Well, that was hard to watch for Raiders fans. After a beat down by the Chiefs last week the Raiders went to Minnesota and got dominated from the opening snap to a 34-14 defeat.
The Raiders run defense had to come to play for the Raiders to win this game and they didn’t show up. The Vikings ran the ball on the Raiders for 211 yards led by Dalvin Cook who looked unstoppable throughout the game. The Vikings were able to impose their will on the Raiders and keep the ball out of Cousins hands.
The offense did not play well and struggled to move the ball going three for 11 on third downs. While this could have expected facing one of the better defensives in the league the turnovers and missed throws kept them out of the game. With that said, let’s look at the winners and losers against the Vikings.
Winner: TE Darren Waller
Wasn’t many bright spots for the Raiders on Sunday, but one player continues to shine through the tough times. Darren Waller had himself a day almost tying a franchise record in receptions racking up 13 for 134 yards.
Waller was targeted 14 times, and his only miss was poor thrown football that he still should have come down with. Waller dominated up the seams, and his speed was on display when Gruden got him in space against Vikings Defense.
The Raiders went to Waller way too late after being cute to start the game. Gruden has to get Waller going early and target him down the field more to open up this offense.
Loser: DB Curtis Riley
Another week and Curtis Riley finds himself in the losers section. The safety has clearly become a liability on the field with the Vikings personally targeting him through the game for big plays in the 34-14 route.
Riley gave up the first big pass play of the game when he couldn’t hang with Irv Smith Jr. over the middle the field having his ankles broken by the tight end. The next play they went right after him again having Adam Thelin lined up against him in the slot.
He got beat badly once again, and this time it went for a touchdown. Guenther replaced Riley with Erik Harris in the second half, and hopefully, that leads to the rest of the year.
Loser: QB Derek Carr
It is well known it is a make or break year for Derek Carr, and this performance didn’t do much to help it out. Carr continues to struggle to move the ball on third down and misses tons of throws that needed to be made.
The stat line will for sure fool people with Carr finishing with a passer rating over 100 and 79 percent completion percentage. The thing is his seven misses were awful. It started off with the interception where Carr became another meme panicking in the pocket and forcing an ugly throw.
His biggest miss of the day was to Darren Waller when the Raiders has a chance to cut it to a one-score game. The Raiders need Carr to play better for them to even have a mediocre season or it’s another top-ten pick.
Loser: HC Jon Gruden
The main loser of this game was Jon Gruden and his offensive game plan. The Raiders offense is just plain dull with a slow pace and the route concepts against a team that is a two-high safety were egregious.
Going back to the Carr interception on the Raiders third possession the game Vikings were playing cover 2 to start the football game. Gruden kept calling concepts that were not cover 2 beaters and put Carr in a terrible position with nobody open, and he forced it into coverage.
Gruden didn’t start attacking the middle of the field until the game was over and started to have success up the seams. Raiders fans blame Carr for being the conservative Charlie check down, but when your coach is calling all six-yard curls, he’s going to throw it short. Gruden needs to go back to the drawing board and adjust because the NFL has figured out this offense.
Loser: Raiders Defensive Line
Last but also least was the Raiders defensive line who got bullied by the Vikings. The Vikings ran the ball down the Raiders throats, and the defensive line had no penetration all game.
Cook looked like one of the best running backs in the league and was breaking tackles left and right. He also had huge holes that were opened up by the Vikings offensive line pushing the Raiders off the ball consistently. The first two weeks run defense was the bright spot for the Raiders but that all changed Sunday afternoon. With one of the best offensive lines in football coming up against the Raiders next week, this defensive line better pick it up.
