Raiders Wild Card vs Bengals: 3 Surprises from the loss
By Nick Bailey
Raiders Wild Card vs Bengals: 3 Surprises from the loss
Issues on defense
The performance of the defense in this game might be the biggest surprise, as they did get some stops in the second half, and give the offense one last chance to tie the game up in the end, but in the first half, they did not stop the Bengals from scoring once.
Nor did they create any turnovers once again, as they let Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow eat them alive going over 100 and 200 yards respectively in the first half. In their first matchup of the year, Burrow had 128 yards passing in the game, and Chase had only 32 receiving yards, and that was in a dome in Las Vegas. Saturday, in the cold temperature, Burrow finished with 244 yards passing with two touchdowns, and Chase had 116 yards with a touchdown reception.
There was also not much pressure on the quarterback in the first half of the game despite the Bengals having the same type of offensive line problems the Raiders have, as they are decent on the left side, but major struggles on the right. The Raiders did end up getting two sacks, but you can’t give a quarterback as talented a Burrow so much time to throw the ball,l especially when Chase was eating Brandon Facyson and Desmond Trufant’s lunches.
The only player that really stood out on the defensive side was veteran cornerback Casey Hayward, as when Hayward was targeted in the game, Burrow was 0-4 including a beautiful diving pass break on a deep pass to Chase. Maybe Hayward should’ve been on Chase more, because the receiver he was covering most of the game, Tee Higgins ended the game with one catch for 10 yards.