1. The Good: The Las Vegas Raiders played a good game
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Obviously, Las Vegas Raiders fans hoped the team would make it past the first round of the playoffs, but it didn t end up happening that way. However, the Raiders still had a strong showing and managed to keep the game close to the very end. Much of the credit goes to Derek Carr and Daniel Carlson, who were the spark for the offense all afternoon.
Carr finished with 29 of 54 for 310 yards, one touchdown, and one interception at the end of the game. Of course, Carr had trouble moving the ball throughout the game for several reasons, but Carlson was always able to chip one in at the end of drives. Speaking of Carlson, he went four for four Saturday evening, nailing a long field goal of 47 yards and racking up a total of 13 points. Both these men deserve a lot of credit.
2. The Bad: The Las Vegas Raiders’ running game
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The biggest problem for the Las Vegas Raiders was their inability to establish the ground game. Joshua Jacobs did move the needle a bit with 13 rushes for 83 yards and 6.4 yards per attempt, but it wasn t enough to take the pressure off of Carr. Furthermore, the injuries of Kenyan Drake, Alec Ingold, and several other key rushers made it impossible not to have a one-dimensional pass game. The Bengals would take advantage of this all day long.
What was most surprising was that the Raiders didn t think to bring in Marcus Mariota or even use Hunter Renfrow as an attempt to establish a running game. Just something to take that pressure off of Carr and allow the Raiders to have more of a playbook. Instead, the Bengals just ran the board from the beginning.
3. The Ugly: The Raiders’ season is over and uncertainties abound
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Whether Raiders fans want to admit it or not, the interception that Derek Carr threw in the final seconds of their game against the Cincinnati Bengals was the final nail in the coffin this season.
The underdog story is finally over. The team that overcame several DUI incidents, a coaching scandal for the ages, and even a player being fired for brandishing a weapon on video, has nowhere left to run.
It s no secret that the team has a lot of decisions to make during the offseason. These include things like whether to keep Derek Carr or not, how to improve the team s defense, and who should be their next head coach. That last question is of particular interest. Should the Raiders stay with Rich Bisaccia, the man that kept the ship steady and led them to playoffs, or take a gamble on someone new?
