Raiders Throttle Jets for 2-0 Start Since 2002

Welcome in Raider Nation to a impromptu recap of the Raiders' week 2 matchup vs. the New York Jets. And just by the score above alone, it feels damn good to be a Raider! The Raiders put the clamps on the Jets. They put up six touchdowns en route to a 20-45 victory at the "O" to go 2-0 since the Super Bowl season in 2002.

I said in my last post that the Raiders should be able to win against the more inferior Jets team by two or three touchdowns. And the Raiders did exactly that today. Keep in mind, I was at work today, but I did as best I could to try and keep track of the game. When I checked the score on my lunch break, Derek Carr just put the Raiders on the board for a two yard pass to Michael Crabtree for an early 0-7 lead. I did not check the game until two hours later. Luckily, I had a couple of Raider fans come into my store, especially one middle-aged guy sporting a Howie Long jersey. I asked him the score and he was generous to take out his phone and check Yahoo Sports or some other Sports app. NYJ 13 OAK 28 was the score late in the third. I was like "NICE!" On my last break, about an hour and a half later, I checked on my Yahoo Sports app to see that the score was NYJ 13 OAK 42 in the middle of 4th quarter. And my reaction was "Holy *bleep*!" In the stats section, I saw that Cordarrelle Patterson and Jalen Richard broke out big runs, Marshawn Lynch scored his first rushing TD as a Raider, and the Carr-to-Crabtree connection had the hat trick with 3 TDs. 

After my work, I sat down and looked at the full highlights. Based on observation, the game was a lot closer in the first half. The Raiders jumped out to a 14 point lead. But, the Jets creeped back into the game. David Amerson got beat on a Jermaine Kearse TD from Josh McCown. Catanzaro nailed a field goal to make it 10-14. The Jets had a muffed punt recovered by Johnny Holton. And without question, I'm sure that was the play that swung momentum completely in the Raiders' favor. After that Jets' fumble, the Raiders outscored the Jets 10-31 throughout the remainder of the game and that's how the final score got here, 20-45. Raiders improve to 2-0 while the Jets drop to 0-2.

*Before I get to the positives, negatives, and MVP, I will try and provide as much insight as I could through the stats courtesy of Yahoo Sports.*

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Rushing attack. Hands down, this was a well-rounded performance from the ground game. Jalen Richard, 6 carries, 58 yards, 1 TD. Cordarrelle Patterson, 3 carries, 57 yards, 1 TD. Marshawn Lynch 12 carries for 45 yards and 1 TD. DeAndre Washington with 20 yards on 6 carries. The big time highlights from this category were Patterson's 43 yard TD and Richard's 52 yard TD. As much as we can talk about Lynch's first TD as a Raider, Patterson and Richard made the Jets' run defense wondering "where'd they go?" On Patterson's run, the Jets were ready for the gadget play. They had two linebackers ready to shoot the gaps, but Osemele and Hudson with good pancake blocks upfront to give Patterson an opening and it's off to the races. Richard's run was a lot tougher. The Jets already closed out on him for a possible loss of yardage, but Richard just used his speed and shiftiness to elude them and he was off to the races. Those were big time run plays that ignited this rout.

Michael Crabtree, 6 receptions, 80 yards, 3 TDs. What has Crabtree proven these last two games? He still has one of the best hands in the league and is a very reliable target for Derek Carr and the Raiders' offense. Again, some bagged on him last season for a lot of drops. But, no broken finger this time and King Crab still makes play after play.

Derek Carr, 23 of 28 passes, 230 yards, 3 TDs. I can't diagnose Carr's play that much, but based on numbers, Carr had another efficient game and of course, the aforementioned TDs to Crabtree. This was another day in the office for Carr.

Gareon Conley, 3 tackles, 1 pass defensed. Here is the man of the hour. We've expected the debut of the Raiders' new first round pick and based on what I'm reading from SF Gate's article, Conley had a good debut for a relatively small sample size. Conley only allowed one pass thrown to him. We figured that since Conley was making his debut, McCown and the Jets' Receivers were going to pick on him. But, on his first defensive play, he was able to swipe a deep pass away from McCown to Kearse. I think Conley got beat initially and recovered quickly. After that, they didn't go to him. Guess he earned the Jets' respect after that play. Not bad for a rookie who missed all of preseason. Conley will get tested more against better receivers as the season progresses, but this game was a good confidence builder.

Karl Joseph, 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble. If there's indication that Karl Joseph is healthy, look no further than the first two weeks of this season. Today, Kujo had a nice strip sack on McCown off a Safety blitz. Nice play from the 2nd-year Safety.

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Penalties. I listened to Chris Townsend on 95.7 the game and the penalties were apparent again in this game. 9 penalties for 79 yards to be exact. Townsend made a point: anytime Jeff Triplett and his crew are officiating a Raiders game, for sure a lot ticky tacky penalties will be called against them. They were officiating this game today and of course, Raiders had more penalty yards than the Jets.

David Amerson. I noticed that he was beat twice by Jermaine Kearse in today's highlights. And Ronarks emphasized on Amerson's game today as well. He's really been inconsistent since Reggie gave him that extension after the 2015 season. He'll have some good games and some bad games. Today was considered bad game as he surrendered two of the Jets' TDs to the same man (Kearse). That's not good on Amerson's part. Hopefully, he has more incentive to play better next week on Sunday Night as he takes on the team who waived him two seasons ago in the Washington Redskins.

MVP

Michael Crabtree, 10 receptions, 80 yards, 3 TDs

I mean I gotta hand it to "Mr. Reliable Hands." King Crab has been nothing short of money for this receiving corps. King Crab = King Clutch.

Conclusion

Overall, this was what we expected from this game. The Raiders were suppose to dominate the Jets. They had all the talent. The Jets don't. And the Raiders have done a great job in exceeding those expectations. From late 2nd quarter to onwards, they put the clamps on the Jets and ran them out of the Coliseum. If you're a sports better, you gotta be happy. The Silver and Black came into this game as 13-14 points favorites. They sure did cover the spread. Next week the Raiders travel to Landover, Maryland next week to face the Redskins on Sunday Night Football. The Redskins are probably the most interesting team in the world. They start off the season slow, but when Kirk Cousins lights it up in a game, that's when Washington flips the switch. The Raiders should be wary of which Redskins team shows up. And on a side note, the Raiders will be reuniting on the field with two specific players on the Redskins. Obviously, one of them is Stacy McGee who signed with the Redskins in the offseason. The 2nd one? He was supposed to be the "chosen one" at quarterback until Reggie McKenzie shipped him to Seattle to make room for Carr in the 2nd round. And if you don't know who I'm talking about, then I'm sensing bandwagon. I'll be back with this type of recap next week.