Raiders-Bucs: 4 Winners, 4 Losers

Greetings, Raider fans! It is I, the Great Raiderdamus, who predicted a 30-26 Raiders victory on Friday, and this game ended 30-24 so I am feeling pretty awesome right now. I really am the greatest.

Who's not the greatest are those knuckleheads on the field that committed literally more penalties than anyone else ever has in the history of recorded time. Why must the Raiders do this to us? Why can't we just have a nice, easy win without all this drama and foolishness? Why has every single Raiders coach since 1982 promised to clean up the penalties, but none of them have actually been able to do so? It's baffling.

So anyway, I hope all of your livers are still intact and I hope the Chargers demolish the Broncos this afternoon. I want to be alone in first place, baby.

WINNERS

1) Derek Carr

Talk about refusing to lose. Carr was a little bit off in the first half, throwing over receivers' heads and missing on some timing patterns. But after halftime he came alive. He completed touchdown passes to two wide receivers, a tight end, and an offensive tackle. He passed for what I suspect is a personal record of 514 yards and four touchdowns, so rest assured he has won somebody their fantasy matchup this week. Carr once again cements himself as one of the premier quarterbacks in the NFL.

2) Amari Cooper

One of the main reasons for Carr's success was Cooper having a true breakout game. He caught 12 passes for a personal best 173 yards and a touchdown. He was covered tough by Vernon Hargreaves all day, but just like in those Alabama vs. Florida games he made the talented Hargreaves look like a chump.

3) The Raider defense

The much-maligned Raider D has now put together two solid efforts on the road. They held Jameis Winston, who is very good, to 50% passing and only 180 passing yards. They also held Jacquizz Rodgers, who was being hyped to the moon before this game, to 69 yards rushing. After Sean Smith went down, the Raiders lost their primary defender for Mike Evans but still managed to hold Evans to a mere 50 yards on four catches. Khalil Mack had two sacks and rookie Karl Joseph had seven solo tackles, two passes defensed, and a tackle for loss. They also made sure Tampa never got close to scoring in overtime.

4) Fans of the color yellow

Gentlemen, I've watched a lot of Raider games in my life and I know you all have too. I have never seen a team play as out of control and sloppy as this team did and still win a game. This was truly historic and unprecedented. The refs may have picked on the Raiders a little bit, but Oakland also played with recklessness. They usually win when they get penalized a lot, but this was overkill.

LOSERS

1) Sebastian Janikowski

Seabass recently became the NFL's all-time leader in field goals made from beyond 50 yards. Well today he had his shot at two of them and missed them both. It was a windy day, but Jano needs to make those. He nearly cost us the game. He owes Derek Carr a beer ginger ale.

2) Buccaneers offensive line

These guys were totally outmatched today. They couldn't get the running game going and Jameis Winston's completion percentage was very low due to him being under pressure on virtually every dropback. Just like last week in Jacksonville, the Raiders owned this matchup in the trenches.

3) Mike Evans

After Sean Smith went down, Evans probably figured he was in for a career day. Instead he became the Invisible Man. TJ Carrie entered the game for Smith and David Amerson blanketed Evans most of the day. While Winston did overthrow Evans on a few occasions, this was not a good personal effort for the big wideout.

4) Dirk Koetter

Dirk was all over the media earlier this week, imploring Tampa fans to fill the stadium and not sell tickets to Raider fans. He wanted a solid home-field advantage for a team that has been abysmal at home lately. Well, that went over like a lead zeppelin. Not only was Raymond James Stadium full of Raider fans, but the Bucs lost at home again, and Dirk's team got outplayed by a team that committed 23 penalties. Back to the drawing board, Dirk. Maybe you should take the salary you haven't earned and pay fans to come see your games.