Final: OAK 24 HOU 27 (3-4)
Always some drama down the stretch whenever these two teams play in Houston. While the Raiders got the better of the Texans in the last two meetings, the Texans were able to get this one.
Before I start this game, as you all know this past Tuesday, we all lost another Raider legend. Hall-of-Fame cornerback Willie Brown passed away. I've told this story a couple times, when I was still a young Raider fan, my dad used to tell me stories about the 70's Raiders. Willie Brown was a prominent figure of those teams, leading the "Soul Patrol" that consisted of other great Raider DBs like Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, and Skip Thomas. It's crazy to think we lost two prominent Raider legends in the same year with Cliff Branch unexpectedly passing away in August. At least Old Man Willie got to see himself inducted into Canton. Nowadays, these writers are petty in the selection process. It's a crime that more Raider legends of the past are not even in the Hall of Fame yet and they may not see that light of day.
Onto the game, the Raiders had a bounce back game written all over this matchup. The first possessions from the Raiders was pretty weird to start. They got off the right footing by running Josh Jacobs behind the O-line at full strength finally before Rodney Hudson went down. But, they kept trying to mix it up with run and pass by feeding the ball early to Darren Waller. Waller still had a decent game, but Justin Reid and the Texans secondary had some pretty good coverage around him the whole game. It was nice to see Tyrell Williams back on the field. He made his presence felt with 3 receptions for 91 yards and 1 TD. They get their down field receiver back, which opens up a lot opportunities. Hunter Renfrow had a nice 65 yard catch and run to open things up.
You can't completely blame the offense this game. Derek Carr played a clean game. It's been a while since he had a 3 passing TD game. The game was pretty much lost on penalties today. 11 penalties for 100 yards won't win you a whole lot of games. Not too mention, Houston dominated time of possession. A scrambling QB like Deshaun Watson is hard to decipher. Watson was able to keep some plays alive with his legs. For the most part, rush defense did its job. But, pass defense got gashed today and it caught up in Watson's go-ahead TD. Funny enough, the Raiders sent Gareon Conley to Texans and he got himself early revenge. There was one crucial point in the game where it looked like Conley had a lot of contact on Williams, but Gruden refused to challenge. He lost one earlier on the Renfrow offensive P.I. Though that play was 50/50, it would've worth a shot to challenge P.I. But, I understood the rationale since they wanted to keep two timeouts plus the two minute warning. The Texans mustered enough first downs at the end.
Well, the long road trip is over and the Raiders can return on home turf. For the most part sans Minnesota and Green Bay, the Raiders were able to compete and snatch some shocking wins. This stretch is a lot more favorable: vs. Detroit, vs. LA Chargers, vs. Cincinnati, @ Jets, @ Chiefs, vs. Titans, vs. Jaguars, @ LA Chargers and @ Denver. Chargers might've gotten some momentum after the win in Chicago today. Chiefs are likely getting Mahomes back. Sacksonville lives again in the Jaguars. The way this is trending, we can see an 8-8 finish possibly. But as always, one game at a time. I'll see you guys next week after the game.
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