Tag: Las Vegas Raiders vs Cincinnati Bengals

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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Raiders week 11 snap counts vs Bengals: Offense sees lowest snap total in years

Raiders week 11 snap counts vs Bengals: Offense sees lowest snap total in years

How bad was the disparity in Raiders’ loss to the Bengals on Sunday in terms of snaps? Considerable. While the 74 snaps the Bengals spent on offense was not notable, how few the Raiders had on offense was quite notable.

Not only were their 47 offensive snaps a season-low, it was their lowest snap total in at least more than a decade. It may go back farther than that, but 2011 is as far back as Pro Football Reference tracks snap counts.

Since Derek Carr took over as quarterback in 2014, the offense had never had fewer than 50 snaps in a game. And as you might expect, the Raiders’ record when the offense has been pretty bad.

This is the 12th time in Carr’s career that the Raiders offense has had fewer than 55 snaps. They are 2-10 in those games.

OFFENSE Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Brandon Parker T 47 100% 3 11%
Kolton Miller T 47 100% 3 11%
Alex Leatherwood T 47 100% 3 11%
Derek Carr QB 47 100% 0 0%
Andre James C 47 100% 0 0%
Darren Waller TE 44 94% 0 0%
Bryan Edwards WR 39 83% 0 0%
Zay Jones WR 34 72% 11 39%
Hunter Renfrow WR 34 72% 2 7%
Josh Jacobs RB 31 66% 0 0%
John Simpson G 26 55% 1 4%
Jordan Simmons G 21 45% 2 7%
Foster Moreau TE 17 36% 17 61%
DeSean Jackson WR 16 34% 0 0%
Kenyan Drake RB 15 32% 8 29%
Daniel Helm TE 2 4% 15 54%
Dillon Stoner WR 2 4% 12 43%
Peyton Barber RB 1 2% 0 0%
DEFENSE Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Trevon Moehrig FS 74 100% 13 46%
Brandon Facyson CB 74 100% 7 25%
Casey Hayward CB 74 100% 4 14%
Johnathan Abram SS 74 100% 2 7%
Denzel Perryman LB 70 95% 0 0%
Cory Littleton LB 61 82% 2 7%
Nate Hobbs CB 58 78% 12 43%
Maxx Crosby DE 55 74% 7 25%
Yannick Ngakoue DE 44 59% 0 0%
Johnathan Hankins NT 43 58% 7 25%
Solomon Thomas DT 40 54% 7 25%
Quinton Jefferson DT 39 53% 7 25%
Carl Nassib DE 30 41% 15 54%
Damion Square NT 25 34% 0 0%
Clelin Ferrell DE 20 27% 11 39%
K.J. Wright LB 20 27% 0 0%
Dallin Leavitt FS 13 18% 25 89%
SPECIAL TEAMS Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Marquel Lee LB 0 0% 25 89%
Patrick Onwuasor LB 0 0% 18 64%
Divine Deablo LB 0 0% 18 64%
Sutton Smith FB 0 0% 12 43%
Roderic Teamer CB 0 0% 10 36%
Trent Sieg LS 0 0% 7 25%
AJ Cole III P 0 0% 7 25%
Daniel Carlson K 0 0% 7 25%
Nick Martin C 0 0% 3 11%
Jermaine Eluemunor G 0 0% 3 11%
Amik Robertson CB 0 0% 2 7%

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Raiders ‘came out flat’ and passing game came up missing in ugly loss to Bengals

Raiders ‘came out flat’ and passing game came up missing in ugly loss to Bengals

Early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders offense took the field and sliced up the Bengals defense with three completions for 75 yards and a touchdown. There have been a few times over the years where I’ve said ‘where’s that been all game?’ and this was definitely one of those times.

That drive was like something out of another time or another team. Because the rest of this game look very different.

It took 1:35 off the clock for the Raiders to go down and score that touchdown. The other 58:25 of the game the Raiders pass offense had 16 completions for 140 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.

The three completions on that drive all went to tight ends. The first two to Darren Waller for 56 yards and the third to Foster Moreau for a 19-yard touchdown.

But as for the wide receivers? They had a grand total of five catches for 40 yards. Only one of those catches came in the first half. It went for four yards to Hunter Renfrow.

I attempted to ask quarterback Derek Carr about the wide receivers not being a big part of the offense in the game and he interrupted me to note that Waller got his catches, though, adding “We checked that box this week.”

It seemed like that was an answer designed for anyone who has criticized Carr and the Raiders for not getting the ball to Waller more often considering Waller is the best player on this team. Last week the Pro Bowl tight end had just 24 yards on four catches.

The problem with that is two-fold though. First of all, Carr’s emphasis should not be in checking off boxes from his critics first of all. Second of all, it shouldn’t be an either/or situation.

Waller had 116 yards on seven catches. His first four catches led to nothing though. That’s not Waller’s fault, it’s a bigger issue. After Waller had his catch, the offense did nothing else. So, yeah, great, you got the ball to your best player. Is that it? Anyone else in this offense able to get open and make a catch? How ’bout that new guy…Desean Jackson?

We’re into the second week with Jackson on this team and he has a total of one target. His first game it was completely understandable. He was new to the offense and played just nine snaps. You would have thought his snaps and targets would go up this week. His snaps may have, but his targets did not.

Jackson had zero targets in the game. And for an offense that had shown the previous two weeks how much it misses its deep threat, that’s kind of important.

“We came out flat. It was terrible. There’s not beating around it,” said Carr. “The last couple weeks we just take turns. We’re just really out of sync right now and no one’s coming to save us so we got to figure it out.”

Being “out of sync” or ‘not in rhythm’ has been a common theme for the Raiders during their three-game losing streak. The offense has been sputtering and the play calling has been seriously suspect. Most notably they went 1-for-7 on third down in this game after having gone 1-for-9 against the Chiefs last Sunday. Not having a balanced attack has been hurting them badly. Interesting that it was the player who got the lion’s share of the targets today who pointed this out.

“We have to be balanced as a unit,” said Waller, who had more targets (8) than the entire wide receiving corps combined (6). “Everybody has to make plays and we’ve shown that over the season that running backs can make plays in pass game, receivers, tight ends, anybody. We got to just be able to bring that on a consistent basis, week-to-week. But today we didn’t do that and we left the Defense on the field too long.”

The Raiders lost the time of possession battle 37:20 to 22:40 and the defense appeared pretty winded late. They didn’t do themselves any favors with some costly penalties including an offsides that negated a drive-ending sack and a roughing the passer penalty on a play that also would have led to a punt.

Those penalties helped lead to the Bengals’ first ten points. But even then, the defense played well enough to keep it a one-possession game heading into the fourth quarter.

But even the Raiders touchdown drive was so quick, the defense barely had time to catch their breath before coming back onto the field. The result was the Bengals just moving down the field on the next possession to finish it off with a touchdown.

There was still a glimmer of hope for the Raiders if the offense turn it on as they had on the previous drive and get back in the end zone. But Carr went to the Waller well one too many times and was picked off by Eli Apple. If that didn’t seal the deal, the ensuing touchdown did. Joe Mixon just trotted up the gut from 20 yards out against a worn out Raiders defense. A late sack fumble by Carr set the Bengals up for another field goal for the 32-13 result and another ugly blowout loss.

The Raider fall to 5-5 on the season. Moving in the wrong direction after a 5-2 start. They enter a short week before traveling to Dallas for Thanksgiving.

Raiders send FB Alec Ingold to injured reserve, activate S Roderic Teamer from IR

Raiders send FB Alec Ingold to injured reserve, activate S Roderic Teamer from IR

It seemed a foregone conclusion that when Alec Ingold left the field last Sunday with a non-contact knee injury that he would be headed to injured reserve. Fears were that he had a torn ACL and that his season was over. Today the Raiders made that expected move, placing Ingold on IR.

To fill his role in the offense, the team added FB Sutton Smith to the practice squad. He was activated today as the team is set to face the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday.

Also getting activated today was safety Roderic Teamer who had was out the past three weeks. Teamer had been playing well enough to be the next man up at the safety spot and even play some cornerback. His return is a welcome one especially with the team sending safety Tyree Gillespie to injure reserve this week.

The cornerback position is also banged up with Keisean Nixon OUT and Brandon Facyson Questionable for the game.

Raiders, Bengals final injury report: LB Nick Kwiatkoski among three OUT for Raiders

Raiders, Bengals final injury report: LB Nick Kwiatkoski among three OUT for Raiders

The final injury report is out. Those who will not be available on Sunday include FB Alec Ingold (knee), LB Nick Kwiatkoski (ankle), and CB Keisean Nixon (ankle). Questionable are CB Brandon Facyson (finger/hamstring) and RB Jalen Richard (ribs).

The only starter among the players on Raiders injury report is Brandon Facyson, who had a brutal game last Sunday against the Chiefs. Things didn’t get better when Desmond Trufant stepped in for him.

Facyson was replacing Amik Robertson who had been benched for poor play after he had originally stepped in for injured regular starter Trayvon Mullen, who is on injured reserve and not expected back for a couple weeks.

So, yeah, the Raiders will hope Facyson is able to go. Casey Hayward will start on the other side with Nate Hobbs in the slot.

As for the Bengals, they’re relatively healthy coming off their bye week, with just two players questionable.

Raiders, Bengals Wednesday injury report: Special teams missing several key contributors

Raiders, Bengals Wednesday injury report: Special teams missing several key contributors

Wednesday’s practice was fairly shorthanded for the Raiders in terms of one phase of the game — special teams. The team was without its special teams captain Alec Ingold (knee), leading tackler Nick Kwiatkoski (ankle), third leading tackler Tyree Gillespie (hamstring), and kick returner Jalen Richard (ribs).

Ingold suffered an apparent ACL injury in Sunday’s game against the Chiefs and is expected to be out an extended period of time. Gillespie was placed on injured reserve today with his hamstring injury, putting him out at least three weeks.

Cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Amik Robertson also play a good amount on special teams and both missed practice Wednesday.

Usually injuries to players who aren’t regular starters doesn’t move the needle, but special teams is important. And missing this many key special teams players could bite them on short notice. It’s one of those areas where you only seem to really notice it when things go really right or really wrong.