Raiders studs & duds from Week 2: Maxx Crosby & Davante Adams take over

Stud - Raiders Defense

This summer many of us following the Raiders defense closely thought that this team could potentially be an elite unit. After a solid performance against the Chargers, save for a couple of broken plays, the defense came out strong against Baltimore and held firm for most of the game.

They shut the Ravens out of the end zone for the first half and came up with several timely stops and a turnover that was key in the comeback. They held Derrick Henry to under 100 yards and forced Lamar Jackson to work for every bit of his production on Sunday. You can never truly shut down an elite quarterback and offense like that but holding them to 23 points at home is a solid achievement.

The best performance on the defense came late in the game when the Ravens got the ball back with four minutes to go and the game tied at 23. They forced a three-and-out after an early Maxx Crosby sack and forced the Ravens to punt.

This allowed the Raiders to kick the go-ahead field goal on the next drive and they even saved some magic for the last 30 seconds of the game as the Ravens came close to tying it up at the end. Major credit is deserved at all three levels of the defense as they kept things tight even while the offense was stuck in neutral.