The Oakland Raiders were humbled Sunday against the Green Bay Packers as the team got a beat down 42-24. The Raiders displayed precisely what you can’t do on the road, having three turnovers, especially in the red zone.
Aaron Rodgers looked like he was playing against West Virginia with his state line. He finished 25-31 for 429 yards and 6 total touchdowns. The Raiders secondary was abysmal today with no answer for the Packers offense that was missing their best wide receiver. Rodgers has receivers open all over, and the Raiders need of a pass rush was once again on full display.
The offense was able to move the ball quickly, averaging 7.8 yards per play but had three killer turnovers in the red zone. Josh Jacobs still en route to offensive rookie of the year nod having another strong game with 124 yards rushing on the day. The Raiders need to avoid a shootout but couldn’t hang with the Packers offense for 60 minutes.
With that said, let’s look at the winners and losers from Week 7.
Winner: RB Josh Jacobs
Jacobs has solidified himself as one of the best running backs in all of football, and Sunday was no different. He is the Raiders only constant right now on offense, and he shows up to play single week ever.
Jacobs finished the game averaging a career-high of 5.9 yards per carry. He set the tone early, running over Adrian Amos. Then The first-round pick displayed his explosiveness with an electric 42-yard run where he broke plenty of tackles with great vision to find the cutback.
Jacobs has changed this offense for the better and is proving his worth as a first-round pick. Going into Houston, the Raiders will lean on him again and hopefully can finish off with touchdowns in the red zone come Week 8.
Winner: TE Darren Waller
Darren Waller All-Pro campaign continues with a massive game against the Packers. The Raiders finally targeted Waller deep down the field, and it led to Waller’s most impressive game of the season.
Waller finished with 7 catches for 126 yards and 2 touchdowns. He had huge plays down the field and had a third touchdown taken away because of the lousy holding penalty called on David Sharpe. Waller is a matchup problem in the middle of the field with a long catch radius and will continue to be the focal point of the offense.
If the former Baltimore Raven can continue to get open up the middle of the seams, it will open up everything for the rest of the receivers outside. The emergence of Waller has been the Raiders’ best story this season, and he keeps it rolling after 7 weeks.
Loser: CB Gareon Conley
The Raiders took a chance on Conley in 2017 after he was facing serious charges before the NFL draft. After a sophomore season that displayed promise, the third-year cornerback continues to struggle with a horrendous game against the Packers.
Conley was picked on throughout the second half. He didn’t have any good plays during the game and has struggled with undrafted players like Jake Kumerow beating him severely on curl routes. On the last touchdown of the day, he had a vast missed tackle that led to the final score for the Packers to make it 42-17.
The Raiders need Conley badly, or the secondary will be in trouble for the rest of the way. The former first-round pick has to step it up quickly with Deshaun Watson and Deandre Hopkins coming up next week in Houston.
Loser: Raiders red zone offense
The Raiders were able to move the ball consistently throughout the game with a balanced attack from 20 to 20. The problem was the three red-zone turnovers that kept the Raiders to keep up in a shootout with the Packers.
Carr was having his best passing performance before the season before he had a flashback to 2017. Carr was scrambling inside the ten and decided to stick the ball out with his left hand, leading to a killer fumble into the end zone for a touchback. The next one was a turnover on downs when the Raiders tried the same run play back to back on third and fourth down.
The final one was an interception, but it would have been just garbage time touchdown. The Raiders were one the best red zone teams coming into this game, and this could be just a blip on a long season. The Raiders need to clean up fast if they want to compete for a playoff spot.
Loser: CB Daryl Worley
Daryle Worley has been a steady player in the Raiders in the secondary, and you usually don’t hear his name called very often. However, today was a different story with him giving up big plays in the secondary throughout the football game.
Worley has had issues staying in his cover 2 responsibility all season, giving up a massive play to Allen Robinson on the Chicago Bears first drive. The game against the Packers was no different from him, not dropping into the zone on a drop by Allen Lazard. Then he did it again two plays later, giving up a considerable touchdown before the half. He obviously didn’t know he was playing man to man defense.
The Raiders need Worley as well; this is the second year playing for Paul Guenther. The Raiders secondary had to get it together fast, and Worley is part of the problem that stuck out its ugly head in an embarrassing loss to the Packers.
