Tag: Raiders vs Giants

Back-to-back big weeks for Josh Jacobs launches him into top 3 in NFL rushing

Back-to-back big weeks for Josh Jacobs launches him into top 3 in NFL rushing

Throughout the first eight games of this season, the conversation surrounding Josh Jacobs was all about how much of a letdown this season has been after leading the NFL in rushing last season.

After those eight games, Jacobs hadn’t rushed more than 80 yards in any game. He had a total of 408 yards on 133 carries. His 3.1 yards per carry was easily the lowest of his career and it put him on pace for a career-low 867 rushing yards on the season.

Then Josh McDaniels was fired. And in the two games since, Jacobs appears to have gotten back on track and suddenly is once again in the mix for the NFL rushing lead.

His rise was precipitated by games in which he ran for 98 yards and 116 yards, moving him from 18th in the league two weeks ago to third, just three yards behind Derrick Henry for second in the league.

Christian McCaffrey leads the league with 747 yards — 125 yards ahead of Jacobs — but there are still seven games left for Jacobs to gain some more ground. On the other hand, there’s only 25 yards that separated Jacobs from the next seven backs, so there’s plenty of time for them to gain ground as well.

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 win vs Giants

Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 9 win vs Giants

You won’t see many more lopsided victories than the Raiders had over the Giants Sunday. It was made all the more amazing when compared to how they looked over the first eight games of this season.

They stopped the Giants with a three-and-out to start things off and then drove for a touchdown. The next three Giants drives were a turnover on downs, consecutive sacks to put them in third and 27 and a punt, and a three and out.

Then midway through the second quarter, the Raiders drove for another touchdown, intercepted the ball, scored a third touchdown, intercepted the ball again, added a field goal at the end of the first half, and another one to begin the third to go up 27-0.

It was enough to make your head spin. At least if you were the Giants.

Ballers

HC Antonio Pierce

He brought the Raiders ready to play and itching to get him a big win in his debut of the post-Josh McDaniels era. The players came out pumped and the Giants got caught under the wheels of that bus.

The offense scored over 20 points for the first time this season, Josh Jacobs had a season-high rushing yards, and the defense had eight sacks, two turnovers off interceptions, and four others on downs. Then they sparked up cigars afterward to celebrate being out from under Josh McDaniels’s thumb and finally having fun again.

DE Maxx Crosby

Crosby came into the game outside the top ten in sacks. And left tied for second with TJ Watt. And even with three sacks in the game, he was still more valuable than his sack total.

The first Giants possession saw them line up in fourth and one to go for it. Then Maxx got the right guard to jump and they had to punt instead. The next drive saw the Giants again go for it on fourth and one. This time Crosby led the way in making the stop at the line for no gain.

The third drive ended with Crosby chasing down Daniel Jones for the sack. Jones attempted to get away from Crosby and tore his ACL.

Already up 27-0 in the third quarter, Crosby saw to it they didn’t close that gap. He got pressure on first down and got his second sack on third down to force another three-and-out. That series pretty much slammed the door on the Giants’ chances of coming back. But just for good measure, he would add one more sack early in the fourth quarter.

Even with the Raiders defense finally stepping up to match his energy, he still led the way for this team. And had cigars ready for the whole team after the game.

CB Amik Robertson

With the Raiders up 14-0 in the second quarter, the Giants knew they needed to make a big play. QB Tommy DeVito launched one for the end zone and Robertson flew over, got up in the air and picked it off, much like he did to win the game against the Packers a few weeks ago. He would get up and return this one to th 40-yard-line and the Raiders would capitalize on the turnover with their third touchdown of the day.

Early in the fourth quarter, he made a hard hit on a catch to knock the ball out on fourth down. And a bit later he added a forced fumble to his stat line just for good measure. Have yourself a game, Amik.

RB Josh Jacobs

Set the tone early and kept it going. He had 31 yards on on four runs on the opening touchdown drive, 33 yards and the touchdown run from two yards out on the second scoring drive, and scored again from two yards out on the next drive.

He already had a season-high 85 yards rushing by half time and the Raiders led 24-0. He surpassed 100 yards for a moment before a loss on a run put him back at 98 yards.

DT Bilal Nichols, DT John Jenkins

The 34-year-old was playing like he was ten years younger, showing rare pass rush and sideline-to-sideline run stopping abilities for a 327-pounder. He got pressure on the second play of the game to force an incompletion and the Giants started the game with a three-and-out.

The second Giants drive saw them line up in third and three and Nichols made the run stop short of the sticks. Then on fourth and one, he teamed up with Crosby and Jenkins to stop the tush push for no gain.

The first possession of the second quarter saw Jenkins race down the line to make a tackle for loss in the left flat, leading to another three-and-out.

Pressure was coming from all over the Raiders line, but Nichols was doing some nice complementary football with Crosby in this one. On consecutive plays in the fourth quarter Nichols had a pressure that led to a Crosby sack and then Crosby had pressure that led to a Nichols sack. That’s how it’s supposed to be done.

QB Aidan O’Connell

The rookie scored on the opening drive while delivering a strike on a slant to Jakobi Meyers that went for 25 yards.

The next scoring drive, he reminded us that Hunter Renfrow is on this team with consecutive connections to the shifty slot receiver for 19 yards and 13 yards to put the Raiders in first and goal. They scored the TD on the next play.

Following the Amik Robertson interception, O’Connell threw deep on the first play for a gorgeous 50-yard hookup with speedster Tre Turner to put the Raiders in first and goal at the ten. They scored three plays later.

He opened the second half by completing passes on four third downs, converting the first three and putting them in field goal range with the fourth one to make it a 27-0 game.

The rookie didn’t have massive numbers, but he delivered some strikes, ran the offense perfectly, and didn’t turn the ball over. Not much more you can ask of him than that.

LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, RT Jermaine Eluemunor

The entire Oline played every snap, didn’t give up a single sack, and opened holes for Josh Jacobs to hit 100 yards and two touchdowns.

On the second TD drive, Eluemunor and Van Roten made key blocks on a 15-yard Jacobs run and Eluemunor laid a key block on the touchdown run. Miller, Parham, and Van Roten got out left to make key blocks on a 15-yard catch in the left flat by DeAndre Carter to get things going in the third quarter.

Honorable Mention

WR Jakobi Meyers — Scored the Raiders first TD on a sweep and made some nice blocks in the game as well.

RB Ameer Abdullah — Did some great dirty work on offense and special teams.

WR Tre Tucker — Made an incredible diving 50-yard grab that set up the Raiders’ second touchdown of the game.

Busters

None

This was about as flawless a performance as you’ll see on both sides of the ball. The Raiders were up 24-0 by half time and were up 27-0 midway through the third before the Giants got on the board for the first time. Hard to find blame for anything when one team scores that much and gives up nothing.

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week, they responded in big way

Antonio Pierce attended all Raiders OL meetings last week and they responded in big way

For as bad as the Giants have been this year, their defensive line has been pretty good. And defensive coordinator Wink Martindale is known for bringing the heat on opposing quarterbacks.

The duo of Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence have a combined 11.5 sacks and 24 QB hits. But on Sunday in Vegas they combined for zero in both categories.

The entire starting five for the Raiders played every snap in the game. Those five from left to right were LT Kolton Miller, LG Dylan Parham, C Andre James, RG Greg Van Roten, and RT Jermaine Eluemunor.

New interim head coach Antonio Pierce — who spent the latter half of his ten-year NFL career as a player with the Giants — was determined to make sure these guys were put in the best position to help the Raiders offense function at a high level.

“I was in every meeting with the Oline this week. I was their best friend,” said Pierce, with a smile. “I was encouraging them, I was trying to learn the terminology obviously, coming from the other side of the ball the last two years and not really focusing on their terminology, their techniques, their fundamentals and how they coach and talk. But being over there just to give words of encouragement because that’s a good group. And they’re a tight knit group. And I think that was showcased last night. If you really go back and watch the game, watch where guys come off the ball to the second level. It was impressive. They set the tone the first drive of the game. They are the reason why we’re going to move forward and keep moving forward is because of those guys.”

Along with allowing zero sacks in the game and just one QB hit on rookie Aidan O’Connell, the line opened up holes for Josh Jacobs all game long. It led to Jacobs having his best game of the season, and for a moment late in the game going over 100 yards (before a tackle for loss put him back to 98 yards).

Jacobs setting the tone along with the ability for O’Connell to survey the field and find his receivers went a long way to helping the offense score 30 points when they hadn’t broken 20 points in the previous eight games this season.

NFL Week 9 snap counts: Amik Robertson leads Raiders CBs in snaps vs Giants

Amik Robertson leads Raiders CBs in snaps vs Giants

Interim head coach Antonio Pierce decided this week that Robertson would be the starter on the outside opposite Marcus Peters. Then Robertson went out and earned it while leading all cornerbacks with 52 snaps (83%).

As a cornerback, you don’t often have a stat line better than the one Amik Robertson had Sunday against the Giants. First and foremost, he had a huge interception at the goal line in the second quarter. He returned it to the 40-yard-line and the Raiders took advantage by going for a touchdown.

Robertson also had two pass breakups and a forced fumble and was tied for fourth on the team with three solo tackles.

Offense Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Greg Van Roten G 60 100% 6 25%
Kolton Miller T 60 100% 6 25%
Jermaine Eluemunor T 60 100% 6 25%
Dylan Parham G 60 100% 6 25%
Andre James C 60 100% 0 0%
Aidan O’Connell QB 60 100% 0 0%
Michael Mayer TE 53 88% 6 25%
Davante Adams WR 53 88% 0 0%
Jakobi Meyers WR 49 82% 0 0%
Josh Jacobs RB 47 78% 0 0%
Austin Hooper TE 29 48% 0 0%
Tre Tucker WR 28 47% 7 29%
Hunter Renfrow WR 13 22% 0 0%
DeAndre Carter WR 9 15% 6 25%
Ameer Abdullah RB 8 13% 18 75%
Zamir White RB 5 8% 14 58%
DJ Turner WR 3 5% 18 75%
Jesper Horsted TE 1 2% 18 75%
Netane Muti G 1 2% 6 25%
Justin Herron T 1 2% 0 0%
Defense Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Maxx Crosby DE 63 100% 0 0%
Robert Spillane LB 63 100% 0 0%
Tre’von Moehrig FS 63 100% 0 0%
Marcus Epps SS 62 98% 0 0%
Amik Robertson CB 52 83% 3 12%
Nate Hobbs CB 50 79% 0 0%
Marcus Peters CB 48 76% 0 0%
Jerry Tillery DT 37 59% 0 0%
Amari Burney LB 32 51% 9 38%
Tyree Wilson DE 32 51% 0 0%
Bilal Nichols DT 31 49% 0 0%
Jakorian Bennett CB 26 41% 1 4%
Jaylon Smith LB 25 40% 0 0%
Malcolm Koonce DE 24 38% 11 46%
Adam Butler DT 24 38% 6 25%
John Jenkins DT 23 37% 0 0%
Nesta Jade Silvera DT 16 25% 0 0%
Isaiah Pola-Mao FS 11 17% 18 75%
Malik Reed LB 8 13% 5 21%
Tyler Hall CB 3 5% 4 17%
Special Teams Spec Tms
Player Pos Num Pct Num Pct
Brandon Bolden RB 0 0% 18 75%
Curtis Bolton LB 0 0% 18 75%
Christopher Smith SS 0 0% 13 54%
Daniel Carlson K 0 0% 13 54%
AJ Cole III P 0 0% 11 46%
Jacob Bobenmoyer LS 0 0% 11 46%
Jordan Meredith G 0 0% 6 25%

Raiders ride ‘electric’ vibe for decisive victory over Giants days after Josh McDaniels fired

Raiders ride ‘electric’ vibe for decisive victory over Giants days after Josh McDaniels fired

What a transformation. In Las Vegas Sunday we saw a team playing some of the most inspired football I’ve ever seen them play. They had broken free from the shackles of the previous head coach and were ready to show what they were capable of.

What they were capable of, apparently, was a completely dominating performance in every phase of the game. Starting with the defense, which now has a former NFL linebacker taking the headset.

It’s Antonio Pierce’s job now and the vibe he created with this team was palpable.

Pierce said he took his cue from the team’s emotional leader, Maxx Crosby, who then went out and responded to his new coach’s faith in him with a three-sack performance. Giving him 9.5 on the season; tied with TJ Watt for the second most in the league.

“It was a blast,” said Crosby. “We had a lot of fun out there, you could feel it. The energy was crazy. We sustained it for the whole game. That’s what we talk about. AP talked about it during the week, just playing with swag, letting everyone’s personality come to light and I feel like everyone felt that today.”

The Raiders would finish with eight sacks in the game, their most in a single game since the 2010 season. Six different players got to the quarterback including Adam Butler, Bilal Nichols, Tyree Wilson, Tre’von Moehrig, and Robert Spillane. A couple of those sacks were set up by Crosby’s pressure on the outside.

Crosby came into this game so confident they were going to win, he purchased cigars for the entire team the night before and then they all went out there and rolled over the Giants in every facet of the game to earn the right to smoke them after the game.

Then he posted a video of he and his teammates smoking them. Along with — at the end — Mark Davis making an appearance.

I asked Crosby about that level of confidence, to which he responded “No question. No question.”

“That’s the confidence that you have to have in this league,” Crosby continued. “You have to go out there with ill intent and the intention to go win. If you have any doubt that you’re going to go out there and succeed, you’re already a step behind. We had a lot of confidence, so we were ready to go and you just felt it in the building.”

This one was never close. The Raiders played on another plane. They stopped the Giants for a three-and-out, then went for an opening drive touchdown and never looked back.

From the first play, Josh Jacobs was running well and he and his offensive line looked more in tune with each other than they had all season. The result was a season high 98 yards for Jacobs and 125 yards rushing for the team. No small feat against a tough Giants defensive line.

“Our mentality.” said right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor of the difference with their performance in this game. “They have a great Dline and Dexter Lawrence is a freaking tank, so giving attention to him and also knowing that we’re capable of running the ball too and we have one of the best backs in the league, if not the best back. And once we get him going, it’s hard to stop. Get him going, control the line of scrimmage, and take it upon ourselves to control the game.”

By half time, Jacobs had already put up a season-high 85 yards rushing, and the Raiders led 24-0, giving them not only their highest scoring game of the season, but by far their most lopsided lead.

“I think it’s the best we’ve played as a team,” said Jacobs, seemingly stating the obvious.

“The vibe and the energy is just electric right now. This is the most connected that I feel we’ve been as a unit. Just to go out there and have fun and celebrate after doing things good and the defense stepping up and holding their own.”

Jacobs had two of the Raiders’ first three touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was set up by two incredible deep catches — one an interception by Amik Robertson at one goal line and the next one on the very next play with Aidan O’Connell connecting on a 50-yard bomb to Tre Tucker. That put the Raiders in first and goal and Jacobs punched it in two plays later.

It was the second deep interception by Amik Robertson.

“That’s who I am, man,” Robertson said of his interception. “Just doing my job, getting myself into the scheme. Once I saw the ball up there, I knew it was mine.”

Nate Hobbs added an interception as well off a deflection. That led to a field goal just before the half.

“All we did was replicate what we’ve been doing all week,” said Hobbs. “We had energy all week. We have love for each other, we got each other’s backs so we went out there and played as a team.”

If anyone would have been expected to throw an interception in this game it was O’Connell who had two on the season in limited snaps. But the rookie didn’t turn the ball over at all and ran the offense efficiently along with new offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree.

It was a great first game of this new page the Raiders have turned to. Pierce literally handed the players a blank page to symbolize the fresh start. It’s a fresh start for him to as the interim head coach. And the players responded to him and stepped up.

“We wanted to do it for AP,” said Josh Jacobs. “We all sat down and were like no matter how this goes, we’re going to play with all we’ve got for that man. Because the position that he’s in and he’s going to be the face of the ridicule. We wanted to go out and play for him and show that we can do that in all three phases and we went out there and did that today.”

That 30-6 runaway win Sunday told that story pretty succinctly.

Raiders vs Giants final injury report: LB Divine Deablo, FB Jakob Johnson both OUT

LB Divine Deablo and LB Luke Masterson OUT. LB Robert Spillane Questionable. Yikes.

The final injury report is out and so too are several Raiders players. Among them is linebacker Divine Deablo (ankle), LB Luke Masterson (concussion), fullback Jakob Johnson (concussion), and tackle Thayer Munford (neck).

As if it the linebacker corps wasn’t already thin, Robert Spillane is officially Questionable with an injured hand.

Last Sunday the Raiders found themselves down to Amari Burney and Curtis Bolton at linebacker. They signed Jaylon Smith this week off the Saints practice squad. It may be too much to ask him to be ready in a matter of days, so they will certainly be hoping at very least Spillane can go.

The Giants will be without former Raiders TE Darren Waller who suffered a hamstring injury last week, making his return to Las Vegas not as he had hoped.

Also OUT for the Giants is QB Tyrod Taylor and K Graham Gano.

Questionable are OL Evan Neal (ankle), OL Andrew Thomas (hamstring), and RB Jashaun Corbin (hamstring).

Raiders winners and losers in 23-16 defeat vs. Giants

Raiders winners and losers in 23-16 defeat vs. Giants

The Raiders traveled to New York to face the Giants with more than usual on their minds after an emotional week. On the trip home, they’ll likely wonder how they didn’t score more touchdowns.

Quarterback Derek Carr and the offense got inside the red zone six times but hit paydirt just once, and Las Vegas took the loss, 23-16. The defeat dropped the Raiders’ record to 5-3, with Las Vegas missing an opportunity to win after the bye week and increase its slim lead in the AFC West.

As always, some players performed better than others. Here are this week’s winners and losers in a tough loss for the Raiders.

Winners

Yannick Ngakoue

Raiders’ defensive end Yannick Ngakoue had another two-sack game and forced an early fumble that gave the Raiders prime field position.

The play was early in the game, coming after the Giants and the Raiders had just traded punts and were tied at seven. Unfortunately, Carr couldn’t connect with tight end Darren Waller on the ensuing drive, on a well-defended play at the goal line. Las Vegas settled for one of its three field goals from kicker Daniel Carlson.

But Ngakoue came to fight for his team on Sunday. He also had a tackle for loss and two quarterback hits on the day. Early on, it appeared the pass rush from Ngakoue and DE Maxx Crosby would push the Raiders to a win, but the day ended much differently

Josh Jacobs

The Raiders were 5-2 entering this loss, but running back Josh Jacobs had yet to have an impact performance. An NFL Top-100 player, Jacobs finally had that day in New York.

He finished with 76 rushing yards on just 13 carries and added 19 receiving yards on four receptions. But most of all, he simply looked like himself, making defenders miss with ease in the open field. Also, he would have had an even bigger day if wide receiver Dillon Stoner had not committed a penalty in the third quarter on a long Jacobs run.

Jacob’s play was a welcome sight, however, even in this surprising loss. Today’s “win” for Jacobs could pay dividends for the Raiders down the line.

Darren Waller

Raiders tight end Darren Waller led Las Vegas in receiving in New York, with 92 yards on seven receptions. More than that, however, he kept his focus as Carr struggled for much of the game, especially after Carr missed Waller in the end zone just before halftime.

Waller appeared unbothered, however, and kept getting open for his quarterback. The two connected on a 19-yard gain on the Raiders’ last chance to tie the score, a drive that ended in another disastrous turnover, one of Carr’s three on the day.

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