Rich7sena Posted December 12, 2018 Share Posted December 12, 2018 After the Raiders' best game of the season and no GBU thread? Good: Derek Carr: Not only the best game of the season, I truly believe it was one of the best games of his career. Jared Cook: The Raiders' best offensive weapon all year. He's a priority re-sign. Jordy Nelson and Seth Roberts: Both made big-time catches in the passing game down the stretch. Front 7 run defense: Hall & Hankins & Ellis & Rucker & McDonald & Whitehead all played lights out against the run. Hankins and Ellis were a nice 1-2 punch at nose tackle and Hall kept the intensity going all game. Key, Morrow, and Lee did their thing in rotation, too. Tahir Whitehead, specifically: Played the best MLB/SLB game I've seen from a Raider in recent memory. Gareon Conley: Played lights out except for one play where Brown almost scored in the redzone (it is Antonio Brown, though). I've been a Conley skeptic in the past but he has really grown into a high quality starting corner. Jon Feliciano: Apart from one bad play near the Raiders' own goal line, Feliciano was nearly indistinguishable from Osemele. Played through injury to finish out the game before being placed on IR. I want him back. Offensive play-calling: This. THIS. Is what I've been looking for in an offensive scheme tailored to Carr and the offensive line. A vertical-based passing game and downhill inside zone running game (the latter has been implemented for at least the past 3-4 weeks) are just what the doctor ordered--it's like 2016 all over again! Here's hoping the team now builds toward these philosophies going forward. Bad: Brandon Parker: What is you doing! He got it together on the final drive but the team can't go into 2019 with him as the presumptive starter. Defense against screens: Caught the Raiders by surprise twice and no one saw it coming. It looked like a product of having either a) a young defensive front and/or b) defensive tackles playing defensive end. Still no pass rush: Both Ben and Dobbs were getting the ball out quickly, but the Raiders still looked anemic when it came to rushing the passer. Having both McDonald and Rucker play end is great against the run but they're slow to get to the quarterback. Key had one nice play but I'm not counting on him to be much more than what he already is. Ugly: Penalties: It must be the uniforms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humble_Beast Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Carlson and Townsend were lights out... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightmare Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Yeah, the kicking has really improved in recent weeks. Carlson has been on the money for a while now, and Townsend has been playing better - he’s still not great but has definitely improved and can be serviceable if he keeps the awful 20 yard shanks out of his game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver&Black88 Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 @Rich7sena summed everything up pretty well. I'll add that Josep had a solid game. Totally agree on Feli. Wonder what he'll cost. Townsend absolutely needs competition next training camp though. He has potential, but I don't feel comfortable relying on him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darbsk Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 On 12/12/2018 at 11:58 PM, Rich7sena said: After the Raiders' best game of the season and no GBU thread? Gareon Conley: Played lights out except for one play where Brown almost scored in the redzone (it is Antonio Brown, though). I've been a Conley skeptic in the past but he has really grown into a high quality starting corner. Offensive play-calling: This. THIS. Is what I've been looking for in an offensive scheme tailored to Carr and the offensive line. A vertical-based passing game and downhill inside zone running game (the latter has been implemented for at least the past 3-4 weeks) are just what the doctor ordered--it's like 2016 all over again! Here's hoping the team now builds toward these philosophies going forward. Still no pass rush: Both Ben and Dobbs were getting the ball out quickly, but the Raiders still looked anemic when it came to rushing the passer. Having both McDonald and Rucker play end is great against the run but they're slow to get to the quarterback. Key had one nice play but I'm not counting on him to be much more than what he already is. Excellent post! Particularly agree with these gems Conley looks to me the best man coverage CB we've had for a long while. Needs to continue to brush up on his tackling and press but we knew that coming out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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