Raiders at Bills 2023 Week 2: Studs and Duds

Raiders Dud: Jimmy Garoppolo

A week after being a big reason why the Raiders won, Jimmy G came back to earth with a horrendous performance against Buffalo and was a major reason they lost. Against Denver, Garoppolo played a clean game, made the right decisions, ran when he needed to, and, save for one bad decision in the end zone, was almost perfect.

Everything good he did in week one was the complete opposite in week two. He started the game off on fire as he marched the Raiders down the field with some strikes to Davante Adams, including the opening touchdown, but things quickly went sour. After the Raider defense forced a three-and-out, Garoppolo forced the ball to Ameer Abdullah on a screen, and the pass was intercepted by a Buffalo defender.

The Bills were in scoring position immediately, and they tied the game on a short plunge by Latavius Murray.

Aside from being largely ineffective, Garoppolo threw his second interception of the day on a bizarre check-down pass to Josh Jacobs with a linebacker draped all over him. It was the sort of play that Garoppolo has become known for, as he has a tendency to make poor decisions when given too much time to think.

With the game already decided, Garoppolo and Davante Adams were still in the game for an inexplicable reason which Josh McDaniels needs to be asked about. Jimmy forced a high pass into triple coverage, which got Adams laid out by a Buffalo defender and taken out of the game. 49er fans on social media let us all know that this is something Jimmy became known for in San Francisco, and they began calling them "Jimmy's hospital balls."

Jimmy G and the entire Raiders coaching staff will be hoping that Adams is good to go for week three, or it could be an even longer night for Garoppolo against Pittsburgh. If the Raiders are going to be competitive this season, they will need Garoppolo to play mistake-free football, and so far he has only done that 50% of the time.