Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
It’s the week for All Pro teams. But while those teams compare players across the league to each other, around these parts we tend to focus on just the Raiders. Which brings us to our 2023 Raiders season awards.
It’s the week for All Pro teams. But while those teams compare players across the league to each other, around these parts we tend to focus on just the Raiders. Which brings us to our 2023 Raiders season awards.
Raiders went out swinging, but went out just the same.
After a big win at Arrowhead over the defending champion Chiefs in Week 16, a trip to Indianapolis to face Gardner Minshew and the Colts seemed like a very winnable game for the Raiders.
It isn’t really that simple, though. The Raiders beat the Chiefs thanks to a couple of defensive TD’s. They can’t rely on that every week.
By half time, the Colts had scored off two big catches and the Raiders offense managed just a field goal. The Colts didn’t need to score a touchdown in the second half and still pulled out the win.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]
3 Raiders in top ten at their positions in Pro Bowl fan voting
It’s been two weeks since fan voting opened for the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl. They NFL put out the results of the voting today and a few Raiders players show up in the top ten at their respective positions.
Based on the numbers, that is probably too low for Crosby and Cole and too high for Jacobs.
Listed ahead of Crosby are Myles Garrett and Nick Bosa. The thing is Crosby has more sacks (13.5), tackles for loss (18), stops (45), and combined tackles (76) than either of them. Crosby’s sack total is third in the league and his tackles for loss, stops, and combined tackles all lead the league among edge rushers.
The only stat where Bosa and Garrett have him beat are QB hits.
Cole’s 45.9 net average leads the NFL, his 51.3 punt average is second, last week he tied the NFL’s longest punt (83) this season, he has the seventh most punts stopped inside the 20 (24), and has the fourth fewest punt returns (22) among those with over 50 punts. None of these numbers suggest 8th in voting is anywhere near appropriate.
Despite leading the league in carries (233), Josh Jacobs is still sixth in yards (805), and 11th in touchdowns (6). So, fourth in voting would seem to be judging him by his numbers last season.
Not among the top ten at their position, though probably worthy would be Davante Adams and Kolton Miller. There is a case that could be made for Robert Spillane as well.
Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 14 loss to Vikings
A barn burner it was not. This game made the wrong kind of history. It was the first game in Raiders history that was scoreless in the fourth quarter. In fact, the first score didn’t happen until 1:57 left in the game. That was a Vikings field goal and it proved to be the game winner.
Both teams had moved into scoring range earlier in the game, but the Vikings missed a field goal attempt and the Raiders fumbled it away inside the 20.
The result was a 0-0 tie for the first 58 minutes and a final of 3-0.
The Vikings offense is struggling and they will need to perform well to beat the Raiders on Sunday
After having a bye week to lick their wounds from the two previous defeats, the Minnesota Vikings are back in action, this time on the road. Minnesota takes on the Las Vegas Raiders in Allegiant Stadium at 3:05 p.m. CST.
The Vikings offense struggled mightily in their two losses just before the bye week. In weeks 11 and 12, the Vikings’ offense was tied for 29th in EPA/play with the Cleveland Browns and in front of only the Carolina Panthers and the New York Jets.
Since cutting bait with Josh McDaniels and that regime, the Raiders’ defense has come alive.
Minnesota is still firmly in the playoff picture as they currently hold the second wild-card spot and the sixth seed in the playoffs. But those two losses to the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears may loom large as these were chances to distance themselves from the pack.
Instead, they are fighting off three teams with the same 6-6 record as they hold, including the Green Bay Packers, for a shot at the playoffs. Every game matters and the Vikings need to capitalize on each game.
If the Vikings want to get back to their winning ways against the Raiders, the offense has to look a lot better than it did before the bye. To do that, they will need to follow these four keys to victory.
Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 11 loss to Dolphins
There were more than a few people who were surprised at how the Raiders hung around with the Dolphins the entire game in Miami. Many thought the Raiders would get their doors blown off and that isn’t so much disrespect for the Raiders as much as it is respect for the Dolphins.
But Antonio Pierce has the Raiders playing inspired football. Even if, at times, it isn’t great football — at least not on the offensive side of the ball — it’s inspired. And that’s all you can really hope for if you hope to get the most out of the talent you have available.
Hence the reason this game was never more than a one-score difference for either team and went down to the wire before the Dolphins won it 20-13.
In a game of defensive heroics, Maxx was still the heroic-est. But this time he got a little help from the other side of the line.
We pick things up in the third quarter. That’s when the Raiders stopped letting the Dolphins get to the end zone. Crosby stopped their second drive almost single-handedly. They moved to first down at the Vegas 36. Then Crosy got in the backfield to make the stop on run stuff for one yard. Next play he helped make a tackle on a two-yard catch. And on third down, got pressure to force a bad throw. The Dolphins attempted a 50-yard field goal and missed.
The next drive ended when Koonce got pressure up the middle on a stunt to force an incompletion, leading to another field goal attempt. This one connected from 41 yards out. Koonce would get pressure to help end the next drive as well with the Dolphins again settling for a field goal.
The fourth quarter saw three possessions by the Dolphins for a total of 19 yards of offense. The first had Koonce made a run stuff, then ended with a vicious tackle by Crosby to make the stop well shy of the sticks. The second was upended with Koonce forcing a holding penalty that the Dolphins couldn’t overcome. The final possession, they got their only first down on the fourth quarter, but it still ended three plays later with Crosby getting a pressure to force an incompletion. That defensive stand gave the Raiders offense one more shot with just under two minutes remaining.
After the Raiders went up 10-7 in the first quarter, the Dolphins led out the second quarter looking like they might respond with a touchdown to retake the lead. Hobbs saw to it that didn’t happen. Once they got to the 30-yard-line, Hobbs made two tackles on short catches. The Dolphins would still drive to inside the five-yard-line. They would go for it on fourth-and-one from the three-yard-line and it was Hobbs who came up to make the initial hit behind the line and Pola-Mao finished it off for the turnover on downs.
In the final seconds of the second quarter, the Dolphins were up 14-10 and driving. That was until Hobbs punched the ball out to force a fumble and give the Raiders the ball at the Miami 32-yard-line. The ensuing field goal made it a one-point game at the half.
First play of the third quarter, Pola-Mao picked off a deep Tua Tagovailoa pass. He later teamed up on a stop on third down.
Hobbs and Pola-Mao finished third and fourth on the team in tackles respectively. And they combined for two of the Raiders’ three takeaways in the game.
Cole was launching some punts into orbit in this game. His first punt went 50 yards with an illegal blindside block at the end of it to start the Dolphins’ drive at the 14-yard-line.
He added a 53-yard punt in the second quarter that was fair caught. And later in the quarter broke off a beauty that traveled 61 yards and bounced out of bounds at the 12-yard-line.
Then in the third quarter he booted a 51-yard punt the was fair caught at the 15. And, finally, he kicked another 53-yarder with an illegal block on the return that started the Dolphins possession at their own 10.
A couple weeks ago against the Giants, Cole had four punts of 63 yards or more, which set a record. But this game was better in some regards, because of those big punts, only one was stopped inside the 20-yard-line. And two of them went for touchbacks. In fact, in Sunday’s game in Miami, on six punts, Cole had zero touchbacks and the Dolphins started their drive inside the 20 four times. That usually means better hang time and better placement. Which is preferable to just simple punt distance.
It might not surprise you to learn that Spillane led the Raiders in tackles (13). He also had a tackle for loss and a pass breakup that was very nearly an interception. Because of course he did. He’s become quite the ball hawk this season.
His first tackle of the game went for a loss. Then on the Dolphins’ first drive of the second quarter, he had three run stops, including a stop on third and ten just short of the sticks. The Dolphins went for it on fourth-and-one from the three and couldn’t convert.
Spillane was a big factor in stopping the Dolphins on their final two drives, thus giving the Raiders offense two more shots at tying the game late. He was in on the tackle on third-and-15 to force the first punt. Then he was in on the run stop on their second to last play as well.
WR Davante Adams — Got open a lot in this game. It wasn’t his fault Aidan O’Connell only connected with him on one deep shot. But it was the Raiders’ one TD in the game.
LB Luke Masterson — Forced the fumble on the Dolphins’ first drive to start the Raiders second possession already in scoring range.
DC Patrick Graham — While Antonio Pierce gets credit for this team playing inspired football, Graham should get some love for his work as well.
Robert Spillane named AFC Defensive Player of the Week
By any measure, Robert Spillane had a monster game Sunday night against the Jets. He had made the biggest play of the game when he intercepted Zach Wilson late in the fourth quarter to all but clinch the win for the Raiders. And that was after being the main factor in stalling three previous Jets drives in the game.
For his efforts, the veteran linebacker has been named AFC Defensive Player of the Week.
That's our guy! #RaiderNation
Congratulations to Robert Spillane on being named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week!
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 15, 2023
Just how good was Spillane’s game? Well, he was named my Top Baller and, as I noted, even if you had removed his clutch interception from the equation, he *still* would’ve been Top Baller.
The Raiders defense would keep the Jets out of the end zone in the game and win 16-12.
After taking a 9-3 lead in the second quarter, the Jets were stopped on five straight drives, with Spillane making the key play on the first three of those drives — a run stuff for no gain, a sack, forcing a hold, and then another run stop.
Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 10 win over Jets
The way this one played out was pretty much exactly as everyone expected. In the lead up to the game, I basically kept thinking to myself ‘first to 16 wins’. That’s because ain’t nobody was gonna be scoring more than one touchdown and if either team did, that would be the deciding factor.
That team was the Raiders, who beat the Jets 16-12.
Even if you remove his late game clutch interception, Spillane might still have been the best player in this contest. And that’s saying a lot.
Spillane was on a mission. At least four times in this game, plays he made were the deciding factor in stopping a Jets’ drive.
Come the second quarter, the Jets had scored on their first three possessions to go up 9-3. Thanks to Spillane, they wouldn’t score again until the fourth quarter.
Their next three possessions ended with Spillane making the play. A run stuff for no gain on third and two, a sack on second and two, and forcing a hold on third and 21 then making the stop on third and 22.
Then with the Jets within four at 16-12 and driving late in the fourth quarter, he stepped in front of the Zach Wilson pass for his third interception of the season. This one with a cast on his right hand. Unbelievable.
It was a back-and-forth game with the Raiders failing to take the lead once in the first three quarters. That ended on the first play of the fourth quarter when Aidan O’Connell escaped pressure and put a ball up high where only Mayer could get it and Mayer leapt in the air, plucking it from over the top of the defender to the go-ahead score.
It was Mayer’s first touchdown as a pro and it was a beauty. And in a game like this, it proved to be enough to get the W.
This game started poorly for the Raiders, with a 41-yard catch and run that put them in scoring range. It would go no further thanks to Crosby. He flew in for what should be credited as a sack. And when I say that, I think a rule change is in order, which states that if you have the player wrapped up and he is flagged for intentional grounding, that should be a sack. For the purposes of the game, it was the same. The Jets lost ten yards and a down and couldn’t make it back up, settling for a field goal.
It was big plays on each drive that put the Jets in scoring range. Their third one came off of an interception and moved them into first and goal at the three. A touchdown here may have been devastating in a game this close. So, Crosby wrecked it. He forced a holding penalty that backed them up to the 13. Then was in on the run stop on second and goal and the Jets would settle for a third field goal.
Jenkins had a run stuff on the Jets’ first drive. Tillery upended the second drive when he forced a holding penalty. Butler ended the third drive on third and goal when he batted the ball down at the line.
The next possession, Jenkins had another run stuff for no gain. Then the drive after that, he got one of his big mitts on a pass to bat it at the line. Come the third quarter, Butler had a tackle for loss on a three-and-out.
The first drive of the fourth quarter ended with Tillery getting all the way out to the left boundary to help Divine Deablo lead Zach Wilson out of bounds to end the drive. And on the Spillane interception, it was Tillery who got around his man to get pressure in Wilson’s face and force the throw.
His two fumbles in the game really had me thinking whether he deserved to be on this list. In the end I decided that because his hard running was such a key factor in the Raiders scoring 16 points in the first place, he deserved more credit than blame.
His first fumble came on the tail end of a 40-yard burst and it bounced out of bounds. The run put the Raiders at the 13-yard-line. The next play he ran for five yards to the eight. Two plays later, they scored the touchdown.
In the early going, yards were tough to come by for Jacobs against a stout Jets defensive front. Even so, his running was a major factor in several scoring drives. Their second scoring drive came near the end of the second quarter and featured runs of six yards and eight yards — both of which the Raiders made the first down on the next play.
The third scoring drive saw Jacobs convert a third and two and a fourth and one along with the longest play of the drive that went for 12 yards on a catch in the left flat. That drive tied the game at 9-9.
Just prior to his lost fumble late in the fourth, Jacobs showed he is still a strong runner late in games, when broke several tackles and carried defenders the final five yards of a seven-yard first down run. He also had a nine-yard run and converted on third and one on that drive.
Jacobs finished with 116 yards rushing — his first time going over 100 yards this season — and added two catches for 11 yards.
The Jets have the man once known at ‘Greg the Leg’ and ‘Legatron’. And the Raiders have the best in the game today in Carlson. Both kickers were doing work in this one, with Carlson splitting them from 40, 41, and 54 yards.
WR DeAndre Carter — Had a 32-yard kick return to the Jets 45 that helped lead to the game-tying field goal. Later had a 15-yard run on fourth and one.
‘A Dream come true’: Robert Spillane gets emotional after his the pick in the clutch
Raider interim head coach Antonio Pierce said with candor this week that their matchup with the Jets wouldn’t be a shootout. He said it with a laugh because he knew this one was going to be a grind-it-out affair against a stout New York defense.
The game lived up to that expectation. It was tied 9-9 as it headed into the fourth quarter on six field goals and nine punts.
Late in the game, the Raiders were up 16-12 and then turned the ball over on a Josh Jacobs fumble. The Jets took the ball with under five minutes remaining and were driving to try and take the lead back. That’s when Robert Spillane put on his cape.
The veteran linebacker stepped in front of a Zach Wilson pass and took a potential score off the board, all but ending the game.
SPILLANE WITH THE PICK!!!!#NYJvsLV | 📺 NBC pic.twitter.com/JNj1wO8bpE
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 13, 2023
“Saw Zach Wilson dropping back, saw a little route concept into the boundary,” said Spillane. “Divine Deablo did a great job of making him double pump on the throw which gave me time to get there. So just good team defense.”
Deferring credit is something we have come to expect from Spillane. But even if he won’t, his teammates will.
“That was huge. Spill steps up, makes a huge play. It’s what he does,” Maxx Crosby said of Spillane’s clutch interception. “He’s a great player. He came in here since day one with the right mindset. He’s been a huge part of this defense so I’m super happy for him.”
Being the one to make that play means something to Spillane. So much so that when asked about it after the game, he got choked up in his response.
“It’s a dream come true,” Spillane said with tears welling up in his eyes. “I poured my heart into this football … so, uh, to be able to help my team win is a blessing.”
There are so many layers to this with Spillane, someone who most people saw as merely a thumper. A run stopper. And his one interception over his first five seasons only confirmed that in many people’s eyes. Sunday night’s game-changing pick was his fourth takeaway of the season and his third interception.
This particular interception is the most amazing of all because he broke his hand two weeks ago and had surgery on it. That injury has not cost him a single snap, and now we find out it apparently doesn’t affect his ability to catch a football either.
“I’m a football player,” Spillane said plainly. “Football players play football games. They play hurt, they play injured. I learned that at a very young age. Most people think you have to play hurt but not injured. You have to play injured. You got to play with broken fingers. You got to play with a broken hand. You got to play with a torn MCL. It’s an honor and a privilege to go out there. So I never want to miss any opportunity to be on the field.”
I’ll admit to being somewhat skeptical when Spillane was signed by the Raiders. That had less to do with Spillane than with the team’s track record with adding not well-established free agent middle linebackers. In hindsight, I’m thinking now we all should’ve listened to Crosby when he told us early on about the intangibles that Spillane brings to the field.
Crosby and Spillane have known each other since college. Crosby went to Eastern Michigan, while Spillane went to Western Michigan. So Crosby was a believer and had a hand in getting Spillane to the Raiders.
“During free agency we had a great talk, and I was trying to convince him to come here,” Crosby said. “And he ended up coming, so since day one, you know, he comes in, he’s been working his ass off and he’s just a great dude to be around. He brings energy all the time. He loves football and those are the type of guys you want to play with.”
It’s often that Crosby is the one closing out games. But he’s more than happy to see his teammate and fellow football lifer be the hero at the end of this one.
Robert Spillane broke his hand vs Lions, had surgery and hasn’t missed a single snap since. Just unreal.
We’ve heard Raiders defenders like Maxx Crosby speak highly of the toughness and grit of Robert Spillane. And if you didn’t buy into that talk before, you probably should now.
Wednesday Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce revealed that two weeks ago when the Raiders faced the Detroit Lions, Robert Spillane broke his hand. The middle linebacker then taped it up and played the rest of the game. He didn’t miss a snap.
The day after the game, Spillane had surgery on his broken hand, missed all of one practice, and then played every snap again in their big win over the Giants last Sunday.
Needless to say, Pierce — a former NFL middle linebacker himself — could not be more impressed with this.
“Lunchpail. Hard hat,” Pierce said of Spillane.
“That’s the mentality you want. You got your super stars, you got the guys that get all the credit and you got guys like this; the lunchpail guys. That just come to work every day. And does it with a smile. He’s been like that since day one. I remember the first time we talked over the phone. When we signed him, his energy, I could feel his fire in his belly of being an undrafted guy, getting cut from one team, not getting the opportunity he thought he was going to get at certain places, and he brought that here. And the first thing he did when he got here was he get with Maxx Crosby and he tried to match his energy and it didn’t work out, but what he’s done for us is the mental part. Really good for Patrick Graham, our linebacker corps and our defense because he does a lot of things pre-and-post-snap that helps us.”
Spillane didn’t just play, he made plays. And he led the Raiders with nine combined tackles against the Giants. Just unreal toughness for the veteran linebacker.
