Alright welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders' game against the Titans where the Raiders lose a heart breaker against the Tennessee Titans and it costed the Raiders to be in that 6th, final spot in the tight AFC Wild Card race.
So yeah, this one hurts. I mean nothing you can say about it, the Titans on the penultimate offensive drive of the game looked poised and Fitzpatrick is really good in the clutch. Remember, he broke our hearts in Buffalo two years ago and now he's a Titan coming in to the black hole and burns the Raiders again.
Let's start off with the positives: Rod Streater, Rashad Jennings, and Marcel Reece. In the absence of the two Tennessee Volunteers alumni, Denarius Moore and Mychal Rivera, Streater transformed into the #1 go to guy for McGloin. Streater was targeted 10 times, finished with 6 receptions on 87 yards. It's the one thing I like about Streater is that he always makes eye contact with the quarterback I mean first with Pryor, then Flynn, then Pryor again, and now McGloin. He can be erratic at times, but he can make the big risk play, he made a diving catch prior to the the Reece TD and went out with a hip injury. The loss of Streater and Rivera hurt this game, especially with Denarius Moore out. It's no secret Rashad Jennings plays his A game every week. Jennings this game rushed for 75 yards on 16 carries and 49 yards on 3 receptions. Marcel Reece, finally a breakout game for him. It's about time. Reece had 14 rushing on 5 carries, but did most of his damage in the receiving game: 4 receptions on 44 yards and receiving TD. Olson finally opened up the playbook to utilize Reece, even though using him in the wildcat early this game was frustrating to see. There's a reason he's called the "Matchup Nightmare", he can run, catch, and block and there has gotta be some bookmarked plays in Olson's playbook where Reece can be utilized the most.
The negatives, oh how the fortunes have changed since the halftime post. Sebastian Janikowski and the defense. A lot of you can blame it on Marquette King on his holds if you want, but Sebass missing a 32 yarder and a 48 yarder (same distance he hit in the 2nd quarter), just unbelievably unacceptable and those came back to haunt us. The defense, could not get off the field and can't pressure Fitzpatrick all game long. The 3rd down defense was just pathetic all game and some of those cost us the game. Basically we made Fitz look like Michael Vick, RGIII out there because we couldn't knock him down or sack him after that 1 gang sack by Houston, Roach, and Burnett. However, the defense did hold some red zone opportunities from the Titans to field goals, but the last sequences with the game on the line after the McGloin-Reece connection to give us the lead was absolutely disgraceful to watch.
This season is slowly turning from a tank for the #1 pick to a shoulda, woulda, coulda kind of season, similar to the 2010 and '11 seasons. A lot of missed opportunities and we'll be looking back thinking "damn, if only the Raiders won that game." Yeah it's frustrating. The Raiders got a short week this week because they'll be traveling to Dallas for a Thanksgiving showdown against the Cowboys. I'll see you guys on Thursday for a special Thanksgiving Q-by-Q, Halftime, and full recap. Stay put for tonight however because I'll be quick recapping the Lakers' game against the Kings. Until then, I'll see you guys later.
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