Welcome in to the full recap of the Raiders' 2017 season finale at the Los Angeles Chargers where the Raiders end the season in what was a microcosm of the whole season. They lose to the Chargers 10-30 and finish the season at 6-10.
As I'm preparing this post, I received the headline on Bleacher Report that the Raiders have fired Jack Del Rio immediately at the conclusion of this game. You guys have heard the rumors that they are planning to bring Chucky back. And they're essentially giving the farm to get Jon Gruden: $10 million per year and a stake of the Raiders ownership. Here's what's wrong with this picture: after Del Rio lead the Raiders to a 12-4 season last year, Mark Davis decided to prematurely give him a 5-year contract extension. What good is that if you're gonna fire him after a down year? When they hired him during the 2015 season, they should've just let Del Rio play out before handing him any extensions. Granted, Del Rio may have changed the culture, but it looks like he hasn't learned anything from his tenure in Jacksonville. No understanding of X's and O's, bad clock management, and bad personnel decisions. I think letting go of Bill Musgrave for Todd Downing when the offense was top 5-10 last year and keeping Ken Norton Jr. for 2 1/2 years when the defense was on the bottom of the barrel sealed his fate here this season. And quickly, he has lost the team with all distractions and rumors of the team being divisive in the locker room. To me, I thought we should've kept him if he proves himself with a proven OC. He already had a proven DC in place with John Pagano, but that doesn't look like that's gonna happen. With Gruden possibly coming back for a 2nd tenure, the biggest issue will be whether or not Chucky will adjust to the modern football game considering he's been out of coaching for almost 10 years. Remember back in 2006, the Raiders brought back Art Shell for a 2nd tenure and his schemes were completely outdated to the modern game at that time. But regardless, the return of Chucky could provide a spark for Raider Nation, although some are still bitter about Super Bowl XXXVII. Time heals all wounds I guess.
Now onto this game, there's not much to say here. Philip Rivers and the Chargers pretty much picked this defense apart. Outside of Derek Carr throwing the 87 yard TD pass to Amari Cooper and Marshawn Lynch reaching 10,000 career rushing yards, the offense has not done anything. Derek Carr turned the ball over a couple of times here. The game was just pretty bad overall and this final game of the season added insult to injury from Super Bowl aspiration to utter disappointment this season.
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Marshawn Lynch, 19 carries, 101 rushing yards, 2 receptions, 18 yards. As mentioned, Lynch broke 10,000 career rushing yards during this game. I personally didn't know he was that close to closing in on that milestone, but he did it anyway. The biggest weakness on the Chargers defense has been their rush defense and Lynch was able to break out big runs against them. Obviously, they couldn't rely on him too much because they were already down big this game. Anyway, that was the only silver lining, the 10,000 career rushing yards. Congrats Beast Mode.
Amari Cooper, 3 receptions, 115 yards, 1 TD. If and when Chucky's comeback is official, it's going to be interesting to see how he utilizes Amari Cooper next season. Because Todd Downing didn't have any clue how to get him involve. As a Coop advocate, this was a very disappointing season for him. But, he still has deep threat ability, sharp route running, and yards-after-catch. He just needs to limit the drops. Look no further than when he grabbed the 87 yard deep ball from Carr for the Raiders' only TD this game. He's still a big play receiver. He caught a couple of balls for 10+ yards to add to his total receiving yardage. Clearly, there's still some lightning in the AC/DC connection.
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Defense. It was fun while it lasted with the defense playing lights out in these last few weeks since John Pagano took over. This was eventually the biggest test for the revamped defense because Philip Rivers and the Chargers knew his defensive scheme. As a result, over 400 yards given up through the air and through the ground. They only managed to get one sack on Rivers throughout the whole game. The secondary broke down when Karl Joseph went down. A lot of miscommunication on their end which lead to wide open TDs for the Chargers: one to Tyrell Williams that went 56 yards and the other to the speedster Travis Benjamin for 62 yards.
MVP
Amari Cooper, 3 receptions, 115 yards, 1 TD
He had the only TD of the game. He received a lot of scrutiny this season in what was a very disappointing season. But, the deep threat and route running ability is still there. Whoever's offensive coordinator whether it's Gruden or another OC he'll bring in when it's official, they'll find a way to utilize Coop better and challenge him to limit his drops.
Conclusion
Thank goodness this trainwreck of a season is over. The Raiders have made their decision in firing Del Rio. They wasted no time on the coaching decision, now they have to make some tough decisions on player personnel. There's a lot of rumors swirling around on who they would keep and who they would let go. One of the big ones is Michael Crabtree with the rumors that the Raiders might let him go to free up some cap space. Most of the 2014 draft class outside of Carr and Jackson will be free agents. And of course, you got the impeding extension of Khalil Mack and clearly the Raiders are thinking about that. It goes to show, there's still a long ways to go before this team could be discussed as one of the NFL's elite. Chucky's impending return will not fix the Raiders overnight. Outside of that, happy New Year Raider Nation and thank you for following my coverage of the 2017 season. As usual, "A Season in Review" post will follow to reflect on this 2017 season. I'll see you guys next season.
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