Raiders week 16 Ballers & Busters

It's almost over now. Just one more game. But before we move onto the season finale and then another off-season, we must analyze another Raiders loss. This week they would lose in San Diego as the Chargers have their sights set on the playoffs while the Raiders are planning how to spend their money and draft picks in a few months.

The Raiders sputtered and stumbled all day. The penalties mounted and the mistakes did too. The Raiders made it interesting early, taking a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. That was the only time they would hold the lead and the Chargers pulled away to win fairly comfortably.

Alright, as usual we start with the sunny side...

Ballers

Pat Sims

Last week, Jason Tarver said the last two games would go a long way to players on this team earning a new contract next season. And if that's true, they should probably start writing up that contract for Sims. Dude had 15 tackles (10 solo). Think about that for a moment. Middle linebackers rarely put up as many as 15 tackles in a game. Sims is not a middle linebacker, he is a defensive tackle - a position which typically has the fewest tackles on the team. He was in the game for 60 snaps which means he had a tackle on average once every four plays. Among those tackles, he had four tackles for loss and sack. The player he tackled had an average of 1.6 yards with eight of his tackles for two yards or less. It is important to point out Sims has played more snaps this season than in any season of his career and it's week 16. Looks like he's proven he can be a full time starter.

Honorable Mention

Andre Holmes - On the Raiders first touchdown drive, he had an 11-yard catch. On the Raiders final scoring drive he had a 16-yard catch on third down followed by a 24-yard catch. Then on the final drive he had an 18-yard catch. But he also had a touchdown pass go through his hands incomplete and then had a false start on fourth and one at the goal line at the end of the game. He finished with 5 catches for 71 yards.

Betweener

Mike Jenkins

He had a great interception in the game. He also had a couple of really nice stops on hard hits at the line. But he had a mix-up in coverage that allowed a wide open touchdown to Keenan Allen and on one of those stops, he had a stupid taunting penalty after swatting the ball out of Ryan Mathews hands on the sideline. He giveth and he taketh away.

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