Oakland Raiders Week 7 Stats Breakdown and Awards

5 of 5

Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper (89) makes a catch as San Diego Chargers strong safety Jimmy Wilson (27) defends during the second quarter at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Awards of the Week

Player of the Game: Amari Cooper

Cooper had another outstanding performance against a talented secondary, showing once again he belongs in Rookie of the Year talks. He made a catch for a big gain at every level of the field in this game. Big time deep catch on 3rd and long, a beautiful crossing route for a 1st down, and amazing screen he took for 52 yards. The Cooper and Carr relationship is really maturing, and it should be something great to watch for years to come.

Offensive Player of the Game: Derek Carr

Carr put together one of his best performances of his career, connecting with 9 different receivers, he is spreading the ball around and keeping defenses on their toes. He is starting to elevate the players around him, and you can see the improved leadership skills week in and week out as the other players are starting to make plays for him.

Defensive Player of the Game: Malcolm Smith

I don’t care what the ratings say on this one, Malcolm was a beast out there on Sunday. He played aggressively, lead the team in tackles, sacks, and interceptions. He is developing into a player the linebacking corp can be built around. If the plan is to indeed have Mack on the line more and more, having Malcolm Smith leading the charge from LB position is a great piece to have back there.

Play of the Game: Malcolm Smith Interception

It’s obvious, I think Malcolm Smith is a great addition to the team. There were some amazing plays in this game, but I think the interception by Smith got the momentum going in Oakland’s favor very early in this game. It helped get the “home” fans involved, set up easy points by the offense, and put the team in a position play aggressively to build a strong lead and never look back.

Play of the Game Pt. 2: Bill Musgrave getting Cooper/Crabtree to score on the Same Play Call

I normally only give one play of the game award, but in this instance I guess it’s more of a Playcall Award. Bill Musgrave found some success with the screen plays in this game, and if something worked once, it should work again right? And it did.

Cooper started it off with the highlight reel by catching a little screen, and the field was set for him the second he grabbed the ball. Big Rodney Hudson was leading the way to make a block 15 yards down the field, as Cooper made 3 defenders on the run that was topped off by a Barry Sanders-esque juke to find paydirt in the end zone.

Fast forward to the second half. Raiders are 25 yards away from the end zone, another quick screen, this time Michael Crabtree is there to make the catch. The blocking was set up nicely again, with offensive linemen leading the way 10 yards down the field, Crabtree breaks a tackle on his own to make it to the end zone for a TD. Musgrave drew criticism for his vanilla second half playcalling, but that was only after helping the Raiders offense put up 37 points early in the game with calls like these.

More from Just Blog Baby

Home/Las Vegas Raiders News