Las Vegas Raiders at New York Jets: 4 things we learned in Week 13
Las Vegas Raiders at New York Jets: 4 things we learned in Week 13
The Raiders missed Clelin Ferrell the last two weeks
The Raiders defense was without one of its best players for the past two weeks in Clelin Ferrell and the impact was felt immensely, particularly against the Kansas City Chiefs. In Week 5, Ferrell had double-digit pressures and was a key figure in forcing Patrick Mahomes into one of the worst games of his career.
In the rematch, Mahomes constantly had all day to throw and the Chiefs ran with ease to the side where Ferrell usually lines up. Ferrell has been an excellent run defender this season and against the Jets, he flashed some of those pass-rush skills against a highly touted rookie in the first-rounder Mekhi Becton.
Clelin Ferrell beats his blocker with the double swipe/rip. Ferrell runs the hoop & earns a strip/sack. If you beat the hands, you beat the man! #passrush #raiders pic.twitter.com/s3XaX5J5Vb
— DLineVids (@dlinevids1) December 7, 2020
Ferrell made the two biggest plays of the day for a defense that struggled to contain a Jets offense that has been poor all season with two strip-sacks that either lead directly to points for the Raiders or took points off the board from the Jets. On both plays he made an excellent left tackle look silly with his bag of tricks and was greatly rewarded for his efforts with his first two sacks of the season.
The Raiders have gotten pressure on the quarterback in recent weeks but have struggled to actually bring them down and that changed this week as Ferrell sacked Darnold twice all on his own. He was a difference-maker today and played the type of game that we expect from a player selected in the top five of the NFL Draft.