Raiders week 9 Ballers & Busters

The Raiders return from Seattle with another loss. As has been the case of late, it was the defense that stepped up while the offense faltered. The Seahawks put up 30 points on the Raiders in large part because the Raiders turned the ball over three times. They would lose by 6 points while givin up 10 points off turnovers.

Ballers

Sio Moore

Some would like to fault Moore for allowing Marshawn Lynch to drive his way into the endzone on the Seahawks first touchdown. While I don't remove all blame from him, I don't fault him too much. He was there for the stick and stood up Lynch. The difference here was the rest of the Raiders defenders were either laying on the ground or standing around while Lynch got help from several teammates to push him into the endzone. It became Sio and Charles Woodson against Lynch and a couple 300-pound linemen. Not a fair fight. But that aside, Sio had a pretty productive day.

On that same touchdown drive, Moore had three tackles, including tackling Russell Wilson in the open field to hold him to a three yard scramble. After a couple more scores off turnovers, Sio stopped the next drive when he sacked Wilson on second down and then pressured him into an incompletion on third and 13.

He helped end the Seahawks' first series of the third quarter with a three and out with a run stuff on second down. Two plays later the Raiders blocked the punt and recovered it for a touchdown. On the next drive, he had good coverage on a long incompletion followed by a run stuff on a three and out. He ended the next two drives when he pressured Wilson into an incompletion on third down and stopped the receiver short of the first down on third and 14. Both times, the Seahawks settled for field goals.

He added a run stuff on the Seahawks final drive to finish the day with a team leading 11 tackles (8 solo) including a tackle for loss. He also had the Raiders' only sack in the game.

Mychal Rivera

He is quickly becoming Derek Carr's favorite receiver (perhaps a bit too much so). He was targeted 11 times in this game, more than twice as often as any other Raiders receiver. He caught eight of those passes for 38 yards. Sure, 38 yards doesn't seem like much for 8 catches but two of those were touchdown catches from one yard out -- the only two offensive touchdowns the Raiders had in the game. He had a couple fumbles in the game but was lucky to have them happen along the sideline and bounce out of bounds.

His first catch went for four yards on third and two to keep the Raiders opening drive alive. Then a few plays later, he was the target on third and 8 and hauled it in for a 16-yard grab. Carr tried to go for him again on the next third down but he was double covered and it fell incomplete so they settled for a field goal. He was a big part of the Raiders final drive for a late touchdown. On the drive he had four catches including a 2-yard catch for the first down on third and two, a 6-yard catch in first and goal from the 7-yard line, and the touchdown to finish it off.

Khalil Mack

After his monster game last week against the Browns, expectations were at an all-time high for the rookie, so it may have seemed like he had a down game. Not really. He was still making plays throughout the game. He made the very first play of the game for the Raiders defense with a run stuff for a two yard gain. He had two quarterback hurries in the game, both helped hold them to field goal attempts. The first one, they missed from 46 yards out, the second one came on third down and after flushing Wilson out of the pocket, he chased him down and laid a hit him, but he released the ball as he was going to the ground. It should have been his first sack of the season but those are the NFL rules. He had two more run stops in the game, one coming on third down, and third time he closed the gap to allow for a tackle for no gain. He finished tied for second on the team with 7 tackles (4 solo).

Marquette King

He was launching punts in this game. His average was an impressive 52.3 yards per punt with three of those downed inside the 20-yard line. One of those punts went 53 yards and was downed at the 2-yard-line. It was probably his best punt of the season. He also had a 56-yard punt stopped at the 14-yard-line, and a 54-yard punt stopped at the 9-yard-line. His only mistake was his longest punt of the day which went 59 yards in the air. The mistake being that he outkicked his coverage and the return men brought it back 38 yards into Oakland territory at the 47-yard-line. They took the short field and added a late field goal. Still his net was 46.2 with no touchbacks. And outside of that return, the Seahawks averaged negative one yard on punt returns.

Tarell Brown

Brown quietly had a good game. He had good coverage on third down to hold the Seahawks to a field goal following their second consecutive interception. On a drive in the second quarter, he had two solid tackles, one on a catch in the flat he stopped for a four-yard gain, and the other to stop Russell Wilson for a 3 yard scramble. He had one drive where he made his only two mistakes of the game. He gave up a 19-yard catch and then on third down was called for holding to keep the drive alive. The Seahawks would add a field goal later on that drive. On the following series, he had a run stuff for no gain and a tackle on a short catch to set up third and 14. In total, he finished tied for second on the team with five solo tackles and fourth with six combined tackles. He gave up just one first down catch.

Denico Autry, Brice Butler -- The Raiders first touchdown of the day came courtesy of the special teams. On the Seahawks' first punt of the third quarter, Autry came flying into the backfield to block it and after the ball bounced around Holy Roller style, Butler fell on it in the endzone for the score. Prior to that score, it was 24-3 and looking like a rout. It gave the team some hope and they added two more touchdowns while holding the Seahawks to two field goals the remainder of the game. Butler added two catches for 20 yards and Autry added a special teams tackle as well.

Betweeners

T.J. Carrie

Most of Carrie's day was very much of Baller status. But there was that one fumbled return that screwed that whole thing up. He stopped the Seahawks second possession nearly single-handedly. He started with a pass defended and two plays later, pressured and hit Wildons to force and incompletion on third down. Then came the fumbled return which gave the Seahawks the ball on the Raiders' 31-yard line.

He did his part to stop their drive with tight coverage on third down to force a three and out and a missed 46-yard field goal. The following drive, he gave up a 14-yard catch to put them in first and goal at the 9-yard-line. This time they punched it in for a touchdown and a 24-3 lead. He set out to make up for his earlier fumble on the ensuing kick return which he took for 42 yards to the Raiders 37-yard-line. With the good starting field position the Raiders were able to drive into field goal range before half... but missed it. He had an even better punt return a bit later that went 27 yards to the Seattle 30-yard-line and the Raiders drove for their first offensive touchown off the short field.

The Seahawks were able to answer with a field goal in part because of a big 39-yard screen in which Carrie was among those who missed a tackle. So, an up and down day. Mostly good things if not for the fumble.

Miles Burris

Last week he escaped being named a Buster and this week he made enough good plays, it needs mentioning. Just the Seahawks first drive alone featured a lot of Burris. He missed a rackle on a six-yard run, then on third and two he missed a tackle on a 4-yard run, had a tackle for a 2-yard gain two plays later, a tackle on a 6-yard run, and finished by being blocked onto his back on the Seahawks touchdown run.

The remainder of the first half, he was terrific. He had two run stuffs, one for a loss, and two tackles on catches, one for a three-yard loss. He added a run stuff to begin the third quarter as wel. The total yardage on those five tackles was 5 yards (3, -3, -1, 3, 3). The remainder of the second half, he was back his old self again, missing a tackle on a 7-yard run, missing a tackle on a 39-yard screen play, and getting blocked on a 17-yard run.

Justin Ellis

He started the game and played exactly half the defensive snaps. A great deal happened both positive and negative in his 40 snaps and they were split between halves. The negative first. On the Seahawks' first drive, he was blocked on a 6-yard run. Then after a PI penalty put the Seahawks at the 6-yard line, he came unblocked into the backfield and was called for a facemask penalty on the attempted tackle. On the next play, he was pancaked to allow Marshawn Lynch a huge hole to go through with just Sio Moore between him and the endzone. After teammate assistance, he scored. He gave up a 7-yard run on the Seahawks next touchdown drive to end a miserable first half for 'Jelly'.

The second half, he made up ground. On the first play of the third quarter, he got pressure on Wilson to flush him from the pocket and force and incompletion. The final play of the third quarter, with the Seahawks in 2nd and goal from the 10-yard line, he had a tackle for a loss of two on a run play to help hold them to a field goal. On the following possession, he held his ground to close a gap and allow for a run stuff for no gain. They didn't test him the remainder of that drive or their final drive.

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