Miami Dolphins at Las Vegas Raiders Week 16: Preview and Prediction
By Nick Bailey
Raiders coming off a tough loss to the Chargers
The Raiders, on the other hand, are once again coming off a loss, and this time it really hurt. The Chargers came into town on Thursday night and took home the overtime victory over the Raiders 30-27, which pretty much ended the Raiders’ chance of a postseason appearance. Starting quarterback Derek Carr got hurt in the first quarter while running toward the end zone, as he pulled up and ran straight out of bounds.
That led to the Raiders turning to backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, who came in and impressed nearly pulling out the win. Mariota not only threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns in a bit over three quarters of playing time, but he also ran for 88 yards as the Los Angeles Chargers had no answer for the run option that Mariota presented. Head coach Jon Gruden’s bad play calls to end a red zone trip in overtime with a field goal proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Raiders season.
On first down, he ran Josh Jacobs up the middle, who pulled up lame and fell down. Then, on second down, Gruden ran the same play, and Jacobs once again fell down hurt. Finally, on third down, he called a run-out pass to Alec Ingold, which was broken up, and almost intercepted because of a late throw by Mariota.
Despite missing four starters on the defense, including defensive end Clelin Ferrell and safety Johnathan Abram, the defense did much better against the run, holding the Chargers to nearly 100 combined yards. But against the pass was where they struggled, and that’s where quarterback Justin Herbert hurt the Raiders. He threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, and he also rushed from a yard out for the game-winning touchdown in overtime.