Tag: Las Vegas Raiders vs New York Giants

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 vs Giants

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 vs Giants

Based on the Raiders and Giants’ records and how they’ve played this season, the Raiders should’ve handled their business in New York. But the Raiders were dealing with much larger issues.

The Raiders struggled to keep their head above water against the Giants and despite six trips into the end zone put up just 16 points. On top of it, they turned the ball over three times. That’s a recipe for a loss.

Ballers

RB Josh Jacobs

Jacobs was running angry in this game. He was decisive and sharp and when facing prospective tacklers, he was aggressive and violent in his running style. He got the ball five times on the Raiders opening drive, picking up 45 yards on the ground.

The biggest run went for 18 yards to set the Raiders up in first and goal from the six. A four-yard run got them close to the goal line and they scored the TD on the next play.

Following a turnover that gave the Raiders the ball at the New York 30-yard-line, Jacobs picked up 21 yards on two plays to put the Raiders in first and goal at the nine. They would get a field goal out of it to take a 10-7 lead.

Early in the third quarter, he had two of his best runs of the day. The first he laid a wicked stiff arm to pick up 14 yards. The second juked a defender in the open field to go for 18 yards. The Raiders got a field goal out of it to pull to within one point, down 17-16.

Jacobs finished with a season-high 76 yards on 13 carries and added 19 yards on four catches.

DE Yannick Ngakoue

After the Raiders tied up the game at 7-7 in the first quarter, Ngakoue got the edge and sacked Daniel Jones, stripping the ball where it was recovered by Darius Philon to give the Raiders the ball at the New York 30-yard-line. The Raiders were able to score a field goal to take a 10-7 lead.

In the second quarter, the Giants went on a long drive, looking to retake the lead. Ngakoue again sacked Jones to assure they would settle for a field goal to tie.

It was Ngakoue’s third multiple sack game of the season, giving him six on the season and moving him past teammate Maxx Crosby (five) for the team lead.

TE Darren Waller

With the receiving corps struggling to get open without a deep threat, it was Waller time. He was targeted 11 times and caught seven passes for 92 yards, which is his best numbers since the season opener.

The real shame is that Waller should have had a much better day. At least four times Carr missed him in the end zone. Three of those were off-target passes. The other he didn’t even throw it. Even with those misses, Waller had a good day. It was just a day of missed opportunities.

He had a 19-yard catch that put them in scoring range at the end of the first half. He opened the fourth quarter with a 25-yard catch on a drive that ended in a missed field goal. His next catch went for 12 yards on a drive that ended in an interception. And he had a 19-yard catch and an eight-yard catch on the final drive that ended in a fumble.

TE Foster Moreau

No catches? No targets? No problem. Moreau was doing work as a blocker in this one. He cleared the way on a Jacobs 18-yard run in the first quarter, another 18-yard run in the third quarter that was wiped away by an illegal formation penalty (thanks Dillon Stoner!), and a 21-yard run by Kenyan Drake in the fourth. Just to name a few.

RB Kenyan Drake

Drake was churning out the yards and finished with 100 yards from scrimmage on ten touches. His big drive came to open the fourth quarter where he had a 21-yard run followed by a 22-yard catch and run, and then an 11-yard catch to put the Raiders in the red zone.

Then on the final drive, Drake had a nine-yard catch and picked up 17 yards on a screen play.

Honorable Mention

S Dallin Leavitt — Had a solid tackle on a return to stop it inside the 20, recovered a Hunter Renfrow fumble on a return, and made a tackle short of the sticks on third down. Well rounded day for the special teams maven.

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Raiders Week 9 snap counts vs Giants: Zay Jones led receivers in snaps but just one catch

Raiders Week 9 snap counts vs Giants: Zay Jones led receivers in snaps, production not so much

The Raiders weren’t kidding when they said Zay Jones was going to step into the role of number one receiver for the departed Henry Ruggs III.

Jones led all wide receivers in the game, taking all but three snaps (66). That’s actually would have been a career-high for Ruggs, both in terms of offensive snaps and percentage (96%). Stats were another story.

Ruggs averaged five targets per game this season. And he led the team in receiving. Jones saw four targets and had just one catch for 20 yards.

Fellow starting receiver Bryan Edwards was right behind Jones with 64 snaps (93%). And he didn’t have a single catch on four targets. So, what did the Raiders have to show for those 130 combined snaps? Eight targets. One catch. One interception.

Jones was the intended target on Derek Carr’s second interception. Certainly, Carr deserves some blame for the lack of connections with his starting outside receivers. But regardless, that’s an ugly stat line.

OFFENSE Special Teams
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Kolton Miller T 69 100% 5 19%
Brandon Parker T 69 100% 5 19%
Alex Leatherwood T 69 100% 5 19%
John Simpson G 69 100% 5 19%
Andre James C 69 100% 0 0%
Derek Carr QB 68 99% 0 0%
Zay Jones WR 66 96% 0 0%
Bryan Edwards WR 64 93% 0 0%
Darren Waller TE 61 88% 0 0%
Hunter Renfrow WR 45 65% 3 12%
Josh Jacobs RB 34 49% 0 0%
Kenyan Drake RB 31 45% 0 0%
Foster Moreau TE 22 32% 16 62%
Alec Ingold FB 14 20% 16 62%
Jalen Richard RB 5 7% 6 23%
Dillon Stoner WR 1 1% 12 46%
Daniel Helm TE 1 1% 7 27%
Nick Martin C 1 1% 5 19%
Marcus Mariota QB 1 1% 0 0%
DEFENSE Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Trevon Moehrig FS 56 100% 10 38%
Brandon Facyson CB 56 100% 7 27%
Casey Hayward CB 56 100% 2 8%
Johnathan Abram SS 56 100% 0 0%
Denzel Perryman LB 55 98% 0 0%
Cory Littleton LB 50 89% 10 38%
Maxx Crosby DE 40 71% 5 19%
Johnathan Hankins NT 39 70% 5 19%
Yannick Ngakoue DE 38 68% 0 0%
Nate Hobbs CB 31 55% 10 38%
Quinton Jefferson DT 31 55% 5 19%
K.J. Wright LB 25 45% 0 0%
Darius Philon DT 22 39% 0 0%
Solomon Thomas DT 20 36% 5 19%
Carl Nassib DE 17 30% 11 42%
Clelin Ferrell DE 17 30% 0 0%
Dallin Leavitt FS 6 11% 21 81%
Desmond Trufant CB 1 2% 2 8%
SPECIAL TEAMS Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Marquel Lee LB 0 0% 17 65%
Divine Deablo LB 0 0% 16 62%
Nick Kwiatkoski LB 0 0% 15 58%
Tyree Gillespie SS 0 0% 14 54%
Keisean Nixon CB 0 0% 13 50%
Daniel Carlson K 0 0% 10 38%
Trent Sieg LS 0 0% 7 27%
AJ Cole III P 0 0% 7 27%
Jermaine Eluemunor G 0 0% 5 19%
Marcell Ateman WR 0 0% 3 12

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Raiders deny fallout from Henry Ruggs crash contributed to loss to Giants

Despite rough day, Raiders deny fallout from Henry Ruggs crash contributed to loss to Giants

Expecting the Raiders to take the field in New York on Sunday and be the same team they were the previous couple of weeks was optimistic, to say the least.

While this team may be the most able to roll with the sudden tragic crash in which their teammate Henry Ruggs III killed a young woman in a drunk driving accident, it was a lot to expect them to just shake it all off and play their best football.

Derek Carr in particular had a lot to process. He was able to step up following the sudden resignation of head coach Jon Gruden last month. He stepped up quite well, in fact, helping lead the Raiders to two straight wins. But the loss of his number one receiver in such a grim and heart-wrenching fashion was not going to be as easy to recover from.

I said this week that if any QB is best suited to be able to handle it, it’s Carr. He has handled it as best as can be expected. But he isn’t superhuman. It would have been truly miraculous for him and the Raiders offense to perform with maximum efficiency in this situation.

All things considered, the first quarter the Raiders looked like they could win this one. After the defense gave up an opening drive touchdown, they stiffened up, stopping the Giants on their next three drives. Meanwhile the Raiders offense scored a TD and a field goal to take a 10-7 lead.

“It was a lot of emotional weight on me, but I feel like I came into this game ready to play. Different guys may react individually, but I feel like with the practice that we had this week, I feel like guys were focused on the game and came in with a solid mindset.”

The Raiders carried a 13-10 lead into the half. But there were signs things were not right. On the final play before the field goal, Carr missed a wide-open Darren Waller in the end zone which had them settle for the field goal.

There was still a chance for the Raiders to make score back-to-back as they had the ball to open the third quarter. On that drive, Derek Carr threw a pass in the left flat for Hunter Renfrow. The pass was behind Renfrow, which is very dangerous and Xavier McKinney made him pay. McKinney stepped in front of it and returned it 41 yards for the score.

Down 20-16 with just over five minutes left, the Raiders needed a scoring drive. Instead, they got Carr throwing a pass for Zay Jones in double coverage and having McKinney pick Carr off again.

It was the first time this season Carr has thrown multiple interceptions in a game. But he insisted it was simply a mistake on his part that had nothing to do with his mental or emotional state.

“I thought mentally we were ready,” said Carr. “Myself I was ready to go. I was excited just to play football. And I don’t think emotions or anything were into it. The second interception, Zay ran a double move, I tried to fit it in before the safety got there, he got there. It had nothing to do with emotion, that was a decision I made and it didn’t work out.”

The Giants would get a field goal out of it to take a seven-point lead, which meant the Raiders would have 3:21 to drive for a touchdown.

They would get to the 13-yard-line where Carr held onto the ball a bit too long and Kolton Miller was beaten around the edge to give up the strip-sack on Carr. It was the first sack Miller has surrendered all season and the first fumble the Raiders have lost this season. And it ended the game.

Ruggs was the team’s deep threat. He led the team in receiving and averaged nearly 20 yards per catch. In this game, they had just one deep pass for more than 20 yards. Carr had twice as many interceptions than that.

“You can’t turn the ball over. That’s why we lost the game,” said Carr, who had three turnovers in the game. “We come out and we fight at the end and get a touchdown and, you know, we win the game and we’re talking about different stuff. Not certain emotions and all that kind of stuff.”

The Raiders do deserve some credit for nearly pulling it out despite the situation. But no one who watched that game would say they looked like the same team from a couple of weeks ago. And missing a key aspect to their newly high-powered offense was an obvious problem.

But good luck getting anyone to admit that. 

All week the Raiders were touting Zay Jones as the heir apparent to Ruggs. That he was going to fill in admirably. It was clear that was not happening in this game. Jones had four targets that resulted in as many catches for the Giants as for him. But the Raiders were sticking with their assessment of Jones.

“I think Zay is a deep threat and he can take the top off the defense as well,” said Hunter Renfrow. “I feel like we didn’t get too different a coverage than we were expected or anticipating if Henry would have been out there. I think Zay did a great job.”

Jones has had a key catch here and there this season, but he is at best a solid role player who can surprise the defense on occasion. And even if Ruggs isn’t catching a lot of passes, defenses must respect his speed. That isn’t really the case with Jones.

That being said, Ruggs’ absence in the offense wasn’t the only reason the Raiders lost. They had several opportunities to win this one despite the obvious missing dynamic. Six trips to the red zone for the Raiders yielded just 16 points.

Carr dropped back to pass 13 times from the red zone. The first time was a two-yard TD pass to Renfrow. The rest of the way he went four of 11 for ten yards and a fumble. Still, interim head coach Rich Bisaccia didn’t think his quarterback was having an off day.

“I know there are some plays out there he’d love to have back, but I didn’t feel like it was, maybe ‘off’ is the word,” Bisaccia said of Carr. “Certain throws go certain ways. Sometimes they’re a little high or low or a lot of guys make those catches. We just didn’t execute on either end.”

It’s expected that the reason for how things played out can be boiled down to one thing. But, most likely it was a combination of things. Yes, Carr had an off day. Yes, the team had an emotional week. Yes, it affected their preparation. Yes, it probably affected their play a bit as well. Yes, not having the team’s number one receiver and deep threat takes some of the teeth out of the offense. Just another hurdle to overcome. 

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Raiders, Giants final injury report: Saquon Barkley among several ruled OUT for New York

Raiders, Giants final injury report: Saquon Barkley among several ruled OUT for New York

While the Raiders are feeling pretty good (at least physical health wise) coming out of the bye week, the Giants are not doing so well. The entire Friday injury report was Giants players including a lot of players who won’t be playing.

Most notably RB Saquon Barkley has been ruled out with an ankle injury. He was in the COVID protocol but was cleared along with CB Xavier McKinney. Both were cleared, but Barkley had more going on with his actual injury and won’t play, while McKinney is good to go. RB Gary Brightwell is still in the protocol and is questionable for the game.

Others who have been ruled out include wide receivers Dante Pettis (shoulder) and Sterling Shepard (quad), linebacker Lorenzo Carter (ankle) and defensive back Nate Ebner (ankle).

Aside from Pettis and Shepard being OUT, fellow wide receivers John Ross and Kenny Golladay are questionable. So their status will be worth watching because if they can’t go, that leaves their wide receiver corps even more depleted than it already it.

Raiders, Giants Thursday injury report: Several Giants still not practicing amid COVID outbreak

Raiders, Giants Thursday injury report: Several Giants still not practicing amid COVID outbreak

On Wednesday, several Giants players tested positive for COVID-19. They are keeping them out of practice at least until they are retested to see if perhaps it was a false positive. For OL Matt Skura, that appears to be the case as he returned to practice Thursday.

For several others, the outlook is less clear. Most notably running backs Saquon Barkley and Gary Brightwell and safety Xavier McKinney. All three remained out, which puts their status for Sunday’s game against the Raiders in doubt.

Other Giants players to miss practice for injury reasons included LB Lrenzo Carter (ankle), DB Nate Ebner (ankle), WR Dante Pettis (shoulder), and WR Sterling Shepard (quad).

They also had several wide receivers who were limited including Kenny Glladay (knee), Kadarius Tony (thumb), and John Ross (quad).TE Kaden Smith (knee) was also limited.

As for the Raiders, they are pretty healthy at the moment. The only two players listed on their injury report both practiced full.

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