Raiders post-Bills reflections

The short version is that the Bills are just a much better team, so hanging with them is the ceiling for this young Raiders team.

The defense generally did a good job containing Allen, aside from that one 25 yard TD flick that'll be on his career highlight reel. Cook was the bigger problem, but he's just awesome unless he fumbles. The one thing they need to figure out is why teams can burn them out in the flats. It's happened every game since the Saints.
Asston Jeanty is not an every down back. He seems destined to be an elite 3rd down back and maybe a serviceable short yardage option. They need to start giving Washington more of the early-down reps.
The passing game is really humming. On rewatch, the Bills didn't have Bowers nearly as bottled up as it seemed. He drew a couple of big penalties on the DBs, including one in the endzone, that don't show up on his stat sheet (or fantasy score!). Bowers as WR1, Mayer TE1, and Tucker WR2, with Jeanty leaking out of the backfield, is a really nice combination of receivers that defenses are struggling to match up with.
The offensive line still sucks. They benched JPJ for being too much of a bonehead, but it turns out that he's one of the only guys who can block. Linderbaum is looking like a terrible signing at $30M per season. He's maybe a slightly above average center right now.

It's great to have a team that can hang in there with the best teams in the league and our young guys should only get better from here.

Comments0