Offense off to a Fast Start
The first of the Oakland Raiders Week Three Takeaways saw they wasted no time this week finding the end zone. Despite scoring 63 points the first two weeks Derek Carr and the offense talked about doing a better job starting fast. This week they made sure they did, taking advantage of a weak defensive backfield of the Tennessee Titans. Latavius Murray has continued his best career start running with speed and power. His 22-yard touchdown down run was a perfect example of vision, power and speed. After making one cut, slipping through the whole Murray was able to break a tackle and take it to the house. Murray has looked the best he has in his career thus far, being far more productive with his carries.
Second Half Woes
After scoring 17 points in the first half the Raiders offense could not find the end zone, a large reason of that due to Raiders receivers dropping passes on critical third downs. Clive Walford continues his disappointing season after he dropped a critical third and 8 pass in which Carr showcased his great mobility rolling out to his left and throwing a dime to a sliding Walford. Amari Cooper had a few big plays but disappeared in the second half and dropped a third and six pass that would have gone for much more. Seth Roberts has also continued to play very inconsistent. He caught a touchdown pass but also dropped several easy passes.While the Raiders ran for over a hundred yards for the third straight week in the second half the Raiders offensive line struggled to get a push in the running game as the game progressed which killed their chances of extending the lead and killing th clock.
Carr Continues to Shine
Despite Carr’s pedestrian stat line (21/35 249 yards 1 TD 1 INT), he was the best player on the Raiders’ offense. Carr has shown considerable improvement in his accuracy but was continuously let down by his receivers today. A holding call negated a thirty-yard touchdown pass to Clive Walford as well. Carr has used his athleticism to elongate plays and his mobility has made it that much more difficult for opposing defenders to bring him down. Carr has hardly been touched this year thanks to his offensive line but his improved accuracy, mobility, decision making is putting him in conversation of top ten quarterbacks in the NFL.
Secondary Redemption
Through two weeks the Raiders had the worst defense in the NFL since 1967. They had been giving up an average of 404.4 yards per game, through the air. Today’s game found Karl Joseph getting his first start at strong safety and it paid off. While the Raiders front seven didn’t get great pressure on Marcus Mariota the secondary blanketed receivers all day forcing two interceptions and allowed only 51% of passes to be completed with 6.5 yards per attempt. David Amerson in particular had his best game of the season defending four passes one of which led to an interception by Reggie Nelson. Sean Smith redeemed himself this week batting down a pass and recording an interception. The Raiders found the most success in cover one and cover zero blitzes. Under pressure Mariota was inaccurate and made hurried poor decisions. The Raiders are still having trouble in zone defense with communication and losing offensive players. DJ Haden showed a good ability to break on the ball and tackle when defending the run and short passing game but was victimized in zone defense often losing the receiver when watching the quarterback.
Leaky Run Defense Nearly Sinks Ship
As good as the Raiders pass defense was the run defense still needs work. On the day they gave up over 180 yards on the ground. Linebackers found themselves consistently unable to shed blocks. The defensive line was also getting blown off the by the Titans offensive line allowing the offensive line to then move on to block linebackers. Bruce Irvin forced a fumbler on a Mariota Scramble that was recovered by Nelson but overall the Raiders front seven was less than impressive recording only one sack. The Raiders coaching staff spoke to defenders being out of place against the run the last two weeks and again that was the case against the run again today.
Physical But Undisciplined
The Raiders offensive line continued their stellar play this week but committed several penalties in the process. Three holding calls, two of which negated big plays, a block in the back that was declined and several false starts. There was also a yet another holding call on a kick off return, which gave the Raiders poor starting field position to start the second half. The Raiders cannot afford to keep shooting themselves in the foot especially when skill players are dropping open passes. The Raiders coaching staff will have to clean this up and needs to make sure their players understand the fine line between playing with physical brutality and reckless abandon.
Coaching Staff Improvements
This week the Raiders defense came out more focused and played faster than they had all year. The defensive backfield played with much better communication and just much better prepared. The defensive line feature some new looks lining up players in different positions trying to scheme more pressure. The offense started strong which came from a great script of opening plays by Bill Musgrave. The offense did falter late but that was a result drops by receivers and inability to generate push from the offensive line.
Solid Team Win
While the Raiders got the win there are still areas to improve. Offense needs to finish games, which they’ve shown the ability to do so. Penalties and drops need to be cleaned up otherwise the Raiders will see themselves leaving points on the field more often than not. The Raiders run defense was poor but pass defense was the best it’s been since perhaps last season and the Raiders forced three turnovers and allowed only ten points. Derek Carr continues his stellar play and has been the team’s best and most valuable player this year.
