Raiders week 16 Ballers & Busters vs Chargers: Part two

Busters

Donald Penn, J'Marcus Webb

The Chargers as a team were tied for 25^th in the NFL in sacks. Though you'd never know it in this game. Carr was sacked three times in this game, and Penn and Webb gave up two of them. Penn gave up the first one on the Raiders' second possession. The Chargers ran a stunt and Penn didn't switch, allowing a free rusher to run right by him for a 9-yard loss on the sack to set up 3rd and 17.

On the Raiders' first offensive play of the second half, Webb was blown up to allow a tackle for a 3-yard loss on a Latavius Murray run. The very next play, Penn gave up a run stuff on Murray. The Raiders wouldn't convert third and long to go three-and-out. It would be a sign of things to come in the second half for the Raiders.

Their next series Webb was called for a holding penalty that brought back a 5-yard run. The next play, Carr completed an 11-yard pass, but Penn was driven back and stepped on Carr's foot. An overthrow on the next play and it was another three-and-out for the Raiders.

A couple series later started with a 5-yard catch by Taiwan Jones, but Webb gave up a run stuff for a loss of three on the next play to bring it back to a third and long. Carr was sacked on the next play - that one was given up by Jon Feliciano. But Webb was sure to help end the next series when he was called for another holding penalty. The pass was incomplete so it was declined. As if it would have mattered because had it been completed it would have been a first down which Webb walked back ten yards.

It's pretty much a miracle the Raiders offense was able to get in position to score in overtime considering both Penn and Webb committed holding penalties on the drive. Penn's holding led to a second and 14 and Webb's negated a 20-yard reception to put the Raiders in 2^nd and 24. It was by way of a unnecessary roughness penalty that the Raiders were able to get out of it at all.

Derek Carr

Though the first 60 minutes of this game, the offense seemed to be coming up with points despite the play of Carr. His very first pass of the game was intercepted. It was tipped at the line, which Carr appeared to think was just bad luck. But the fact that he had four passes tipped in this game seems a bit more than bad luck.

Off the interception, the Chargers took over at the Oakland 32-yard-line and scored a touchdown off of it to take a 7-0 lead. If you'll recall, Carr threw two early interceptions last week against the Packers that spotted them 14 points.

The following drive, Carr had two of his three notable completions of the game - a 17-yard pass to Lee Smith on the first play, and a 22-yard pass to Clive Walford on third and 17 to put the Raiders in scoring position. The other pass was a 3-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree late in the fourth quarter. The possession came off of a fumble return and gave the Raiders a 20-17 lead.

In between, Carr was floundering. He began the second quarter with another tipped ball with the Raiders backed up to their own 5-yard-line to force a punt out of their own end zone. The result was even better field position than the Chargers had off of the interception (31-yard-line) and again it resulted in a touchdown.

The last two possessions of the first half featured a free rusher for whom Carr should have ensured he had a blocker and did not, a high incompletion on third down for a three-and-out, and Carr missing an open Amari Cooper to instead get sacked for a 12-yard loss.

The offense didn't have a first down in the second half. The first series, Carr threw a 4-yard pass on third and 11. The second series, he overthrew Walford on third and 6. Third series he had another tip at the line.

The first series of the fourth quarter ended with Carr throwing off target for an incompletion on third and two. The final series of the game, with the score tied 20-20, Carr was flagged for intentional grounding. The spot of the foul was an 11-yard loss and a loss of downs which is worse than if he had stood in the pocket and just taken a sack.

At the end of regulation, Carr had was 17 of 28 for 129 yards with one TD and one interception.

Somehow Carr managed to find new life to begin overtime. He completed an 18-yard pass to Andre Holmes on third and 7 to get it started. Even still, the drive was looking lost with the Raiders in 2^nd and 29. They were saved by an unnecessary roughness penalty which carried an automatic first down.

Carr was again tipped at the line on the following play. The drive was again was in the balance with the Raiders in third and 8, but a fantastic play by Seth Roberts saved it. Roberts was well covered and the defender got a hand on it, but Roberts caught the ball off the tip and took it 33 yards. A few plays later, in third and 13, Carr was called for a delay of game. Unacceptable in that situation to have a delay of game. The Raiders would settle for a field goal and then put the game in the hands of the defense to win it.

Bill Musgrave

This offense is a shell of its former self. The defenses almost always seem to know what's coming and how to stop it. Musgrave was up to his usual non-tricks early on. The first third down the Raiders faced was third and 15 and so of course he calls wide receiver screen. It's his go-to play call on third and long and not surprisingly defenses always see it coming. This play was a failure from the start. The pass was tipped at the line, but it wouldn't have mattered, it was going nowhere.

The next third down the Raiders faced was a third and short. So, of course, as per usual, the Raiders lined up with an empty backfield. You wouldn't want the threat of a run or an ACTUAL run in short yardage to go and confuse the defense as to what's coming. Carr threw incomplete to a covered Andre Holmes up the right sideline and the Raiders settled for a long field goal.

Ok, so the Chargers have two of the better defensive backs in the NFL in Jason Verrett and Eric Weddle. Well, it just so happens that both of them went out injured in the first half and didn't return. So, naturally the Raiders only passed to a wide receiver 5 times in the second half. Even the Chargers were probably left wondering how the Raiders managed to not convert a first down in the second half.

DJ Hayden

Early in the second quarter, the Raiders and Chargers were all tied up at 7-7. The Chargers started their drive already in field goal range at the 31-yard-line. Hayden helped make that into a touchdown by giving up the biggest catch of the drive for 14 yards to the 14-yard-line. They scored three plays later.

The Chargers would score one more time in the first half on a field goal. On that drive, Hayden missed a tackle on a five-yard catch and two plays later gave up a 9-yard catch.

With the Raiders having taken a 20-17 lead late, the Chargers needed a long drive to tie it. They were third and 10 out of field goal range, but Hayden was called for pass interference on the play to give them an automatic first down and put them in field goal range. They were able to tie it up and send the game to overtime.

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