Raiders end season on a high note.
The Raiders’ high hopes end with a .500 season and no postseason
The glass is half-full and halfempty, and no one wants to drink from it again.
That’s how the Raiders were feeling Sunday after a 32-31 road win over the Denver Broncos to finish the season 8-8, a thoroughly unsatisfying .500 record that was a one-game improvement over the 2019 season.
The Raiders went from a 6-3 team moments from a sweep of the Kansas City Chiefs to out of the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 years, winning twice in their last seven games.
A two-point conversion pass from quarterback Derek Carr to Darren Waller for the winning points with 24 seconds to play made for a pleasant charter flight back to Las Vegas. But in no way did it heal the wounds for a fan base that was expecting much more.
The Raiders won the last game, but many of the issues that cropped up late in the season were on full display. They somehow managed to win a game despite having a minus- 4 disadvantage in turnovers and 14 penalties for 111 yards. That the Raiders won the game had as much to with Denver being a 5-11 team as anything they did. Duplicate the turnovers and penalties against a reputable outfit and it’s a double- digit loss.
So while there’s been improve
ment each season in terms of the won-loss record, the Raiders are 19-29 in the Jon Gruden reboot and if social media is any indication, there isn’t a lot of celebrating going with it. The fans the Raiders left behind in the Bay Area couldn’t even see the game on network local television, so inconsequential was the finale.
“We’ve battled our brains out as much as we could, and we’re really a couple plays away from winning every game in our division,” Gruden said.
Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock will start picking up the pieces and reassembling them in the coming weeks based on what they have and what they don’t have. You can eliminate Carr from conversation off the top. Gruden said “he’s one of the best I’ve ever been around in the two-minute drill” and for at least another season the next- door neighbors are inextricably linked.
Here’s where it starts: FIXING THE DEFENSE >> The Broncos not only took a late lead on a 92-yard touchdown pass from Drew Lock to Jerry Jeudy, but the Raiders enabled Denver to get in to position for a late desperation field goal with 24 seconds to play. Sound familiar?
The worst part about it is they spent a lot of time last offseason in theory upgrading all three levels of their defense and instead they got worse. And firing defensive coordinator Paul Guenther in favor of Rod Marinelli over the last three games didn’t improve things.
T he Raiders gave up 29.9 points per game, the worst in franchise history over a 16-game season and second only to the pre-Al Davis 1961 Raiders, who gave up 32.7 in a 14- game season.
Gr uden could br ing back Marinelli as defensive coordinator, but that would be staying a flawed course. More likely, Marinelli reverts to being the defensive line coach and new face with new ideas is brought in. Whether it’s a veteran like Wade Phillips to shift to a 3- 4 or someone such as Raheem Harris or a young gun to retain a 4- 3 doesn’t matter as much as a coherent vision of how to best utilize the talent on the roster.
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the The ball offense over way also too turned much after early being on. Carr’s fairly the reliable quarterback back, but and he had he’s a hand coming in the turnovers. His 17 turnovers on interceptions and lost fumbles were career high, and the Raiders turned it over 26 times in all.
he Raiders also struggled in the red zone and in goal to go situations down the stretch when improving in those areas through 10 games.
“We’ve started good the last two seasons, but we have not finished strong,” Carr said. “I can almost guarantee you from hear on out you’re going to hear me talk about finish, finish, finish. Coach Gruden’s going to put it up in the facility, finish, finish, finish. We’re going to finish practice. We’re going to finish everything we do. It has to be a point of emphasis for us.”
BE BETTER AT DEVELOPING TALENT >>
The best teams draft and develop and then cherry pick during free agency with the understanding that available veterans are usually available for a reason. Look no further than Cory Littleton and Carl Nassib on defense, who were the Raiders’ big ticket signings and struggled in their first year.
More troubling is the production from so much of the last two draft classes which count as the foundation of the franchise.
Defensive end Clelin Ferrell was a No. 4 overall pick and has the look of a twodown base end with issues pushing the pocket. Jacobs, became the first Raider since Marcus Allen to have back-to-back 1,000 rushing seasons. He finished with 1,065 and it’s a good sign he said afterward he’s not satisfied. He should be in the 1,200-plus realm if the Raiders plan on running the way Gruden wants to run.
Johnathan Abram, who played his first full season, remains a mystery, energetic but mistake-prone. This year’s top picks, wide receiver Henry Ruggs III and cornerback Damon Arnette, didn’t come anywhere near having the kind of first-year impact everyone hoped. Injuries and a pandemic made that difficult, but it doesn’t change the bottom line. Trayvon Mullen may have been better than as a rookie, but marginally so.