Las Vegas Raiders vs Indianapolis Colts 2022 Week 10: Studs and Duds
Dud – Everyone else on defense not named Maxx Crosby
Apart from perhaps Amik Robertson who forced a fumble early in the game, the rest of the Raiders’ defense was absolutely atrocious the entire day. The Raiders gave up 415 yards to an offense with a first-time play caller and a unit that has only topped 400 yards one other time this season in regulation. The other time they went over was in Week 1 where they had literally an entire extra quarter of football as they tied the Houston Texans.
This defensive unit reaches new lows every week but 3 plays stand out above the rest for how incredibly bad they were. The first was Johnathan Taylor’s 60-yard touchdown run where every player in the box was blocked and safety Duron Harmon took a horrible angle to let Taylor run for 66 yards untouched. The next play was on a 3rd and 3 play where they somehow allowed Matt Ryan to scramble for 39 yards, the longest run of his career, and more yards than he has rushed for in a game in his entire career.
It was an astounding breakdown of scheme and effort that somehow let a 37-year-old QB run for nearly half the length of the field in one play.
The final awful play that decided the game was with 5 minutes left as Parris Campbell caught a short slant from Ryan and took it 35 yards to house, also virtually untouched. It was the Colts’ second-highest point total of the season and their first time scoring over 17 points in 4 weeks.
We talked last week about the Raiders being near the bottom of the league in every defensive category and that trend continued as they allowed Ryan to play a near-perfect game and Taylor to gash them for nearly 7 yards per carry. They also recorded just one sack against a team that has given up an incredible 35 sacks in the 9 games preceding the duel with the Raiders.
Of course, it was Maxx Crosby that recorded that single sack, but the rest of the unit was just as awful on Sunday as it has been all year long.