Sitting at 6-4, the Las Vegas Raiders were supposed to have some easy sledding against the 3-7 Atlanta Falcons, but they were dominated throughout.
Expected to go into Atlanta and absolutely dominate the Falcons, the Las Vegas Raiders had multiple turnovers in what was their most embarrassing loss of the season.
In one of the sloppier first halves we have seen from this Raiders team in a long time, the Silver and Black were absolutely dominated by the Falcons before half time. Penalties, fumbles, and bad play calling caused the Raiders to go down early, and they would have to claw their way back just to get back into the game.
Las Vegas forced a punt on the Falcons’ first possession, and when they got the ball back, they saw their drive stall on a stop by Atlanta on a fourth-and-1. That led to an Atlanta field goal for a 3-0 lead, and after Derek Carr fumbled on the next possession, Younghoe Koo was able to put another one through the uprights.
Josh Jacobs caused a Raiders to drive to an end with a questionable lowering of the head call, but Isaiah Johnson would deflect a Matt Ryan pass into Johnathan Abram‘s hands to give Las Vegas the ball back. On a fourth-and-3, Carr hit Henry Ruggs III down to the three-yard line, but they would eventually have to settle for a field goal.
From there, the first half went from bad to worse, as a roughing the kicker penalty extended a Falcons drive that would lead to a Ryan to Calvin Ridley touchdown. Vegas got the ball back with a little over two minutes left, but a second fumble by Carr ended any chance of the Raiders making some noise in the first half.
Atlanta was able to knock through another field goal, and the two teams went into halftime with the score 16-3 Falcons, and the Raiders getting the ball to start the third.