![Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. (1) signals his touchdown after diving into the end zone during second-quarter action, The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Las Vegas Raiders at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, November 6, 2022. The Jaguars trailed 20 to 10 at the end of the first half. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_16,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Fjustblogbaby-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fimagn-images-2F2018-2F08-2F19376054-53e0a46f239bc31aa0e80ea42344751019599ada3b4fdb7a5629925fe8ac537e.jpg "Jacksonville Jaguars running back Travis Etienne Jr. (1) signals his touchdown after diving into the end zone during second-quarter action, The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the Las Vegas Raiders at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, November 6, 2022. The Jaguars trailed 20 to 10 at the end of the first half. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]")
Las Vegas Raiders at Jacksonville Jaguars 2022 Week 9: Studs and Duds
Dud – Raiders’ second-half defense
The Raiders’ defense in the first half was about as good as you can ask from a unit that has struggled all season. They didn’t quite force a turnover but they took advantage of a Jacksonville mistake and held the Jaguars to 10 points on 5 drives which is a solid achievement.
In the second half, however, that all went to waste as the Raiders gave up two straight touchdown drives to give up the lead and allowed the Jaguars to move the ball at will. They gave up 17 unanswered points and while the offense takes their share of the blame, the defense provided little resistance until Jacksonville was starting to play it a bit more conservatively to try and preserve the lead.
The Raiders’ defense allowed a struggling Trevor Lawrence to complete 80% of his passes after having 5 games this season with a sub-60 % completion rate. They recorded just 4 QB hits and failed to register a sack for the third time this season, leaving them at the bottom of the league with just 9 sacks on the year.
Speaking of the bottom of the league, the Raiders are now in the bottom five of the NFL in the following categories:
- Sacks (32nd)
- Sack percentage (32nd)
- Turnovers (32nd)
- Opponent completion percentage (32nd)
- Opponent points per game (28th)
- Opponent red zone touchdown percentage (31st)
- Third down conversion percentage (30th)
If you are not good at that math or understanding what these stats mean, they show that the Raiders’ defense can’t get to the QB, can’t force turnovers, can’t stop teams on third down, and can’t stop teams from scoring touchdowns once they get into the red zone. These are all markers of a historically bad defense and that is just par for the course for this organization, unfortunately.