The feeling of greatness after a win against the Kansas City Chiefs has come to an end. The Las Vegas Raiders fall to 3-3 after another blowout loss against the Tampa Buccaneers 45-20.
The Raiders offense was forced to win through the air and couldn’t carry the team to a victory. After making Aaron Rodgers look like a rookie, The passing offense was able to keep up for a while until they folded in the fourth quarter. They still averaged their lowest yards per play of the year at 5.5 against one of the league’s better defenses.
The defense continues its poorest performance allowing 30 points for the fifth time this season. The Buccaneers were able to move the ball at will through the air. Overall, the offense averaged 6.5 yards per play, and the defense could not pressure upfront. It was another ugly game from this bad defense.
Who are the Winners and Losers after this week? Let’s take a look.
Winner: QB Derek Carr
Derek Carr was coming off what some would say was the game of his career after 300 plus yards against the Chiefs. He followed up with another good performance against one of the league’s top defenses and kept the Raiders in the game as long as he could.
Carr had his lowest completion percentage of the year but still could throw two touchdowns and had an INT bounce of a receivers hands. Carr used his legs and was the second-leading rusher on the team for the day, rushing for two first downs. He handled the blitz well and was aggressive downfield, which continued from his last outing before the bye week.
If Carr plays likes this with no run game against a top defense, it is a good sign as we advance. The Raiders need to get their running back intact, but Carr seems to be the steady cog in the offense the past three weeks.
Winner: WR Nelson Agholor
Nelson Agholor did not come into this season with a ton of hype after two down seasons in Philadelphia. That has changed this season, and he has become a nice deep threat for the offense and continues to make play after play every week.
Did Agholor struggle late? Yes, but that does not take away from his 5 receptions and 107 yards on the day. He was able to beat these receivers deep and get separation and helped the Raiders attack the Bucs defense’s weakness, which is the middle of the field. Agholor has a great connection with Carr, and it continues to grow every week.
The drops late kept this from being a bigger day for Agholor, and he has to clean that up going forward to be a force in this offense. He has still been a pleasant surprise for a beat-up receiving core that has dealt with injuries all season.
Loser: Paul Guenther
Now it’s time for the elephant in the room. For an odd reason, Paul Guenther still has a job after an ugly performance after an ugly performance. The Raiders came out of the bye week looking worse on defense after a good performance against the Kansas City Chiefs the week before
Guenther did not have any answers for the Bucs passing game and was diced up by Tom Brady. Brady throws for his highest mark of the year at 369 yards with five total touchdowns. Bruce Arians destroys cover 1 and cover 3 defenses, and Guenther decided today those would be his favorite coverages. As you can tell, it didn’t work out for him.
Gruden didn’t seem too happy with the press conference’s performance and makes you wonder what happens the rest of this week. Could the Raiders fire the defensive coordinator? It is long overdue after three seasons of inept performances.
Loser: Run Blocking
A hidden secret for this Raiders offense has been the terrible run blocking all season. Josh Jacobs has yet to rush for over 100 yards, and it is not getting any help from the line. Sunday was another reminder of this secret, with the Raiders only rushing for 76 total yards and 3.2 yards per carry.
When Carr is your second-leading rusher, there is a huge problem. Jacobs was held to only 17 yards, which has to be his lowest total as a Raider during his young career. It would have been worse if Gruden didn’t run the football to end the game instead of passing the ball during garbage time to protect his QB.
Kolton Miller brought up the covid incident after the game, but what about the first five weeks? This isn’t a one-time singular issue. This has been a massive problem all season with no future of greatness insight. The Raiders need Richie Incognito back bad to get this running game back on track.
Loser: CB Nevin Lawson and CB Lamarcus Joyner
For the first time in my writing this column, we got our first players sharing the loser prize. Nevin Lawson and Lamarcus Joyner both had awful games today, giving up catch after catch in man-to-man defense.
Lawson was getting picked on by Tom Brady and gave up two touchdowns on the day. Before halftime, the biggest one was where he was beaten deep by Scott Miller on the go route with a perfect ball from Brady. Joyner was not any better, getting constantly destroyed on crossing routes and was abused by Chris Godwin from the slot position.
Joyner has been an issue since he was signed and is basically out of position at this point. Lawson is who he is as well, which is an average corner in the NFL. With the way this secondary is playing it might be time to give the young guys a shot and allow them to grow for the rest of the year. The way this secondary is playing right now is not going to cut it.
