In a game, most thought would be competitive with the Raiders having the best chance to come out on top, didn’t turn out anything like that. Not only did the Raiders lose, they barely put up a fight.
It was cold outside, and so were the Raiders. They scored on a field goal on the opening drive and then didn’t score again, going down 34-3 in New York.
It wasn’t easy to find a diamond in this rough outing, but I managed to uncover one.
Top Baller: DE Maxx Crosby
His 4-sack game last week against the Bengals begged the question of what he could do for an encore. While a repeat performance would be far too much to expect, he was still the best player on the field for the Raiders on that day. Though you might argue that it wasn’t hard to do with the way, the rest of the team was playing.
Early in the second quarter, he had what should’ve been a sack on Sam Darnold, but it was wiped out by one of the most bogus roughing the passer penalties you’ll ever see. It wasn’t even called on Crosby, it was on Maurice Hurst, who was pushed over the top of Darnold and didn’t even land on him directly. So, instead of third and 16 from the 20 like it should have been, it was first and goal at the 4-yard-line. Darnold ran it in on the next play for the touchdown.
On the following drive, Crosby would again take down Darnold for the sack. This time there was no phantom roughing or anything to wipe it out. That sack gave Crosby the team lead with 7.5 sacks on the season, and more importantly, it stopped a Jets drive to force them to settle for a field goal.
The Jets’ next drive started at the Oakland 25-yard-line after a bad punt and a long return with a roughing penalty tacked on. Crosby made a run stop on first down and a few plays later, the Jets missed a field goal to keep the score at a seemingly manageable 13-3 at the half.
A huge 69-yard completion on the first possession of the third quarter would make the score different less manageable, and the Jets would run away with it after that.
Buster: QB Derek Carr
Carr wouldn’t make it to the fourth quarter of this game before being pulled for Mike Glennon. Not because the Raiders thought they had any better chance in this game with Glennon, but because the score was 34-3. But just because Carr wasn’t technically benched doesn’t mean he wasn’t a big reason the Raiders were in that hole in the first place.
The first stalling of the first two drives were not his fault. Both ended with dropped passes. After that, it’s more difficult to remove Carr from blame.
The third Raiders’ possession started with Carr holding onto the ball too long, leading to a sack. Big plays from Jacobs and Waller would dig the offense out of it, but Carr would twice try to force a ball to Waller despite him being well-covered, and the Raiders would settle for a field goal. Daniel Carlson would miss the 43-yard attempt, and the Raiders were held without a score on the drive.
The Raiders would get the ball two more times before the half. Both would end with a three-and-out. The first one Carr scanned the field for a good long time, and had opportunities to tuck and run it, but instead threw to Jalen Richard for a loss of yards.
The second began with 40 seconds on the clock. A 7-yard pass to Richard meant Carr had to lose a down on a spike. Then he skipped a pass for Waller, and the threat was over.
The next time Carr came out, the Raiders were down 20-3. It was the run game that failed the team on that drive for a turnover on downs. It gave the Jets a short field, and they scored again to go up 27-3.
Technically that’s a three-score game with plenty of time to mount a comeback. In one play, that slight chance was eliminated.
Carr dropped back, stared down Tyrell Williams, who stopped a few yards off the line. Linebacker Neville Hewitt was sitting down in the box watching Carr’s eyes and Williams. Carr threw for Williams and Hewitt easily leaned over and broke up the pass. The ball popped in the air where it was intercepted by Brian Poole and returned for a touchdown.
At 34-3, Carr was given one more chance, and that failed too. He was pulled with a couple minutes left in the third quarter. He completed 15 passes on 27 attempts for 127 yards and an interception with a 52.5 passer rating.
Busters: Travyon Mullen, Daryl Worley, Nevin Lawson, DJ Swearinger, Erik Harris, Paul Guenther
Often times there is at least one member of the secondary who balls out even while the rest of the DBs shit the bed. No such luck this time. No one is safe this week. It was a complete collapse. Which also means the fault lands on the defensive coordinator as well.
Sam Darnold took the field and immediately completed a 23-yard pass to Leveon Bell with Swearinger unable to stop it. His next pass went for 24 yards courtesy of Mullen, and so in three plays, Darnold had 47 yards, and the Jets were at the Oakland 24-yard-line.
Two plays later, Worley gave up an 8-yard catch on third and two that put the Jets in first and goal at the 8-yard-line. An offensive pass interference call would back the Jets up, and they would settle for a field goal.
On the next drive, the Jets were making one chunk play after another. Most of them through the air. A wide-open 17-yard catch was followed up with Harris giving up a 12-yard catch, a 12-yard run, and Mullen giving up a 12-yard catch to the 25-yard-line. They would eventually score the touchdown to go up 10-3.
On the next drive, Worley gave up a 14-yard catch on third and seven. Two plays later, the Raiders were completely confused on defense to give up a 7-yard catch.
The next play on third and three, Worley again gave up the first down catch. Harris and Mullen would miss tackles, and the catch would go for 31 yards to the 12-yard-line, and the Jets would add another field goal.
On the first Jets possession of the third quarter, they lined up with trips right. Braxton Berrios would end up uncovered, and it was Swearinger who was supposed to have him. He made the catch, Harris was a tad late and didn’t take a great angle, and Berrios was gone for 69 yards.
Harris caught up to him and pushed him out at the one-yard-line, but on the next play, the entire Raiders defense was confused. Everyone went right on the play.
Lawson tried to follow the motion man across the formation and had to be yanked back over. It was clear the defense had no idea what was happening. Tight end Ryan Griffin ended up completely wide open out left for the easy touchdown.
The next Jets started at the Oakland 39 after a turnover on downs. The first play went for 30 yards courtesy of Lawson. Harris gave up a catch to put them in third and goal at the one, and then Lawson gave up the catch outright for the touchdown and a 27-3 Jets lead.
Darnold had completed 17 passes on 22 attempts for 272 yards at that point, including going 5-for-5 in the third quarter for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Buster: WR Tyrell Williams
The second play of the game, Williams couldn’t keep his block to give up a tackle for loss on a bubble screen to Zay Jones. The second drive ended with Williams dropping a wide-open catch that would have gone for big yards. Instead of a huge play, the drive ended.
Carr came back out for one more shot at scoring despite being down 34-3. On the second play, he threw for Williams over the middle. The pass was behind Williams, but it can be argued that it had to be to split the defenders.
It was a tough catch for Williams, that required him to slide for it, but those are the kinds of tough catches they need him to make. He didn’t make it. He would catch just two passes for 18 yards on six targets.
