Often times in games you can hear what the quarterback yells out for his audibles. The most famous being Peyton Manning’s ‘Omaha! Omaha!” Sometimes there’s a code in what’s called out, sometimes it’s just nonsense. And with no fans in the stands, those calls are even more…audible.

Such was the case when Derek Carr got behind center early in the Raiders game against the Panther Sunday and yelled out “Cindy Gruden, Tiger Woods! Cindy Gruden, Tiger Woods!”

Rich Gannon who was in the booth heard it and commented on it from the booth, noting that Cindy Gruden is Jon’s wife. And apparently, Gruden was unaware his wife was going to come up in an audible.

“I didn’t notice any crowd noise yesterday. I even heard my wife’s name on TV,” Gruden said Monday over a video conference call. “Derek used my wife’s name in one of his audibles. So, it must not have been that loud. Still trying to figure out why Cindy Gruden came up during the game. Gotta look into that.”

Here’s that Derek Carr audible “Cindy Gruden Tiger Woods!” pic.twitter.com/GmIYoEIYCj

— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) September 14, 2020

The call was made at the eight-minute mark of the first quarter on the Raiders’ second drive of the game. It was 2nd and two and in case you’re wondering the play was a hand-off to Josh Jacobs on the right side that went for one yard.

Gruden noted that making calls at the line is pretty normal for Carr. But with no crowd on hand, suddenly he could actually hear him.

“Unfortunately for me I could never hear him until yesterday. So, I don’t know what he’s been up to at the line of scrimmage, but better keep my wife out of it from now on,” Gruden said with a smirk.

I’m guessing he’s ok with his quarterback giving Tiger Woods a shout out at the line.

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Derek Carr has gotten a lot of criticism the past few years for not airing it out and stretching the field. Some of that criticism is justified. Then again, he hasn’t exactly had much in the way of a legitimate deep threat over the past couple seasons, so he doesn’t shoulder all the blame.

In order to try and remedy that problem the Raiders drafted speedster Henry Ruggs III at 12 overall and immediately inserted him as the team’s number one receiver.

Carr went for Ruggs deep up the middle of the field on the second play of the game, but he was well covered and the pass sailed over his head.

The next drive Ruggs would get his chance. He broke wide open on a corner route and picked up 45 yards to the one-yard line and the Raiders scored on the next play to go up 7-3 in the first quarter.

Big plays were what the fans were hoping to see from Ruggs and fellow rookie starter Bryan Edwards. Starting two rookie wide receivers was the story of this game. Ruggs the deep threat and Edwards the big red zone scoring threat.

The Raiders would get that kind of play in this game. But it didn’t come from either of the rookies.

Late in the second quarter, Ruggs would get his ankle rolled up on and leave the game, questionable to return. He was out all of five plays before Nelson Agholor stepped up to prove he could be that deep threat too.

“In the huddle, he looked at me and he said ‘if you come to me, just throw it in the end zone, I got it’,” Derek Carr said of Agholor. “And I said ‘well, I can do that.’ And we went to the line and sure enough he made the play.”

The play Agholor made was to get a step on his man on a go-route and Carr threw a perfect pass that dropped right into Agholor’s waiting arms for a 23-yard touchdown. THAT’s the type of pass and catch that’s been missing from this Raiders offense. THAT’s why they drafted Ruggs. So Agholor doing it is a big bonus.

“He’s going to air it out. We have some guys that can go get it,” Jon Gruden said of Carr and his new speedy deep threats. “He aired it out on I think on the second play of the game to Ruggs. We had a big play to Ruggs on the next series, and then Henry disappeared, and I think I said it during camp; Nelson Agholor is a lot better receiver than people think. He’s fast, he’s versatile, he’s tough and he really is a great professional and that showed in that situation. That was huge for us.”

I can confirm, Agholor looked great in camp. It’s kind of crazy to think that for two years the Raiders were bereft of legit deep threats and now they have two guys with that skillset.

What Agholor also offers that Ruggs does not in a veteran presence. So, even if he’s just a part-time player, he can come in and give

“When you have veteran guys, when you have dudes like that, the confidence it gives you as a quarterback, like, ok that play’s not dead, that route’s not dead, everything is alive,” Carr continued. “Every route’s alive, I can just play it how I see it and having a guy like that, it’s nice because not only do you have that confidence in the game, but he’s proven it in training camp. So, I’m excited about him.”

That 23-yard TD catch was his only catch of the game. It was also the Raiders’ only TD reception. It gave them the lead going into the half which they retained and extended through the third quarter.

Rookie third-round receiver Bryan Edwards didn’t have a catch in the first half and finished with just one catch for nine yards.

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It was a year ago the last time we saw Johnathan Abram take an NFL field. And he didn’t even get through a quarter of football before he was injured. For any young NFL player, that would be a long wait to take the field again. For Abram is was downright agonizing.

“It felt great to be back out there today with my guys,” Abram said after the game, seeming to downplay his return.

Early on, the first thing you noticed about Abram was he was still sporting the loose sleeves which he had tried out in camp. It was a nod to legendary Raiders DB Willie Brown, with whom he shares a number.

There is probably no number on any team that belongs to two more legendary players than the Raiders and the number 24. Along with Brown, it was also Charles Woodson’s number.

It’s fitting considering Abram had 13 tackles which were the most by a Raiders’ defensive back since Woodson had 14 tackles in November of 2014.

While he was on the field racking up the tackles, the players on the offense were marveling from the sideline.

“What did he have like 14 tackles or something crazy like that today?” said Josh Jacobs. “If you just see the way he flies around and the way he brings that juice to that defense, it’s electric. I mean, I just catch myself watching him like a fan honestly. I’m definitely happy to have him back.”

Abram was glad the Raiders were able to pull out the win, but overall he wasn’t happy with the play of the defense which gave up 30 points and lost the lead late in the game

“Today was a very sloppy performance on the defense’s part,” Abram continued. “We gotta go out and execute a lot more than we did. We gave a few big plays and if you give up big plays in this league, that’s kind of how you get beat. We were fortunate enough come about with the W today.”

This day was more than just a W for the team. It was a W for Abram who, for the first time, comes out of an NFL game with his health.

“The most exciting thing for John is that he gets to play in week two,” said Derek Carr. “He’s still here, man, and he’s healthy as we all are. But the energy he brings with those hits, we saw some of them on McCaffrey and some across the middle, him and Erik, it’s just the tone, you know? And in this day and age where we’re not going to have fans this year, and you’re on the road, you gotta bring your own energy. You gotta bring your own juice, and he’s that type of player that can bring the energy and bring the juice and those things can’t be overlooked. You get a big hit…I remember I was going over the last series on the Ipad and I just heard WOP! And I looked up and sure enough, there’s 24 hitting 22 and that stuff ignites a sideline for sure.”

This was the type of performance fans expected from Abram after his rookie camp. He played well in his debut despite his shoulder injury, but his injury left no time to celebrate. This time we can look forward to seeing more days like this in the future.

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