Another week, another bad loss for the Las Vegas Raiders, who have become the laughingstock of the NFL. They are finding new ways to lose every week, and incredibly, have already blown three 17-0 leads this season.
Here, we look at the Studs and Duds from the Week 9 loss.
Las Vegas Raiders at Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 Week 9: Studs and Duds
Stud – First half Raiders offense
There was plenty of temptation after another crushing loss to write a column similar to the one after the Saints game where we say no one on the Las Vegas Raiders deserved the “stud” award. Few would blame us for the negativity but in the interest of fairness, we will be a little more objective and give credit where it is due.
So with that in mind, we start with the Raiders’ first-half offense as it looked once again like one of the top units in the NFL. After a short initial drive, the Raiders moved the ball up and down the field at will against a hapless-looking Jaguars defense primarily on the strength of their passing game.
The Derek Carr to Davante Adams connection was as strong as it has ever been this year as Adams caught two long touchdown passes from Carr and looked like he was in line for a career day. Josh Jacobs was the least productive star on the offense as he did little with 11 rushing attempts and was stopped in the backfield on most of those attempts. That didn’t hamper the offense however as they were able to move the ball with ease.
The one blip for the offense came with 50 seconds left in the half as Derek Carr had Ameer Abdullah one on one with a linebacker but he underthrew what looked like an easy touchdown and the Raiders settled for a field goal. Had the Raiders scored a touchdown there, they would have been up 24-7 and the game might have been over at that point. With the way the defense and offense played in the second half, however, we may be giving them too much credit.