Raiders week 6 Ballers & Busters: Part two

The bright spots in the Raiders' week 6 loss to the Chiefs has been noted in the Ballers. Now it is time for the ugly business of laying out the performers who helped bring the team this loss.

Busters

Terrelle Pryor

From Top Baller last week to Top Buster this week. Or as a clever county song once said "Sometimes you're windshield, sometimes you're the bug." In this game Pryor was one of those big juicy ones that gets smeared across the glass with the wipers. So, let's see here. The important numbers are these: 47 drop backs, 34 passes, 16 completions, 10 sacks, 3 interceptions, 3 delay of game penalties (and one time out to avoid a delay).

Often times when seeing sack numbers, the assumption is simply blocking issues. But not all sacks are created equal. There were several instances the sack that occurred was either not a direct result of poor blocking or could have been avoided. His first sack, he missed Rod Streater open right in front of him on a crossing route. Second quarter sack he escaped pressure and could have thrown the ball away but instead inexplicably took a sack. First drive of the third quarter ended when he held the ball too long and was sacked. Of his ten sacks, five happened in the fourth quarter and four of those were entirely Pryor's doing. To start the fourth quarter, he made the wrong read on an option and ran right into Tamba Hali for a gift sack. Twice on the following drive and once more on the final drive, he fled a clean pocket and was sacked. That's seven of the ten sacks which Pryor either caused or could have avoided.

His first interception came late in the third quarter and it was an ugly duck off his back foot to no one in particular. His second was another bad throw and this one was into coverage. His final act was throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown to seal the game. Lost in the stats is that it might have been much worse. On the first play after the game clinching interception for a touchdown, he nearly gave up ANOTHER one. Lucky for him, Rod Streater became the defender and batted it out of the defenders hands who had designs on a second pick six in a row. That would have taken it from meltdown to... I don't have a word for it.

Khalif Barnes, Lucas Nix, Mike Brisiel, Lamar Mady

The whole line except Matt McCants, who actually had a pretty good game. Much like Pryor, these guys were thrust into a precarious position. Only Lucas Nix is playing the position he was playing in camp and he's been perhaps the worst of all. Barnes is supposed to be at right tackle, Brisiel is supposed to be right guard, and Mady is supposed to be on the practice squad. Instead, here they are. The Chiefs were able to pressure Pryor on 26 of his drop backs in this game. While Pryor gets blame for losing it late, it was the line who sent him off the deep end early on. Someday maybe Pryor will be able to hold it together under such pressure but that day is not here yet.

Barnes gave up the most pressures of all the linemen when his man got by him - as Ferris Bueller's principle would say -- nine times. He also gave up a sack -- which was the play that put the Raiders in the infamous 3rd and 48 --, and had two false start penalties. Lucas Nix gave up the second sack of the day when he completely whiffed on the rusher to give up a sack right up the middle. He also wasn't doing Darren McFadden many favors in the run game. It's a tough job that Brisiel had shifting over to play center and I feel for him but he was not doing too well out there. He started things off with an illegal snap. Then on the next series he gave up a tackle for loss on McFadden. He was later called for holding. Mady started things off by giving up a pressure that resulted in an incompletion on third down to end a drive. Later he was called for holding and he ended the game by giving up a sack on Pryor on the final play.

Mike Jenkins

Putting him among the Busters is getting tiresome, I must say. He always seems like he is on the brink of making a big play and then just can't put it all together. With just 14 passes completed for 128 yards, there wasn't a lot of the secondary getting victimized. That was mostly Jenkins. He gave up an 8-yard catch on the first Chiefs possession, an 11-yard catch in the second quarter, a 19-yard catch and a 10-yard catch in the third quarter as well as being called for holding. The 10-yard catch and holding leading to a first and goal at the 2-yard line and the Chiefs go ahead touchdown. He also missed a tackle on an Alex Smith scramble for 13 yards on third and 2. That's 61 yards Jenkins was accountable for.

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