Las Vegas Raiders at Carolina Panthers: 3 Things We Learned
Offense in Midseason Form
If the Raiders are going to compete this season, it is going to be on the back of their offense, and they showed up big time in week one. Las Vegas racked up 372 total yards, and it was a well-balanced attack with 239 passing yards and 133 rushing yards. Derek Carr was efficient and kept the offense on track for most of the game as the Raiders only punted three times, with one of those coming at the end of the game while killing the clock.
However, the star of the day was running back Josh Jacobs, who started his sophomore season with three rushing touchdowns and the last of those put the Raiders up for good. Jacobs is by far the best skill player on the team, and the Raiders made sure to give him the ball early and often as he touched it 29 times. Combined with tremendous play from the offensive line, they simply wore down an inexperienced Carolina defense. Jacobs seems primed for a monster season, and if the Raiders make a playoff push, he could make a serious run at the offensive player of the year.
Outside of Jacobs, it was a collective effort in the passing game as Carr hit nine different receivers with Darren Waller leading the way with six catches. We got an excellent glimpse of first-round rookie Henry Ruggs III and Nelson Agholor made his one catch count as he found the endzone in the second quarter.
Overall it was a tremendous start to the season for the offense as they didn’t let up at all, scoring in every quarter. And with the schedule getting much more competitive from this point on, they made need to win a few shootouts as the defense suffers some growing pains.