Let’s wrap up this year’s “Ballers & Busters” and put a bow on it. In a season with ups and downs, it ended with a lot more lows than highs. But even while losing five of their last six games, and squandering a golden opportunity to sneak into the playoffs (the loss to the Jaguars), there were many positives. So, as (almost) always, we will list those positive performances before moving on to the negatives.
Top Baller: RB Josh Jacobs
Seven times over the first nine games Jacobs was named a “Baller.” The final two of those times, he did it with a broken shoulder. Then he did it two more times, still nursing that broken shoulder. He was twice a “Top Baller.” Eventually, his season would be cut short by the injury, but not before he ran for 1150 yards, just eight yards shy of the fifth-best rushing mark in franchise history. He surpassed the best rookie rushing mark by midseason. He is the odds on favorite to be named Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Baller: DE Maxx Crosby
Crosby was seeing few snaps in the first quarter of the season, but once the Raiders cut him loose, he exploded. He was named a “Baller” eight times over the final 12 games of the season, and thrice a Top Baller. He just got better as the season went on too. Five of his Baller nods came over the final seven games even while the Raiders only managed two wins over that time. He finished with 10.0 sacks on the season, just a half-sack away from tying the franchise rookie record set by Greg Townsend way back in 1983.
Baller: TE Darren Waller
The rookies above were a great thing for the Raiders’ future, but so is their young tight end. Waller had nearly twice as many catches (90) and receiving yards (1145) than any other receiver on the team. His dominant performances had him named a Baller seven times, three times a “Top Baller.” The Raiders wisely locked him up with an extension midseason.
Baller: C Rodney Hudson
The Raiders got an All-Pro this year. It’s only the second team, but, hey, it’s still an All-Pro. As an offensive lineman, he tends to fly under the radar, thus he was a Baller just four times, once a “Top Baller”, but was never a “Buster.” Offensive linemen, and centers in particular, are doing their best work when you don’t hear their names. Hudson quietly goes about his business being the rock of the Raiders’ offense.
Ballers: RT Trent Brown, LT Kolton Miller
I got to hand it to Kolton Miller. A rocky rookie season brought a lot of questions about whether he was the answer at left tackle for the Raiders. He seems to have answered those questions in the affirmative. I must give special recognition to his run blocking. His ability to get downfield and block on screens and pitch outs was impressive. And for most of the season, he was solid in pass protection. He was named a “Baller” four times and was even named a Top Baller once.
Brown was a great addition, but we knew he would be. He was a Baller four times early in the season before he got banged up late in the season and ultimately was lost to a torn pectoral muscle. The drop off at the position was instant and significantly noticeable.
Baller: WR Hunter Renfrow
Speaking of noticeable absences. Renfrow was named a “Baller” in Week 8 for the first time and three times in four weeks before being lost to a broken rib. He was out weeks 12-15 and the Raiders lost all four of those games. When he returned, he went for over 100 yards and the Raiders won. It was his first 100-yard game ever at any level. Then he did it again in the season finale. Over his final six appearances, Renfrow was a “Baller” five different times.
Honorable Mention
LG Richie Incognito – Stepped in off the street and held down the left guard spot. Was rewarded with a two-year extension to solidify the Raiders offensive line.
DE Benson Mayowa – We didn’t see much from him down the stretch with the emergence of Maxx Crosby. But he jumped out early to lead the Raiders with 7.0 sacks at midseason.
LB Will Compton – Was signed off the street and jumped into the middle linebacker spot for the Raiders. In four starts over the final four games, he was a Baller twice.
Busters: Jon Gruden, Paul Guenther
This team’s inability to close out games was its most glaring problem. Good teams never feel like they’re out of it. This team never acted like they had a shot, even in the times they were ahead. The offense couldn’t score in the second half and the defense couldn’t stop anything.
Personnel was an issue as well. Gruden made three trades for wide receivers last year, giving up a third-round pick, two fifth-round picks, and a sixth-round pick and getting almost nothing out of any of them.
First was Antonio Brown, who went off the deep end before the season started, then Trevor Davis who was just about useless even before he fumbled his way off the team, and finally Zay Jones who averaged a pathetic 7.3 yards per catch and topped out at 27 yards receiving in a game.
The offense was far too conservative, even in times is absolutely needed to go big. Too many times they just went home.
As for the defense, there were too many times where the Raiders were so bad, it couldn’t be placed on one or two players or players were so wide open it was impossible to tell who was supposed to be defending on the place. More likely it was just a bad call and the opposing offense just exploited it.
Add Guenther placing all his hopes on a linebacker who was one bad hit away from being banned indefinitely – something that happened in week four – and you have the makings of a bad year on defense.
The most crucial collapse of the season came in that four-game losing streak from weeks 12-15. The first two games the offense scored just 12 combined points while the defense gave up 74. In the third game, the defense gave up three second-half touchdowns while the offense didn’t score at all and they lost 42-21.
In the fourth game against the Jaguars, the Raiders jumped out to a 16-3 lead only to choke it away, getting outscored 17-0 in the second half and lose 20-16. Gruden and Guenther were “Top Busters” for that game.
It is widely looked at as the gut punch for the Raiders season. They were only still in it for the final game because of some very lucky favors from other teams to help them stave off elimination for another week.
Buster: CB Lamarcus Joyner
Not once was Joyner named a “Baller.” The biggest free-agent acquisition the Raiders and the best he could do was to not be the weakest link on the defense. He was a “Buster” eight times, and “Top Buster” other three times. We’re talking about a player who was only playing nickel because he was supposed to be the best option in the slot, as opposed to safety. He had no interceptions and just three pass breakups all season.
Buster: LB Tahir Whitehead
At a tumultuous position overall, Whitehead was supposed to be the closest thing the team had to stability. And that is not a great state of affairs. Whitehead was a “Buster” five times this season, and once a “Top Buster.”
To be fair, Whitehead was not always put in the best position for success. For instance, he was often dropped into zone coverage and found himself covering the opposing team’s top receivers. That’s a mismatch that was often exploited.
But in case you thought all his troubles were a product of the defensive, you need only look at what Will Compton was able to do when he was inserted into the starting lineup. Compton was shedding tackles regularly and finding the ball on runs you typically see Whitehead unable to make a play.
Buster: QB Derek Carr
In four of the five losses the Raiders suffered in their final six games, Carr was part of the problem. Three of those times, he was the “Top Buster.” Overall he was a “Buster” seven times and five times he was named the “Top Buster.”
Boiling it down, it was part decision making and part accuracy issues. He would miss open receivers too often when he was dead set on throwing to a particular receiver whether that receiver was blanketed or not. Or more often, he would just check it down regardless of the situation or throw it away when a shot downfield was the right play.
His poor decisions in the final game in Oakland got him booed off the field. Afterward he acted like it’s just how Raiders fans in Oakland behave as opposed to any fans anywhere in a similar situation watching the team they poured their heart and souls out for come out in their final second half farewell and score zero second-half points while their QB is throwing the ball away with seconds left and several times missing open receivers.
Carr could have taken ownership of the reaction by the fans, but instead he acted like they were all just spoiled brats who he gave up so much to please and they were simply unappreciative of his sacrifices. It was not a good look.
The last we saw from Carr was in Denver. In that game, he twice missed Hunter Renfrow open for what would have been a touchdown; once overthrowing him in short-yardage at the goal line and the other underthrowing him on what would have been a long touchdown.
Carr didn’t complete a TD pass until the final drive gifted to them by a Broncos penalty and after the Raiders were notified they had been eliminated from the playoffs so the pressure was off. If you like stats, you’ll love Carr’s over 70% completion and over 4000 yards passing. If you like wins, you won’t like how he got those stats.
Buster: K Daniel Carlson
Daniel Carlson was lights out last season, hitting 15 straight and missing just one field goal as a Raider. That success continued over the first half of this season, with him missing just one field goal the first seven games. Come Week 9, he missed a 45-yard field goal. Carlson would end up missing a field goal in six of the final nine games.
Every single game last season in which he had more than one field goal attempt, he would miss one of them. And those weren’t all outside 50 yards either. He missed once inside 40 yards, five times inside 50, and both of his attempts outside 50 yards. He even missed a couple point-after attempts. That’s horrendous.
Buster: RT Brandon Parker
Remember that significant dropoff at right tackle from Trent Brown? Thy name is Brandon Parker. His horrible play as a rookie was the reason the Raiders made Brown the highest paid offensive lineman in history and placed him on the right side.
You would hope he would have improved enough in his second season to step in to relieve Brown. Nope. Parker looked just as out of his element as he did when he first stepped foot on the field as a rookie. He was a “Buster” in all three of his starts before being benched for David Sharpe. How Parker ever got three starts over Sharpe is a real mystery.
Buster: WR Tyrell Williams
All the coaches talked about with Williams was how they intended on him being their No. 1 receiver until Antonio Brown became available. When Brown was no longer available, it was time for Williams to prove he was who the Raiders hoped he’d be. He didn’t live up to the expectations.
After going over 100 yards in the season opener, Williams didn’t do it again all season. He was a “Buster” four times during the season, including three times in the final five games.
Yes, Williams was hampered by an injury to his plantar fascia, which may give his coaches some hope that once healthy he can be what they need him to be. He just wasn’t this season, leaving the Raiders with a dearth of talent at the wide receiver position.
Buster: CB Nevin Lawson
With some injuries in the secondary as well as the trade of Gareon Conley to the Texans, the Raiders needed Lawson to step into a starting role. Lawson started five games. He was a “Buster” in three of those games.
Lawson tackles well, I’ll give him that, but his coverage is lacking and his hands are an abomination. He had one of the worst dropped interceptions I’ve ever seen. The ball was an arching pass as if it was lobbed just for him and he still couldn’t handle it. It would have been the six-year veteran’s FIRST NFL INTERCEPTION. But no. He is still stuck at zero.
