Allen, Burris Killing the Oakland Raiders

Sep 14, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) stands in a huddle with teammates against the Houston Texans in the first quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Bottom Line

I remember thinking after both games, “Dang, this game went by quick!” then I would start to watch another game with a whole quarter left. That’s because is seemed like the Jets and Texans started running the clock out from the first time they got the ball. Quarterback Derek Carr and the offense didn’t have much of a chance as they lost the time of possession battle 38 minutes to 21 minutes yesterday.

Every team wants to start fast but for the Raiders to do that, the defense has to play well because it takes a while for young quarterbacks. Some will say the three-and-outs and the turnovers wore the defense out but they wore themselves out with their inability to get off the field on third down. Put that together with the Raiders being down 17 after five minutes of play and they don’t have time to get a running game going.

The Texans running game got them ahead quick with big runs then ran the clock out once they were ahead. So there weren’t many opportunities to try to use the pass rush the Raiders spent all that money on this offseason. And when you can’t stop the run, you can’t stop the pass, you can’t get your defense off the field and your offense can’t do anything because they can’t get on the field.