FanPost

BSK's Unexpected Game Balls

Good Morning Raider Nation-

I’m pretty sure all of you are as stoked as I am after the magnificent beat down the Swashbuckling Silver and Black delivered to them overconfident Donkeys. Great time to be a Raider!

I would like to take a moment to pass out game balls to the overlooked that made a tremendous impact on the game Sunday night. Before I begin, I want to state that Levi and RDreamer do a fantastic job with their Ballers & Busters and 4 Winner and Losers articles each week as well as the rest of the staff with their reviews and analysis of the games and in no way is this piece a condemnation or ridicule of any of them or their work in any way.

My first unexpected game ball goes to Khalil Mack’s guns. Usually, home field generates +3 points in Vegas spreads, the intimidation factor of Mack arms should get at least a point or two each, seriously 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s legs are jealous of those cannons.

A second unexpected game ball goes to Cris Collinsworth’s mancrush on Kelechi Osemele. Normally, like the rest of the NFL fans who tune in to Sunday Night Football, I have my finger on the mute button of the remote, anxious to pull the trigger whenever Collinworth begins to babble about whatever it is he runs on about. But his adoration for the Pancake Master was very touching, I hope he went down to the field after the game and got a big bearhug for himself.

Got to throw a game ball to Marquette King’s dance moves, that guy is one hell of a player (not just punter) and he makes me laugh.

Giving another one to Gary Kubiak’s red challenge flag. Thank you for staying in his pocket on the second punt where Holmes didn’t exactly re-establish himself back into the field of play.

Hell, if we are addressing flags, how about a game ball for all the yellow ones that justifiably came raining down for all the illegal contact of the Donkey DBs. It’s about time their constant holding and interference got called. Now if we can get those flags thrown for holding Khalil Mack on like every other play.

The ground merited a game ball for its involvement. Great job forcing T.J. Ward and Sanders from catching the balls, your play was crucial. Speaking of Emmanuel, his momma just texted me and said thank you for keeping your game uniform sparking clean. Outside of that play he failed to make, he was pretty much a no show. Speaking of no shows, it wasn’t until the middle of the third quarter I had any inkling that DeMarcus Ware was in Oakland. Von Miller seemed to go into hibernation after his one sack in the 1st.

Andre Holmes’ effort, deserves a game ball as well, he has developed into not only an amazing gunner on punt coverage, but he is becoming a pretty good blocker for a WR, also made a real nice catch.

And the Number 1 unexpected game ball goes to… (drumroll…. wait for it…wait for it…) Latavius Murray’s arms and head. Grant in, his legs were what generated all them yards, but got to give credit for him using his arms to reach out for all them touchdowns, that being said stop doing that shit, it’s scary and is going to lead to fumbles. Also, anyone notice that stiff arm on Harris right before the first TD. Later, in the first half, Carr tossed him a pass in the flats and he used his arm as a weapon to club the defender and got up field for a first down.

As far as LM using his head, on that long run during the 2-minute drive in the first half, he switched the ball to his outside arm during the run. It may have cost him half a step, but Ward had the angle on the play and it’s highly unlikely LM was going to take that out to the house. It may not seem like much, but him making that small move impressed me, as too often you see backs get chased down from behind and get that ball knocked out into play when they don’t make the switch. And, let’s not forget him going down inbounds after gaining a first down late in the game. (Let’s do the math…there was 5:05 on the clock when he got tackled, Carr snapped the ball at 4:25. That’s 305 seconds when LM went down. Carr used the entire 40 second play clock. 40 seconds/305 seconds means Murray’s heads up play cost Denver 13 % of the remaining time. I don’t know about you, but that game clock wasn’t moving fast enough for me.

Those are my unexpected (cause I’m lazy and couldn’t come up with a better name) game balls.

Go Raiders!