 13 times.

The first time they moved into the red zone was in the second quarter, off two huge runs by Jacobs that went for a combined 49 yards. They ran it with Jacobs one first down from the 12 for two yards. Then two Carr incompletions – the second being a Desean Jackson drop – and they were kicking the field goal.

Late in the third quarter, they were back in the red zone in first and goal at the nine. From there Carr went one for three and they settled for a field goal. That was his lone completion and it came on third and 19.

With under seven minutes left, the Raiders needed two scores. In the best case scenario, they score a touchdown right away and then if they had another shot they could drive for a field goal to tie or a touchdown to win. The first drive got to first down at the 17-yard-line. A seven-yard pass to Zay Jones was followed by two incompletions and they were lining up for a field goal.

The defense stopped the Bengals with a three-and-out to give the offense another shot. They drove down to first and goal at the nine. Three incompletions, including one that was nearly picked when Carr threw into the traffic for Zay Jones, brought up fourth and goal for the game.

He again threw for Jones who was double covered and this time it was picked. And it wouldn’t have mattered if Jones had caught it because he was outside the end zone and would’ve been tackled right away. That’s a losing throw any way you look at it.

The Raiders would make four trips to the red zone and came away with one touchdown.

Josh Jacobs got the ball twice in the red zone. One of those carries was called back by penalty, for one official carry in the red zone. And he didn’t get a single carry in the fourth quarter. Mostly because of all the times they couldn’t finish a drive had them so far behind that they abandoned the run.

2. Costly penalties

The opening drive of the day stalled following a Darren Waller false start penalty on second and one. And a once-promising drive ended in a field goal. Their third drive, Brandon Parker had a false start and they once again weren’t able to recover and punted it away.

Late in the third quarter, the Raiders went on one of their most impressive drives of the game. It started with an Alex Leatherwood holding that brought back a 35-yard catch by Desean Jackson. The Raiders were able to regroup and move downfield anyway. But when John Simpson was called for holding on first and goal, they weren’t able to recover and settled for yet another field goal.

3. No consistent pressure

The first drive for the Bengals went for a touchdown with Burrow having his way. He completed five of seven passes including the touchdown. The only time he even lined up in third-down was the touchdown pass itself which came on third and goal from the seven.

Early in the second quarter, the Bengals drove for another touchdown. Once again, he completed five of seven passes including the touchdown.

Midway through the fourth, they went on another long drive, this time with Burrow completing six of seven passes. It was switching to the run and getting stopped on consecutive plays that would end the drive and they added a field goal to go up 26-16.

The Raiders had two sacks in the game. Both stopped drives. One in the second quarter by Quinton Jefferson that led to a field goal and one by Maxx Crosby that led to their first punt…in the third quarter.

4. Special teams mishap

One of the biggest bonehead plays of the game was committed by Peyton Barber who chased down a kickoff and then stepped out of bounds, which downed it at the two-yard line. It seemed like he was trying to do what Dwayne Harris did a few years back and step out of bounds FIRST and then touch the ball which would have given the Raiders the ball at the 40. But Barber touched the ball first and THEN stepped out and…that’s not how that works. 

A few plays into the ensuing drive, Derek Carr ended up getting sacked at the one-yard-line on third down. The punt would go 58 yards but be returned to the Raiders 45, starting the Bengals in Las Vegas territory two drives in a row. They would get another field goal out of it to take a 13-3 lead.

5. Lost turnover battle

No takeaways of any kind for the Raiders. They had one against the Chargers last week that helped tremendously. Two if you count the turnover on downs. They got none against the Bengals. But the Raiders had a couple of their own.

The Raiders’ second drive, Carr either didn’t notice or simply didn’t prepare for the fact that tight end Foster Moreau was lined up one-on-one with Bengals’ best pass rusher Tyler Hendrickson. He was sacked and fumbled it. The Bengals recovered at the 15-yard-line and added a field goal to go up 10-3. You might recall last week Carr fumbled inside his own 20 too, but that time the Raiders got lucky when Brandon Parker fell on it.

The game ended with Carr throwing an interception. The turnover didn’t really matter as an incompletion would’ve resulted in the same thing and even the catch being that Zay Jones was not in the end zone. But throwing to him twice while he was well covered up — either pass could’ve been the one picked — was playing with fire and the Raiders got burned.

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Raiders players make their case for return of Rich Bisaccia as head coach

Following their Wild Card loss to the Bengals, Raiders leaders on offense and defense make their pitch for return of Rich Bisaccia as head coach

No question Rich Bisaccia deserves a ton of credit for the job he’s done with the Raiders this season. He took over a team in utter turmoil and guided them to their first playoff appearance in five years.

Jon Gruden resigned after several offensive emails surfaced. The team was just five games into the season and had lost two straight games. Then Bisaccia steps in and they won two straight.

Following that second win, everything completely fell apart. The morning after the team’s win over the Eagles to bring them to 5-2 on the season, number one receiver Henry Ruggs III was allegedly driving drunk and struck a vehicle with a woman and her dog in it, killing both and landing Ruggs in jail on several serious charges.

The fallout of that contributed to the Raiders going into a tailspin, losing five of six games. But just when their playoff hopes were on the brink, they started winning. And they didn’t stop. They reeled off four straight wins to finish the season 10-7 and make the playoffs.

Though they would fall to the Bengals, it once again came down to the wire, showing this team’s resilience facing a team that had already beaten them this season and on paper looked far superior.

The whole of this has some wondering if Bisaccia deserves the chance to have the interim tag stripped off and see if he can keep it going. His players made their cases following the playoff loss in Cincinnati.

“If it was up to me, I think everyone in the world knows my decision. I love Rich,” said Maxx Crosby. “I’m biased obviously, but he’s a great coach. He came in and got us to ten wins. We came on the road, on a short week, and gave Cincinnati everything they could handle. It just shows Rich is a great leader. One of the best people I know, one of the most honest dudes I know, and I’ll go to bat for him any day of the week. I love that dude to death. He knows that. And I appreciate everything he’s brought to the table. And I hope we keep doing it.”

The leader on offense also had strong words of support for Bisaccia.

“We all think that he’s the right guy,” Derek Carr said. “Not just one player, not just one side [of the ball], but everybody. People listen to him. Our team listens to him. And I love him so much and I’m thankful for him. All of those things will be decisions that I don’t get to make. I just play quarterback and do my best to complete every pass. But I think that with everything that went on . . . the fact that that staff kept everything together and kept us competitive and kept us winning, finding ways to win football games. I think that’s what our organization is about, right?”

Carr is, of course, speaking of the Al Davis mantra “Just Win, Baby.” Which, despite it never being easy, they did four straight times to get here.

Whether the team thinks Bisaccia is the guy to lead this team after this season could depend more on who his competition is for the job.

The most prevalent rumor has been the possible interest in Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.

The former NFL coach once led the 49ers to a Super Bowl. He never had a losing season as an NFL head coach and owns an impressive .695 winning percentage over four seasons on the job. He coached his last NFL season in 2014.

There are a good many interesting head coach candidates out there and the Raiders will do their due diligence along with giving Bisaccia his shot to interview to keep the job. Although his four-game winning streak to close out the season and a playoff berth is probably the best interview he has had.

Whether Bisaccia returns as head coach, he earned serious respect from around the league. Respect the longtime Special Teams already had from his players.

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Job one for Bengals offense vs Raiders: Contain Maxx Crosby ‘He can disrupt and entire game’

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor knows they must have a plan against Maxx Crosby ‘He can disrupt and entire game’

Hopes and dreams are important. But you can want all day long. It doesn’t mean you’ll get it. For instance, the Bengals would very much like to keep Maxx Crosby from wreaking havoc on the pocket and taking down their high-flying offense in the process.

But they know full well what he is capable of doing and are hoping to be ready for it.

“He’s one of the best players in the NFL,” Bengals head coach Zac Tayor said of Crosby this week. “He is. And you have to have a plan for him. He can disrupt an entire game. Outside of the players in our locker room here, he’s one of my favorite players in this league.

Just how he goes about every single snap, the run game, the pass game, the leadership that he’s shown on that team. He’s helped absolutely put them in a position to be in the playoffs where they’re at right now. There’s a lot of players around the league that I respect and he’s certainly top-notch and one of the top up there for me.”

It’s smart for Taylor to respect Crosby. But that may not be enough. The Pro Bowl edge rusher undoubtedly had the respect of the Chargers, but that didn’t stop him from terrorizing them to the tune of ten pressures, six tackles, four QB hits, three tackles for loss, three pass breakups, and two sacks. And one of his QB hits led to an interception.

Those numbers put him over 100 pressures on the season (101) and earned him Defensive Player of the Week. More importantly, it helped thrust the Raiders into the playoffs. Now he becomes Bengals QB Joe Burrow’s problem.

“He’s obviously a great player,” Burrow said this week. “He did the same thing to us in week (11), so we’re going to have to have a plan for him and have to get the ball out quickly and just understand that my time might be limited in the pocket because those guys they have on that side.”

Burrow knows a bit about being sacked. No QB this season was sacked more than he was (51).

In these two teams’ first meeting he was sacked three times. And none of them were Crosby who put up one QB hit and one tackle for loss. But just because he wasn’t the one doing the sacking, doesn’t mean the pressure he brings didn’t free others up to get to Burrow. In that game, it was Yannick Ngakoue, Quinton Jefferson, and Solomon Thomas who got home.

But as you can see in this clip, Crosby is always affecting the passer, even when it isn’t him who makes the sack.

Take away Crosby, and this team isn’t in the playoffs. That’s exactly what the Bengals would like to do. Good luck with that.

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LB Nicholas Morrow not expected to return for Raiders Wild Card Playoff vs Bengals

Raiders IHC Rich Bisaccia said of LB Nicholas Morrow ‘as of right now he won’t be playing’ vs Bengals

This week we heard a name we haven’t heard in a while. Nicholas Morrow was designated for return from a foot injury he suffered in training camp. He was placed on injured reserve to start the year and the initial prognosis was for a lengthy healing process.

It certainly was a long process, as he missed the entire regular season, but with the team now in the postseason, his return becomes a possibility. Just perhaps not right away according to interim head coach Rich Bisaccia.

“He didn’t get many reps today,” Bisaccia said of Morrow. “He got a little bit with some of the show team, not many, a little bit with some of the show kicking game, but we’ll see what his soreness level is today. He really didn’t get many yesterday or the day before in the walk-thru, but I know he wanted to kind of get himself in position to run around with his teammates again a little bit. We’ll see where we’re at with more reps and how sore his foot is, but as of right now he won’t be playing.”

From the sounds of it, this could mean that Morrow very well could be back next week should the Raiders beat the Bengals and advance to the Divisional Playoff round.

In Morrow’s absence, the team has gotten good reps from veteran KJ Wright and rookie Divine Deablo. Lately former starter Cory Littleton has been relegated to special teams, which is a good sign for the job Deablo has done stepping up.

Raiders, Bengals Wild Card Playoff final injury report: DT Johnathan Hankins expected to play

DT Johnathan Hankins returned to practice for Raiders and is expected to play vs Bengals

After missing the first two practices this week with back and knee injuries, Raiders got back Johnathan Hankins Thursday for their final practice in preparation for Saturday’s Wild Card playoff game in Cincinnati.

Hankins has been dealing with a back issue for a few weeks now. It cost him the team’s Week 17 game in Indianapolis, but he returned for the season finale against the Chargers. And Interim Head Coach Rich Bisaccia is expecting Hankins to be ready to go for Saturday as well.

“Johnathan Hankins was limited today but he did get a few reps in every one of our defensive sets,” said Bisaccia. “We’ll see how he comes back tomorrow from the soreness, but with a full anticipation of hopefully he’ll be ready to go.”

With the loss of Darius Philon this week, the Raiders were already thin at the nose tackle, making Hankins’ status all the more important. The only other nose tackles are on the practice squad.

Raiders starting to ‘get used to winning’ and that makes them dangerous

No team is hotter than the Raiders right now. And that makes them very dangerous.

You can crunch all the numbers you want. You can do all the matchups and compare records and power rankings you want. On paper the Bengals look like the far superior team. They even beat the Raiders this season. But when the Raiders come to town, they may be a lot more evenly matched than you might think.

No team is hotter than the Raiders right now. A month ago, they looked done. They had lost five of six and had fallend to 6-7 on the season. To have any shot they would need to win out the rest of the way. And that’s just what they did.

Four in a row the Raiders have won, including beating two teams at the end who had their own playoff hopes on the line.

You can look at how the Raiders won and say none of them were convincing victories. That was the story of the 2021 Raiders, actually. Six times this season the Raiders won on the last play, including four overtime games.

Many prefer to see that as a knock on them. But winning is winning. And winning close ones is a positive stat, too. 

Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow seemed to grasp the importance of the close wins along with the current four-game win streak.

“It reminds me of our 2016 National Championship team at Clemson,” Renfrow said after the Raiders win Sunday night. “We won like seven games by like a touchdown or less. You just get used to winning. You get used to winning the close games. And so I think that came into play tonight. And it’s good for the young guys on the team to be able to experience it. And as we go on the rest of this year and next year and the year after we got a program of winning. I think the adversity that we’ve been through has definitely made us tighter.”

The Chargers had a better record and a more powerful offense. They probably felt pretty good coming into Sunday night’s game. And then they found themselves down 10-0 and they’d only had the ball for three plays.

Three times the Chargers came from behind in this game to either take the lead or tie. And each time, the Raiders took it right back.

You don’t do that without confidence. That confidence comes from doing it several times before.

That confidence makes them dangerous. And there is no doubt it strikes fear in the Bengals that they will be the next team the Raiders jump up and bite to knock out of the playoffs.

This Raiders team hasn’t lost in a month. They are coming to expect it. They are coming to expect that even if they aren’t perfect, if they stay the course, things can have a way of working out for them.

It’s been a while since you could say that about a Raiders team. 

The 2016 may have had that feeling for much of the season due to all the times Derek Carr led them to a late comeback win, but they didn’t have it going into the playoffs because Carr was lost two games before. 

The beauty of this team is the confidence isn’t in just the QB. After all, their winning streak has been mostly on the strength of the defense and the running game. This makes them tough to game plan against because it isn’t as simple as stopping one player or forcing one player to beat you.

Even if the team hasn’t been relying on Derek Carr to win games, if the Bengals think forcing him to beat them is the formula, he just might do it. Especially since he has his Pro Bowl tight end Darren Waller back now.

If you look at the defense, it’s the pass rush that’s been dominant. And if the Bengals think it’s just about keeping Maxx Crosby from lighting them up, that would just open the door for the likes of Yannick Ngakoue or one of the interior rushers to have a big day.

The Bengals have a lot going for them in this game. And they too would have been riding a four-game winning streak had they not rested their starters for the finale. But they know they are facing an extremely dangerous team in the Raiders riding some serious momentum into Cincinnati.

Raiders, Bengals Wednesday injury report: DT Johnathan Hankins misses another practice

Raiders DT Johnathan Hankins missed another practice today with knee and back injuries

It’s looking like a real possibility that Johnathan Hankins could be back on the shelf this week. The big defensive tackle had missed the game against the Colts two weeks ago with a back injury. He was questionable for last Sunday’s game against the Chargers and ended up playing. But now he is back to not practicing with back and knee injuries.

Often times he will rotate in and out with Darius Philon who suffered a serious injury in the game against Chargers and was placed on injured reserve, making the position suddenly potentially lacking depth.

Possibilities for playing the nose tackle position should Hankins be unable to go include three practice squad players — Damion Square, PJ Johnson, and newly added former Steelers DT Isaiah Buggs.

The Bengals got back a couple of players who had missed Tuesday’s practice with CB Ricardo Allen (concussion) and WR Stanley Morgan (hamstring) returning limited. Just DT Josh Tupou was missing from practice.

‘I’m the closer’: Josh Jacobs runs Raiders into playoffs with a victory, sends Chargers home

Josh Jacobs ignores his injured ribs to put team on his back in OT ‘I told them ‘I’m the closer. That’s what y’all brought me here for. Let me close.’

Playoffs. A word that has been used just once in nearly two decades to describe the Raiders. And the other time doesn’t really count considering they did so while field a rookie making his first ever start. This time it feels more real. It also was won the hardest way possible.

Twice in this game the Raiders took a two-score lead only to watch as the Chargers erased it. First it was a 10-0 lead that became a 14-10 deficit. Then it was a 29-14 lead that turned into a 29-29 tie that headed to overtime.

The manner in which the lead was lost at the end of the game was absolutely unreal.

It was Casey Hayward picking off Justin Herbert on a deep pass that set up the field goal that put the Raiders up by 15. And the rest of regulation was all Chargers.

There was 8:23 left on the clock and the Chargers would use over six minutes of that on two drives that featured a total of 33 plays. Among those 33 plays, they converted five fourth downs and two third downs.

The final drive in particular was insane and ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass by Justin Herbert with no time left on the clock.

Suddenly what seemed like a lead that was one play away from being too much for the Chargers to overcome was a new game.

That’s when Josh Jacobs put on his cape.

“When the four-minute came before overtime, I told them ‘I’m the closer. That’s what y’all brought me here for. Let me close.’,” Jacobs said after the game. “And when we got the opportunity and they tied the game and we went to overtime, I looked at Oly (Greg Olson) and I said ‘It’s time’ and we collectively came together – the offensive line, DC (Derek Carr), everybody – and just made it happen.”

Jacobs would seem like an unlikely hero. He has been fighting through a rib injury for several weeks and was questionable coming into the game because of it. But it never kept him from playing. After all, for the first time this late in the season, he had something to fight for.

“I feel like we kind of knew what was at stake,” Jacobs said. “I’ve never been in the playoffs since I’ve been in the league. . . I told them there’s no way I don’t play in this game. Hurt or not they were going to get everything out of me. That’s how it played out. It was amazing for real.”

Make no mistake, Jacobs was hurting. Even if it may have seemed like he was riding adrenaline and feeling no pain, he assured me that was not the case.

“Naw, you feel it,” Jacobs assured me. “I feel it right now. You feel it when you breathe, you know what I’m saying? I get winded and I feel it. It’s just one of them where I was constantly talking to myself each play. Getting helped up off the ground, I was just talking to myself, like ‘ok, it’s this much time on the clock, so this is what we need.’ I would’ve felt like I let my team down if I went out there and let the pain get to me and give up. So many guys play with injuries on our team. So many guys have little things that are going on, I feel like they deserve my all. And I tried to come out there and give it to them today.”

At the end of regulation, Jacobs had 67 yards on 19 carries (3.5 yards per carry). And in light of his injuries, no one would have been surprised or thought less of him if he was unable to continue to be the workhorse back and someone else had to step up in the overtime period.

That’s not how it went down.

Jacobs came out in the overtime period and put up more yards than he had in the entire rest of the game combined.

His first two runs of the overtime period went for 28 yards and 18 yards to set the Raiders up for a go-ahead 40-yard field goal.

From there the Chargers had their shot, driving to tie the game back up at 32-32, which meant the next score would win it. Or if no one else scored, the game would end in a tie.

That tie possibility was a real one. Mainly because win or tie, the Raiders were playoff bound. The only difference would be, if they wanted to send the Chargers home or the Steelers. A tie and the Chargers get in too. A win and the Chargers are done, while punching the Steelers’ ticket. That was something interim head coach Rich Bisaccia had considered.

“It was a conversation. We were talking about it,” said Bisaccia.

Whether the Raiders let the game end in a tie was dependent upon whether the Chargers could stop the run. They knew their best option was to keep the ball on the ground to avoid the risk of a turnover and run the clock out. If the Chargers stop it, the clock runs out and both teams are in the playoffs. If they don’t, the Raiders go for the win.

They didn’t stop them.

In third and four from the LA 39-yard-line, Jacobs broke through again for ten yards. And suddenly not only could the Raiders run out the clock, but at the end of it, they would have the chance to get the W.

Jacobs would add 69 yards on seven carries in the overtime period to finish with a season-high 132 yards on 26 carries (5.1 yards per carry). And the last one was for the win.

“You could see the way Josh was running. I think he had that little extra tonight,” said wide receiver Hunter Renfrow. “I think everybody played so well, and it was a total team effort, but the way Josh ran and closed the game out was special.”

Jacobs was the closer the Raiders needed. He closed out the Chargers season. And opened the door for the Raiders first playoff berth since 2016 and the first in nearly two decades where they think they might actually be able to keep it rolling. Lots of pain with potentially a lot more gain.

They will face the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs. On to Cincinnati.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 vs Bengals

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 vs Bengals

Not a lot went right for the Raiders in this one. As evidenced by their 47 offensive snaps, which is the fewest by a Raiders team in 12 years. That was caused by short, stalled offensive drives, and long, drawn-out drives by the Bengals.

The offense was completely inept all save one drive in which they drove 75 yards for a TD on three plays. The defense’s biggest problem seemed to be untimely penalties on plays that would have led to a punt but instead ended up leading to scores. Thus the 32-13 final score.

A few players stood out of the pack in an overall ugly affair.

Ballers

TE Darren Waller

Several early drives began with a long completion to Waller before stalling. Until finally, Carr managed to find him twice on a drive for 54 yards, then connected with Foster Moreau for their only touchdown of the game. Waller would finish with a season-high 116 yards on seven catches.

LB Denzel Perryman

Perryman made the first tackle of the game. Then added a pass breakup on the same drive which ended in a strip-sack by Yannick Ngakoue. Late in the third quarter, with the Raiders still within a score, Perryman had a drive in which he made a run stuff at the line, broke up a pass, and streaked into the backfield to make his second tackle for loss in the game.

That would lead to the Bengals having to settle for a field goal and kept the game close until late in the fourth.

Perryman would do what he usually does; lead the team in tackles (12) and solo tackles (9). Two of those tackles were for a loss and he added two pass breakups as well.

CB Casey Hayward

He just continues being an invisible man out there. Which is to say he isn’t giving up much in the way of catches, let alone touchdowns. The first moment he was noticed in this game was coming up to help make a tackle for loss on third and one, leading to one of just two Bengals punts in the game.

Hayward would make another tackle for loss in the third quarter that helped lead to the Bengals settling for a long field goal.

C Andre James

He was solid in the run and pass game, keeping pressure out of the backfield and giving up no run stuffs. He was also the key block downfield on Josh Jacobs’s 18-yard run in the third quarter.

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