Alright, welcome in to your NFL regular season opener of the full recap here at the True Raider Laker blog between the Raiders and the New York Jets where the Raiders fell short to snatch an East Coast win over the Jets 14-19.
It's no surprise that we start the season, 0-1, I've been used to that a lot as a Raider fan. It's always frustrating to start out the season with a loss. From what I've seen this game, this should've been a dominant win by the Jets. Wipe out all the penalties that the Jets committed this game, wipe out all the mistakes, and you could see that the Jets thoroughly dominated us in the ground game and in the passing game on the offensive side and their run defense played lights out. There's nothing you can say about it, but mistakes happen which is why the score is closer than it should've been.
The Positives
Derek Carr, 20 of 32, 151 passing yards, 2 passing TDs. This is the big storyline this game, how will Derek Carr fare against a Rex Ryan-oriented Jets defense considering Ryan has an impressive record against rookie QBs? From what I've seen, Derek Carr had a decent game, he did not have an amazing game. He recorded his first touchdown to Rod Streater after a Woodson interception and threw a 30 yard bomb to James Jones when time was literally out for the Raiders. He'll learn from this game and continue to grow. At the beginning of the game, he looked really sharp and then the Jets defense pretty much turned up by blitzing the O-line more and that prevented Carr from having a very impressive rookie debut during the regular season. Like I said, Carr will learn, he's not going to hang his head down this game.
The Negatives
There are a lot of negatives all over the place.
Dropped passes. There were a lot of dropped passes in this game, which is one of the primary reasons Derek Carr didn't put up stellar numbers as a starter. When Carr was making a play on 1st down, 3rd down throws, the receivers weren't there to haul in his passes. I mean some of them were covered well and some of them should've been catchable balls.
Running game. MJD and DMC, 26 rushing yards on a total of 13 carries. Not the start you want to see for a potential deadly 2 back tandem. Credit where it's due, the Jets run defense contained them for the majority of the game and they couldn't get anything going. You know a team's run defense is a bulwark when they completely shut out two of the most dynamic running backs in the game when 100%..
Defense. The defense was a huge letdown this game. The Raiders added a lot of well known players on the defensive line, yet the Jets were able to motion their offense with ease over the defense. The defense gave up a total of 402 yards this game. The Jets running game contributed 212 rushing yards out of those total yards of offense and they did make the Raiders' run defense look silly. Passing game-wise, with the way Geno Smith played early, he still managed to rack up 200+ passing yards over our suspect secondary. I'm going to have a watchful eye on that secondary the whole season. The defensive line doesn't have to worry about a dual threat QB until they face Russell Wilson in Seattle and then later Kaepernick in the season, but the secondary is going to be on watch the whole time, especially on 3rd down, where they have been really vulnerable dating back to last season's final stretch. The front seven gets a pass this game, but if they still can't generate pressure especially against a traditional pocket passer these next few games, it's going to be a long season.
Conclusion
Overall, the experts stand corrected to put the Raiders dead last in their power rankings with this loss. The schedule is a steep mountain to climb, but it's not an impossible mountain climb. The Raiders , they gotta win at some point in the East Coast and they get two more tries at New England and at London in a "home" game against the Dolphins. Derek Carr will get better from here, the supporting cast has to get better with him on the offense. The defense has a pink slip in my book and they have a chance to prove what they're made of against the Texans facing a pure pocket passer. I'll see you guys next week for that game. Until then, enjoy the rest of the opening Sunday of the NFL season. Stay classy guys.
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