Las Vegas Raiders suddenly playing disciplined football in 2020
By Brad Weiss
The Raiders have long been known for penalties affecting the outcome of their game in negative ways. In 2020, they are playing a disciplined football.
Monday night saw the Las Vegas Raiders put themselves in the conversation of being a legitimate playoff contender, this after beating the New Orleans Saints in convincing fashion to close out Week 2. The Raiders looked good on offense, made some key stops late on defense, and saw kicker Daniel Carlson prove he has ice in his veins.
All of this equated to the Silver and Black getting out to a 2-0 record, the first time they have been able to accomplish that since 2017. Coming off a seven-win season, Las Vegas is hoping they can make the playoffs for only the second time since the 2002 season, and all signs point to that being the case early on.
Playing a disciplined brand of football
For years, the Raiders struggled with the flags, whether it was a holding on a big play down the field, or a timely defensive pass interference call on the other side of the ball. They would seemingly weekly have a few plays during the game that would turn the contest on it’s head, and while sometimes it was a wrong call by the refs, they just flat out played undisciplined football.
In 2020, that seems to be the complete opposite, as flags have not hurt them, and they are playing disciplined football on both sides of the ball. With so many injuries already along the offensive line, it was pretty impressive to see guys like John Simpson and Denzelle Good do such a solid job against an elite defensive line on Monday night.
To date, the Silver and Black have committed only six penalties, which, in some years, would be a half’s worth of flags. The lack of flags has allowed the team to put together long drives, and on defense, they are not just giving away first downs anymore.
Thanks to this new style of play, the Raiders have gotten out to a surprising 2-0 start.
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For the first time in a long time, the Raiders were not hurt by penalties, and in fact, the penalties by the Saints actually played in their favor. If they can continue to play this brand of football, putting together crisp, and mistake-free drives, there is no reason they won’t punch their ticket to the playoffs this season.