MNF: Raiders (3-0) @ Chargers (2-1) -

[JAF-N72EX]

4 minutes ago, RaidersAreOne said:

Yea there really wasn't many big plays. The Raiders had their chances with Ruggs over the top a few times but Carr missed him. Herbert also overthrew a wide open Williams for an easy 6 early on.

I don't know how your fan base feels about Carr, but personally I like him and think you could do much worse at QB and Gruden is doing him no favors at all.

[Xenos]

3 minutes ago, Broncofan said:

I think it's fair to make the following observations:

1.  Vegas' D was really exposed vs. a topflight passer today.    Lamar is a dual threat, but not a pure passer.   Obviously Big Ben is a shell of his former self, and we know what Brissett is (or isn't).  Their pass rush is still really strong, but their pass coverage is going to be an issue (yes I know they lost their CB's, but they were getting beat even with the 2 in there).  Frankly, Herbert left points on the field, with that missed wide open Mike Williams bomb.

2.  On the other side of the ball, the Raiders OL is also in big trouble.  Alex Leatherwood was panned as a reach pick especially given who else was on the board, and man, he's looked bad in pass pro.  He can still improve, but that could be another failed 1st rounder for Gruden/Mayock.   Again, it's been covered up by the fact that MIA/PIT (who were missing Watt for the last 3 Q's, and Watt already had a sack and a few pressures in 1Q) couldn't mount much pressure (Watt injury really changed that game flow).

3.  On the flip side, man Herbert is coming into his own.   Made so many great throws, and again hung in there vs. pressure.   He's going to skyrocket in the MVP race after the last 2 games.   

4.  Brandon Staley has to be the lead contender for COY, and he's LITERALLY the anti-Lynn in terms of game management. I don't even fault the failed fake punt, that was just an unbelievable play by Renfrow.    Staley put the ball in Herbert's hands rather than punt 3x....and it paid off each time.   It's so refreshing to see the Chargers play to win..instead of Lynn's "don't lose" mentality that invariably lost.

5.  Derwin James is rounding into form, and that's a problem.  The Chargers D can be soft against the run sometimes, and they need to clean up their deep ball coverage vs. true elite speedsters (they did a great job vs. Tyreek, but honestly Ruggs should have had 3 bombs, and 2 TD's - that's on Carr).

6.  It wasn't his fault, but man, Carr is still not an upper-echelon QB.   He's an asset, don't get me wrong, but he just comes up small so many times, with curious decisions.   Throwing short of the sticks on the 4th down play, and the missed deep balls, you just don't see that from truly elite QB's.  I can see why there were reports Carr was offered in the Watson sweepstakes before the whole off-field stuff came up (and back when HOU's FO wouldn't return phone calls).   I think he's a good, but not elite guy.   

7.  The crazy part - Chargers had this dominant game without either Keenan Allen or Mike Williams going off.    This is going to be a signature game (along with last week) for Herbert's case for MVP.  It's also a huge feather in GM Telesco's hat that guys like Drue Tranquill and T Rashawn Slater had solid games - Slater was a gift that fell into their lap, but he's been great at leveraging BPA (Derwin James being another example).   They still had assignment issues (3x they let a blitzer come in unchecked while the G didn't block anyone - and 2x Herbert still got rid of the ball, crazy).

 

If ppl thought last week was a fluke, doubt no more - Chargers are legit SB contender.    Herbert a legit MVP candidate.   DEN passing on getting a real top 6-8 QB (or a QB with that ceiling in the draft) could haunt them - it's going to be Herbert/Mahomes in the top 5 for a long, long time, barring injury. 

Extra brownie points for mentioning Drue Tranquil at the end. He’s one of the reasons our run defense was better tonight.

[Turnobili]

chargers offense looked in control and i dont think herbert played particularly well, either. he was good not great. that's probably a good sign for them. they did sputter for most of the 2nd half though. seemed staley was content trying to pound the air out of the ball, but herbert came up with when they needed him on 4th down

Edited October 5, 2021 by Turnobili

[kyle21121]

20 hours ago, NYRaider said:

I can't wait, lol. I won't be active tomorrow here because I'll be at the game, will check back after the game is over. 

Did you have fun? 

[Xenos]

37 minutes ago, jrry32 said:

MORE COWBELL!

You know the biggest and most pleasant surprise about Staley so far? For a defensive guy, he sure got some big

[Xenos]

6 minutes ago, Turnobili said:

chargers offense looked in control and i dont think herbert played particularly well, either. he was good not great. that's probably a good sign for them. they did sputter for most of the 2nd half though. seemed staley was content trying to pound the air out of the ball, but herbert came up with when they needed him on 4th down

No, it wasn’t the best performance by him. Too many throws left out there. But part of it may have been from the pressure. I wish Darius Philon was more consistent with his pass rush with us like he was tonight with you guys.

[SBLIII]

7 minutes ago, kyle21121 said:

Did you have fun? 

lol

[Dodo]

22 minutes ago, JAF-N72EX said:

I don't know how your fan base feels about Carr, but personally I like him and think you could do much worse at QB and Gruden is doing him no favors at all.

Before 2020 the fan-base was probably 50/50 on him (deservedly so)

Last year really silenced all but most his fanatical haters inside the base. He's been really good this year despite not having the line that he so often needed in the past. But our line is BAD right now and there's little help on the way. Hoping he doesn't get tempted to hero his way out of it

[HoboRocket]

On 9/12/2021 at 3:38 PM, HoboRocket said:

Cardinals defense is dominating right now after being borderline top 10 last year.

Great young secondary, and Byron Murphy has evolved over time into the shutdown corner that many here expected him to be in the 2019 draft. Dude was a starter instantly as a rookie, shut down and abused some surprising WRs (I'm pretty sure he abused Golladay, Julio, and DK, but was embarrassed by Lockett). Size has never been an issue for him, he plays big, much like teammate Budda Baker. Budda is a premier safety, and has been a rich-man's Honeybadger ever since he became a starter. I was concerned about his size coming out, dude has taken every opportunity to prove me wrong and is one of the most dangerous tacklers in the NFL with unmatched range. I was super bullish on rookie CB Marco Wilson, he's living up to it, albeit over the course of one game of NFL football. Dude tested amazingly as an athlete and was a pretty good corner his whole college career. A little raw in zone, has some sloppy pass off of assignments, but great instincts breaking on the ball and freakishly explosive. In man, dude flips his hits and never really trails his assignment, really just matches him stride for stride. Gets tripped up in press a lot. Still, surprised he slipped so far in the draft. Fellow CB Robert Alford is a proven veteran, a good starter for most of his career, but has missed each of the past two seasons with freak injuries. We'll see if he can bounce back in 2021! The final safety figures to be Jalen Thompson, a young free safety taken in the Supplemental Draft a couple years ago. He has good ball skills and high upside, but has only really shown out in flashes. The safety room has really good depth that played very, very well last season while the secondary dealt with injuries. Like, I'm pretty sure multiple back-up safeties were defensive player of the week candidates at times last year.

The Linebacker room is really exciting this year! The Cards have a pair of young LBs, both arguably the best in their respective draft classes in Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons. This LB room is unmatched in athleticism, both are regarded extremely well for their football character and coverage ability, both also have been crushing against the run. Joining them is veteran LB Jordan Hicks, who was a huge part of the Eagles Super Bowl defense as the starting MLB and led the league in tackles a couple seasons ago. Rounding out the group are special teams aces Zeke Turner and Tanner Vallejo.

At EDGE, Future HOFer Chandler Jones has been the most productive pass rusher in football for the duration of his Cardinals Career. Across from him is the ever-underrated Markus Golden. Golden has returned home to the Cardinals after a brief but productive stint with the Giants. Not very athletic or explosive, but he's very high effort and consistently wins reps, racking up pressures at a pretty high rate. I think most metrics had him as one of the top edge rushers last year, just only had 4 or 5 sacks in 8 games. Dennis Gardeck was one of the most productive pass rushers in the NFL last year on a per-snap basis (7 sacks in like 100 defensive snaps or something lol) and a team captain, the team's leader on special teams. However, he's currently managing an injury.

The Defensive Line was the Cardinals' biggest weakness last year, dealing with a plethora of injuries. How did they resolve that? They brought in JJ Watt. You don't need me to sell you on JJ, right, @ET80? Who else? Corey Peters, one of the top run staffers in the NFL. Jordan Phillips had 9.5 sacks a couple seasons ago. Then you have three young players in Zach Allen, Michael Dogbe, Rashard Lawrence, and Leki Fotu. This unit should be much better this year with the addition of Watt and a return to health.

On offense, Kyler Murray is the man. Legitimate passer with scrambling ability that puts him in rare company. He's a baller and a gamer, and extremely intense player who's not afraid of confrontation. His ball placement has improved every season in his career.

At Wide Receiver, this could be a really exciting group. DeAndre Hopkins is a perennial All-Pro and has been my favorite WR for years and years - to the point that when my brother told me he was traded to to Cardinals, I thought he was lying. I had actually just a Hopkins red Texans alternate NFL 100 jersey, and then he was wearing red jerseys on a weekly.basis lol. I don't really need to say more about him. Across from him, you have Cincinnati legend AJ Green. He hadn't been as dominant over the last several years of his career with the Bengals, but had been a top-tier wideout for his whole career prior. Christian Kirk has been one of the most frustrating WRs I've ever seen. He can get open against anyone and catch any sort of pass, but then he drops routine pitches. That still hasn't stopped him from being Arizona's #2 for each of the last three seasons. Rondale Moore is the most exciting ball-carrier I've ever seen. He figures to be a top returner and heavily used in motion.

The Offensive Line is above average, and figures to be even better this year. DJ Humphries is one of the best LTs in the NFL. He's a monster in the run game and has improved his pass blocking by leagues since he entered the NFL. Dealt with injury issues early in his career, but I'm confident with him matched up in any situation. Across from him, you have RT Kelvin Beachum, someone who has been a team captain across multiple stops. He was actually one of of few good OL for the Jets during the Sam Darnold Era, and rated well across most metrics, but it was a bad unit as a whole and he was lost in the shuffle. Was a "Keim Time" FA signing last year,  came in and locked down the RT spot and was rated as a top-15 tackle at either spot league-wide. On the inside, you have All-Pro C Rodney Hudson, someone who has missed 4 games in the last 8 seasons, and only allowed 1 sack across the last 3 seasons. At the guard spots, you have the reliable Justin Pugh at one side, and then former UDFA Justin Murray on the right side. Backing up multiple spots is former University of Houston tackle Josh Jones, a darling of many on this site.

At Running Back, you have former Pro Bowler and cancer survivor James Conner and Cardinals standout Chase Edmonds splitting carries. Edmonds is a super talented receiver, great get-up, has been really good over the course of his career, but has never managed a full workload. Backing them up are former Sun Devil standouts Eno Benjamin and DJ Foster.

On special teams you have Former All Pros Andy Lee and Matt Prater at punter and kicker, respectively.

Overall, I think this roster can compete with the best of them, and it all just comes down to Kliff Kingsbury's ability to manage the clock, manage penalties, and not hamstring the offense with bad playcalling.

 

7 hours ago, Broncofan said:

If you could count even 1/10 of @ET80's posts under the 'Zona forum, you would increase the output 10000%.  That's one helluva recruiting job, hats off to the 3 of you.

I did the above post in our forum for @ET80 as an attempt at recruitment and he never responded...

[Forge]

20 minutes ago, HoboRocket said:

 

I did the above post in our forum for @ET80 as an attempt at recruitment and he never responded...

You think @ET80 can read that many words in less than 7 or 8 months? 

[Xenos]

I don’t think Bosa appreciated Carr’s comments earlier in the week about this being a Raiders home game lol.

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Xenos

[BayRaider]

Props to the Chargers. Out coached and out played tonight. Hopefully a split with the final game of the year. 

[Bearerofnews]

Should i take it easy on @NYRaider

[BigTrav]

Well, normal order has resumed, hasn’t it @NYRaider. Chiefs back to their best, raiders stinking out the joint. Hope you enjoyed your spot as the week 1-3 champions.

Herbert is the real deal. He is Raiders’ daddy and I dare say he’ll light us up too

The difference is we don’t have a shrinking violet as our QB who can only beat duds and injured teams. Hehe. 

[BigTrav]

53 minutes ago, Bearerofnews said:

Should i take it easy on @NYRaider

Nah…

worst Poster on the forum and he needs to eat both barrels. Hehe.