Final: OAK 24 GB 42 (3-3)
Alright, I'm gonna make this quick in order to save time to do some finishing touches on the Lakers hype video for Tuesday. So, the Raiders come off the bye and Aaron Rodgers and the Packers pretty much gave them a rude awakening back. The Raiders first drive started off a good. Josh Jacobs managed to rip off a big run to get things going. It was nice to see Gabe Jackson back. When you have Incognito, Hudson, and Jackson in front, Jacobs is going to see a lot of nice holes inside. The O-line sans Trent Brown did a nice job for the most part. Although, as usual, the great first drive ended up stalled and the Raiders had to settle for three. I think that was already a momentum-killing play because against Aaron Rodgers and the Pack, you need touchdowns. The Lions learned that the hard way last Monday Night sans obvious refball. Of course you know the story of the referees when the Packers play in Lambeau Field. The penalties definitely piled up for the Raiders, but I don't think the refs were as egregious to them as they were to the Lions on Monday Night. This is especially when they were firing on all cylinders today. Rodgers was playing at an MVP-level. The Raiders secondary definitely helped that as they were blatantly allowing the Green Bay's patchwork receivers be open all game long.
Offensively, it was a mixed bag. The running game was awesome today. Darren Waller came alive in the 2nd quarter and finished with a monster line of 7 receptions, 126 yards, and 2 TDs coming off of signing a 3-year contract extension with the team. Execution was there, but penalties, turnovers, and stalled drives ruined it. Mistakes from Derek Carr reared its ugly head again. Remember two years ago when Carr tried to dive for the game winning TD against the Cowboys and he lost the ball in the end zone? He happened to do that again today. It's more important to get a yard and try again on another down to score. Also in the fourth quarter, Waller had the double coverage beat in the end zone, but Carr just underthrew the ball and into the hands of a defender for the INT. On a 4th and goal, they ran it with Jacobs. If you remember from last week, Jacobs leaped into the end zone for the game winning TD against the Bears. He tried that same play in this 4th down, but he didn't extend his arms long enough for the ball to break the plane.
Overall, I'm not too mad at this game, but still disappointed. If the Raiders came out of this game and the game plan was flat, that is definitely subject to a rant. But they had a good game plan, just penalties and turnovers prevented a majority of that. And Aaron Rodgers is a walking Hall-of-Famer. Anyway, the Raiders have a potential bounceback game next week against the Texans. Then, it's home sweet home in Oakland again in November against the Lions. I'll see you guys back here next week.
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