Tag: Raiders record books

Raiders rookie TE Brock Bowers has career day Week 11, enters franchise record books

Brock Bowers keeps upping his game. Week 11 vs the Dolphins he had career highs in catches and yards and set some Raiders records too.

We already know Brock Bowers is on pace for NFL rookie tight end record numbers this season. As good as he has been this season, Sunday in Miami, he had his best game yet.

Bowers put up 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown Sunday. That’s a career high in both catches and yards for Bowers and his first time breaking hundred yards in a game.

Not only that, his game entered him into the franchise record books.

Brock Bowers is the first Raiders rookie with at least 10 receptions and 100 yards in a game all-time.

His 13 catches is tied for third most in a game in franchise history. It’s one catch off the franchise record for a game which is shared by Tim Brown and Brandon Myers.

He already had the second most catches by a rookie in franchise history coming into the game. His day put him at 70 catches on the season, which is just two catches away from the franchise record for most catches by a rookie. Amari Cooper holds the team rookie record with 72 catches in 2015. He should be a pretty safe bet to surpass that rookie record in the next game.

His 126 yards receiving gives him 706 on the season which sits fourth in team history for rookies behind only Amari Cooper’s 1070 (2015), James Jett’s 771 (1993), and Tim Brown’s 725 (1991). So, it means he’s already got the most yards in a season by a Raiders rookie tight end.

He’s even entered the NFL record books.

Bowers is the first rookie tight end in NFL history with at least 13 catches and 120 receiving yards in a single game. Only three others have ever done it at any position — Kelvin Bryant (1986), Deion Branch (2002) and Puka Nacua (2023).

Bowers’ 13 receptions today are the most by a rookie tight end in a single game since at least 1960. He is also just the eighth rookie of any position in the Super Bowl era with at least 13 catches in a game.

Bowers is now averaging seven catches and over 70 yards receiving per game, putting him on pace for close to 120 catches and over 1200 yards receiving. If he stays at this pace, he could move into the second most rookie receiving yards by as soon as next week. He is also on pace to set a new Raiders rookie receiving record and perhaps a few more NFL records as well.

Watch: Davante Adams sets new Raiders single-season record on unreal grab

Watch: Of course Davante Adams made an unreal grab to set the new Raiders single-season receiving record

How does he keep doing this? Davante Adams challenges anyone’s ability to find the right superlatives to describe him. Already with a miraculous touchdown grab in this game, Adams outdid himself. And he picked the right time to do it.

With the Raiders down 34-27 and under two minutes remaining, they needed a touchdown drive. Stidham threw Adams’s way with a defender there and Adams made an absolutely unreal grab.

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The catch went for 45 yards and the Raiders would finish it off with a touchdown to tie it up at 34-34 with under a minute reminaing.

That’s not all though.

The catch gave Adams 1443 yards on the season, moving him past Tim Brown’s 1997 franchise mark (1408) and setting a new Raiders all-time single season receiving record.

And he did it in 16 games.

Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams approaching Raiders franchise records

Davante Adams can set several Raiders records tonight vs Steelers while Josh Jacobs can move up franchise record books.

Both Josh Jacobs and Davante Adams are having seasons for the ages. Both are on the verge of topping the Raiders all-time records.

Here’s where the stand and how far away they are from Raiders franchise records. Starting with a couple franchise marks that could be reached tonight when the Raiders face the Steelers.

Davante Adams

Season receiving yards: He has 1275 which is 7th most all time for Raiders, putting him in striking distance (133 yards) of Tim Brown’s franchise best 1408 yards. But he would pass up a lot of other Raiders greats along the way.

Adams needs 30 yards to move into 6th place, 35 yards to move into 5th, 68 yards for 4th, 70 yards for 3rd, and 87 yards for second.

Adams has three games to do it — one more game than anyone else had — but he may not need all 17. At his current pace of 91.1 yards per game, he would set the new franchise record in 16 games.

Season 100-yard games: He has seven 100-yard games this season. That is tied for the most in Raiders franchise history with Art Powell (1964), Warren Wells (1965), and Tim Brown (1997). Which means it’s the most 100-yard games for a Raiders player in 25 years and that one more would give him sole possession of the most 100-yard games in a season in Raiders history.

Season receptions: He has 86 catches this season. Four more catches puts him in the top ten in Raiders history. Five more puts him in a tie for 7th most. Six more puts him in the top five. Ten more catches moves him past Todd Christensen (95) for the fourth most.

Adams needs 22 catches over the final three games to set a new Raiders franchise record, surpassing the 107 set by Darren Waller two seasons ago.

Season receiving touchdowns: He has 12 this season which is tied for fourth in Raiders history. One more ties him with Cliff Branch for third, two more TD’s ties him with Warren Wells for seconds, and five more TD’s moves him past Art Powell’s franchise record of 16 in a season.

Josh Jacobs

While it is unlikely Jacobs is able to set any new records tonight, he can move into up the top five in Raiders history in several statistical categories.

Jacobs is already tied for the most 1000-yard seasons (three) in Raiders history and earlier this season set a new Raiders record with 229 yards rushing in a game.

Season rushing: He has rushed for a league-leading 1495 yards, which is the second most in Raiders history. He needs 265 yards over the final three games to surpass Marcus Allen’s franchise mark of 1759 yards in a season.

Career rushing: Jacobs sits at 4582 yards. He needs 211 yards to move past Napoleon Kaufman (4792) for 4th in Raiders history.

Career 100-yard games: He has 15 of them in his career which is tied for second in Raiders history. Which means, one more 100-yard game and he’ll move into sole possession of second place. He needs seven more 100-yard games to catch up to Marcus Allen’s 22.

Season 100-yard games: Jacobs has six 100-yard rushing games this season which is tied for 2nd most. So, again, one more 100-yard game will move him into sole possession of second in Raiders history. He won’t catch Marcus Allen’s franchise record of 11 in a season this year.

Season yards from scrimmage: Jacobs has 1858 currently which sits 4th in Raiders history. He needs 46 yards to surpass Charlie Garner (1903) for third, 69 yards to surpass Marcus Allen from 1984 (1926), and 457 yards to surpass Allen from 1985 (2314) for first place.

Season rushing touchdowns: His 11 TD’s this season is tied for 6th all time. One more would tie him with himself (12) for third all time. Two more would tie him with Marcus Allen (13). He needs five more to tie Pete Banaszak’s franchise mark of 16 in a season.

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Josh Jacobs makes Raiders history, ‘next level’ play bringing teammates up with him

‘the dog he got inside of him’: Josh Jacobs ‘next level’ play bringing teammates up with him

With just under six minutes left in the third quarter between the Raiders and Texans Sunday, the Raiders lined up in first and goal from the four.

The Texans had just taken back the lead with a field goal. The Raiders had not scored a touchdown in the red zone in this game and a failure would have meant squandering some tough running by Josh Jacobs to get them there.

Derek Carr took the snap, pitched it out left to Jacobs, who saw his lane and went for the end zone. Kolton Miller made the block outside and, without even looking, raised his arms knowing Jacobs was in for the touchdown.

 

“I knew. I knew for sure,” said Miller on the score. “I heard the footsteps. And man I was just running and running and running, glanced back and was like ‘oh yeah, he’s in’.”

The play was the culmination of what had begun brewing on the drive to get there. And finishing it off would prove to be the start of much more as well.

As Jacobs often does — and especially of late — he got stronger as the game got later. He started with 45 yards in the first half and more than doubled that in the second half.

His 143 yards on the day gave him his third straight game over 140 yards rushing and the top three rushing games of his career.

“The dog that he got inside of him,” Davante Adams said of Jacobs. “You got to spend time with a guy to really know the level because there’s a lot of good backs in this league. I’m not taking anything away from anybody else, but the way he runs the ball, the way he wants the ball, he wants to be the guy in those big moments like that and he steps up to the plate.”

His rushing yardage put him in the Raiders record books. The biggest one is surpassing Marcus Allen for the most rushing yards (3688) in his first 50 games in Raiders franchise history.

He also became the first Raiders running back to rush for over 100 yards in three straight games since Napoleon Kaufman in 1997. A feat only five other Raiders backs have ever accomplished.

Yards are great, but it’s touchdowns that win games.

Jacobs had two more touchdowns to give him three in the game. Just an absolutely dominant performance for Jacobs and he pulled up the rest of the team with him.

“His vision is awesome and the way he plays the game is…man, it’s next level,” Miller continued. “We try to make some holes and some good double teams and he just extends it and takes it to that next level. He made history. That’s huge, man. That’s so awesome.”

Jacobs has always been good at breaking tackles, but, as Miller noted, he is on another level right now. And he sees it too.

“I feel like studying film you kind of see certain formations,” Jacobs said when I asked him what he’s seeing on the field. “You see certain guys play and you know your escapes. Every run I have I know I got one or two escapes, like if the play breaks down, I know where I can go possibly. I will say this, KP (running backs coach Kennedy Polamalu), man, me and him sit down and have individual meetings and we go over all the little details, the fine print details of things and I feel like he harps on the details – even when I’m playing good he’s still coming over and be like you still did this and did that and that kind of keeps me where I need to be. That’s all him, I give him credit for that.”

Jacobs also gave some credit to his offensive line while his offensive line, in part for how excited they would get for him when he would break off a big run. And while he would never say this, again, starts with him.

There’s no question the offensive line has a hand in Jacobs finding room to run, but their enthusiasm starts with Jacobs either creating yards when things break down or taking what he’s given and creating even more with it.

“Just having a really good back in the backfield, he makes it easier on us,” said left guard Dylan Parham. “We just hold our blocks, get a hat on a hat, and then he just makes the rest happen. He’s a special player.”

The result is another special game for Jacobs and the Raiders winning two of their last three as a result.

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Josh Jacobs now top 10 career rusher in Raiders history, on pace for top 5 by season’s end

Josh Jacobs is on pace to finish season as top 5 career rusher in Raiders history

While we noted last Sunday Josh Jacobs had a career-best 144 yards rushing, there was another, less heralded milestone Jacobs reached. When Jacobs hit 90 yards in the game, he officially jumped past Justin Fargas and into the top ten rushing yards in Raiders history.

Jacobs’s 336 yards in the first four games. Should he continue on his current pace, he would finish the season with 1428 yards, giving him 4515 career rushing yards, and moving him into the top five in franchise history.

Currently, Marv Hubbard sits in the fifth spot in franchise history with 4394 yards. Jacobs is 971 yards from surpassing that total, so he would need to average 75 yards per game the remainder of the season to reach it. He currently is rushing at an average of 84 yards per game, but much of that was due to his breakout game last week. Prior to that he was averaging 64 yards per game.

The odds of him threatening Napoleon Kaufman’s spot at 4th overall in the all-time rankings are very slim. Jacobs would have to average over 105 yards per game the rest of the way to finish the season with 1705 yards. Quite unlikely.

Still, top five would be impressive. What’s somewhat ironic about all this is if Jacobs is able to do it, he could reach it in his final games with the team. The Raiders didn’t pick up his fifth year option, which means he will hit free agency following the season unless they reverse field and give him an extension before that.

Hunter Renfrow moves up Raiders record books and notches first ever 1,000-yard season

Another couple notches in Raiders record books for Hunter Renfrow who also surpassed 1,000 yards. Something he never saw as in ‘realm of possibility’

Last week, Hunter Renfrow moved his way into some elite company with the Raiders. He became one of just three wide receivers in Raiders history to have 90 catches in a season, joining Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Tim Brown.

By the end of that Raiders’ win over the Broncos, he had 92 catches on the season which tied Jerry Rice for the second-most catches by a Raiders’ wide receiver and the fourth most overall with Rice and Todd Christensen.

The next step was to move into sole possession of that spot in the record books, and he did that on the second play of the game with a 14-yard catch.

Next up was Todd Christensen’s mark of 95 catches in a season for third in franchise history. Renfrow tied that mark on the sixth play of the game with his third catch on the Raiders’ opening drive.

Renfrow would surpass it to take sole possession of third in the second quarter with a 12-yard catch.

Meanwhile, Renfrow was moving closer to another milestone. He needed 51 yards to hit 1000 yards on the season. An 11-yard touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter not only gave him 1001 yards on the season but gave the Raiders the lead at 20-17.

It’s a mark the unassuming Renfrow never thought possible for him.

“That’s incredible,” Renfrow said of surpassing 1000 yards on the season. “I’ve never really gauged my success off of yards or catches or anything like that, but I’m not gonna lie to you that did seem like something out of the realm of possibility. Coming in as a rookie and I never had 600 yards in college.”

Renfrow did actually have 600 yards in college. He hit 602 yards his junior year at Clemson. But that was his high watermark. He only got to 544 yards as a senior.

It seems like not so long ago we were talking about Renfrow putting up 100 yards receiving in a game for the first time in his entire football life even dating back to high school. Crazy.

By the end of this game, Renfrow had seven catches for 76 yards, giving him 99 catches for 1025 yards on the season.

He becomes the first Raiders wide receiver to hit 1000 yards since Amari Cooper in 2016 and the third most by a Raiders wide receiver since 2002. And joins a shortlist of Raiders drafted receivers in the process.

Where does Renfrow go from here? Well, he needs six receptions to overtake Tim Brown for second-most receptions in a season and the most by a wide receiver. Tight end Darren Waller had surpassed Brown’s franchise record 104 receptions last season. He put up 107 yards. Renfrow would need nine catches to tie Waller and ten to surpass him.

He needs 46 yards to surpass Cooper’s mark (1070) from 2015 and give him the second-most yards by a wide receiver since 2002. And 129 yards to surpass Coop’s 2016 mark (1153).

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Hunter Renfrow joins two Hall of Famers as only Raiders wide receivers with 90 catches in a season

Hunter Renfrow just became just the third Raiders wide receiver to reach 90 catches in a season. Joining Hall of Famers Tim Brown and Jerry Ric.

Hunter Renfrow came into Sunday’s game with 89 catches. One more and he would join elite company with the Raiders. Only two other wide receivers in Raiders franchise history have put up at least 90 catches in a season — Hall of Famers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice.

Brown did it four times and Rice did it once as a Raider.

Renfrow now joins them.

On the fifth play of the game for the Raiders offense, the prolific slot receiver made a nifty, leaping 18-yard grab to give him 90 catches on the season.

The catch, tied him for eighth all-time in a single season for the Raiders. He added a second catch to put him at 91 for the season on the next drive. That one was for a TD.

And with the rest of this game and two more games after, he can keep climbing the list. Here is that list:

1. TE Darren Waller – 107 (2020)
2. WR Tim Brown – 104 (1997)
3. TE Todd Christensen – 95 (1986)
4. TE Todd Christensen – 92 (1983)
4. WR Jerry Rice – 92 (2002)
6. WR Tim Brown – 91 (2001)
6. RB Charlie Garner – 91 (2002)
6. WR Hunter Renfrow – 91 (2021)
8. WR Tim Brown – 90 (1996)
8. WR Tim Brown – 90 (1999)
8. TE Darren Waller – 90 (2019)

Expect Renfrow’s ranking on this list to continue to rise as this game goes along.

Raiders P AJ Cole went from lining up job outside football to one of NFL’s top punters

Raiders P AJ Cole went from lining up job outside football to one of NFL’s top punters

AJ Cole wasn’t expecting to make it in NFL. Now he’s chasing an NFL record.

Thursday was a banner day for the Raiders kick squad. Both kicker Daniel Carlson and punter AJ Cole signed four-year extensions with the team. Two men whose NFL career began in very different ways are now set for years as one of the league’s top duos.

While Carlson was a fifth-round pick – which is a high selection for a special teamer – Cole’s NFL career almost didn’t happen at all. In fact, he came to the Raiders trying to beat out their own fifth-round pick, Johnny Townsend. Not a recipe for success in most cases.

In addition, Cole had already been turned away by other NFL teams and was only in Oakland as a minicamp tryout. It was his basically he makes this team or he starts life outside of football.

“There was definitely some times when it was dark for me when I just wasn’t getting the opportunities that I wanted. When I really just had to ask myself am I good enough, is this really worth it to just keep pushing and keep going on,” said Cole. 

“Just so thankful to be here because there were definitely some times when I didn’t think I was good enough. Where I really felt like hanging it up. I was just talking earlier when I came to the tryout in 2019, I had a job lined up with IBM. That’s how little confidence I kind of had in the process. Not just that I didn’t believe in myself, it’s just so hard to make it.

There’s 32 of these jobs in the world and there are so many talented guys out there. I just think in order to make it in this business you have to be good and really lucky and I’ve been both of those things. I’ve just been so blessed and thankful for everything I’ve been through.”

Cole would first make the offseason roster, giving him his first step in proving he belonged. He would then beat out Townsend who was the incumbent punter. At which point he needed to prove to the Raiders that he was more than just a placeholder.

Now in his third year, Cole has not only proven his worth – both as a punter and a holder for field goals – he is staring down NFL greatness.

Currently, Cole is averaging 51.1 yards per punt which, if he could maintain it, would finish him tied for second in NFL history with none other than former Raiders great Shane Lechler. The only average better belonged to Sammy Baugh (52.9).

For Cole, though, he’s all about the net average. That and simply pinning the opposing team near their own goal line.

“I don’t really look at the gross so much, I’m really working on the net,” said Cole. “And really at the end of the day, my job whenever I go out there is to start the defense as close to the goal line as possible. That’s my number one priority. My number one priority is putting the defense in the best position to go out there and win games. So, if we punt from the 40-yard-line the rest of the season, that’s what it’s going to be. I’m not out there chasing that because that’s not my ultimate goal. I don’t think it’s too much of a big deal.”

At this moment Cole’s net average sits at 42.8 which isn’t top five in the NFL in the category but would be the second-best net average in a season in Raiders history. Lechler, of course, has the record with his 2009 season at 43.85 net yards per punt.

And let us also not forget his holding work which has helped Carlson to have two fantastic seasons and thus the reason the two sat at the podium together on Thursday to discuss their four-year extensions. As Cole said, “A rising tide raises all boats.”

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