Do you think there could have been a worse performance by the Oakland Raiders in London? It was about as bad as we could possibly have pictured it being, any worse would have just happened in the numb to it all portion of the game anyway.
The absolute worst part about the game wasn't even the score or the complete ineptitude in every aspect outside of the first drive. It was the injury to Derek Carr. The injury itself was bad enough, but how on earth do you let him get another play off in that condition?
Every player wants to play through injuries when and if they can, it is up to the coaching staff to make sure that they are protected. Sending in another play when Carr was limping as badly as he was is so far beyond acceptable it is ridiculous. Then to top things off, nobody helping Carr to the sideline was the most despicable thing I have ever seen from a team standpoint.
Where are the other players helping him? Why isn't Dennis Allen going up and talking to him right away, he was standing directly in front of him just watching him like he was unaware that he was injured. There is absolutely no excuse for that. I don't even care if he is calling for the trainer over the headset, show that you care about your most important player!
It would have been catastrophic had Derek Carr been hit on that play. In fact, just throwing the ball awkwardly like he did at a time when his leg was compromised could have been catastrophic. I love the toughness that he showed, again it was Favre-like, but toughness can get players in trouble when they over do it. Dennis Allen's handling of that situation was completely unacceptable and straight up disgusting.
As far as the game was concerned, why bother even showing up to play if that is the product you are going to put on the field. The NFL wants to expand the interest in the NFL, not make everybody turn off their T.V.'s because the game isn't worth the price of the paper the tickets were printed on. A game like that in America is terrible, a game like that being sent to London is completely appalling.
It will be very interesting to see Levi Damien's Ballers and Busters series this week because it is hard to say a single player outside of Charles Woodson deserves the Ballers list, with the exception of MAYBE James Jones for his one handed catch on the opening throw of the game. I am sure Levi will be able to come up with somebody who we aren't thinking of at this moment, but its impossible to figure out who in the cluster of awfulness that was Sunday's match up.
The defense was unbelievably bad in all aspects. They made Ryan Tannehill look like Steve Young and their running backs look like Emmett Smith clones. It was unbelievable how the Dolphins were able to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Tannehill was talked about as possibly being on the verge of being benched (the validity of that story clearly is questionable) and the Raiders made him look like a hall of famer.
What made this game be one of the most painful experiences in my history of being a Raiders fan was the way that they came out of the gate flawlessly just to have it all be blown up afterwards. That opening drive was so freaking beautiful, it was like a gift from the football gods.
In reality, it was a cruel joke being played on Raiders fans. Here you go, this is how your team could look if they played their best all of the time! Now, here is what your team really is, HA-HA-HA!
We will see what happens next as we go into the bye week. There already has been a report that Dennis Allen was fired, though there is a conflicting report that says he wasn't. Considering the way they handled the Derek Carr injury and the overall product that they have given us for 2 and 1/4 years it is only a matter of time before the news hits as confirmed, but maybe that is just wishful thinking.
Dennis Allen deserves to be fired and hopefully he will be. It doesn't matter what comes afterward, this is the time to be rid of Allen as the head coach. Maybe it will help this year, maybe it wont. However, somebody needs to be held accountable for this mess and Dennis Allen is the first of those that will be. Hopefully anyway.
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