Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Week 13 review: Studs and Duds

Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Week 13 review: Studs and Duds

Duds – Part 1

Jon Gruden and his play calling at the end of the game

The Raiders were inexplicably down 24-28 with under six minutes left to play in the game and the play-calling down that stretch was strange, to say the least. Derek Carr and the Raiders marched down the field with some difficulty and needed a huge play on third down from Darren Waller, more from him later, to keep the drive alive.

Once the Raiders got into Jets territory, they seemed to be more concerned with running down the clock and not leaving any time left for the Jets than scoring. After the Waller catch that got them to the Jets 33, the Raiders called four rushing plays. Las Vegas had almost no success running the ball all day long but in trying to run down the clock, Gruden nearly cost his team a chance at winning the game.

In addition to the strange play-calling at the end of the game, the Raiders’ offense was awful in the third quarter against one of the worst defenses in the league. Gruden, perhaps in response to the blitzing of the Jets, got conservative and the team went three and out twice before the Henry Ruggs fumble set up the Jets for their go-ahead touchdown.

It was once upon a time this season that Gruden and the Raiders offense was outgunning teams in the third quarter but they fell woefully short on Sunday thanks to the veteran coach trying to just sit on the lead. If the Jets were insistent on blitzing, then why not call some screens or quick hitters to take advantage of the space vacated by the extra pass rushers.

Gruden was very close to being outcoached by Gregg Williams and that would have been a sad fact for Raider Nation to accept.