The Raiders played a football game. They may have won, they may have lost, who knows. Did they even keep score? For my money, the Raiders' season was over after the first of their two one-score losses to the Chiefs back in October.
But apparently NFL teams have to actually play all of their games? Even if no one is asking for that? Something to address in the next round of CBA discussions, perhaps. But for now, that meant the Raiders playing an early-slate game in Tampa Bay, which in a way it was nice because it probably ended before a lot of Las Vegas even woke up.
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It was also nice because it gave the Raiders' one fun storyline – Brock Bowers' ill-fated ORoY campaign – more juice. Bowers had a quiet day in Tampa, only catching three passes for less than 50 yards, but still somehow managed to set a record with that stat line. According to the team's PR account, Bowers set the single-season reception record from a rookie tight end. And that'd be a weird thing for a team PR account to lie about, so I'm going to go ahead and just assume they're right.
Brock Bowers is now officially the most prolific rookie tight end in NFL history
TE Brock Bowers has now passed Sam LaPorta (86) for the most receptions in a single season by a rookie tight end.
— Raiders PR (@RAIDERS_PR) December 8, 2024
A good record? For the Raiders? In this economy? Maybe this year isn't so bad after all. Imagine if he had even a halfway-decent quarterback! Bowers is legitimately already in the conversation for best pass catcher in the NFL, which is wild considering he is A. a rookie and B. a tight end and C. on the Las Vegas Raiders. Poor Sam LaPorta, only getting to keep a super impressive record for barely a year.
Another crazy twist: Bowers still has an entire month to pad his record. It's entirely possible – probable, even – that Bowers gets to 100 receptions, which is an insane sentence to say out loud. A Raiders rookie tight end is probably going to end the season as the NFL's reception leader. Those summer workout Instagram videos with Sheduer Sanders are going to hit so hard.