So. . .is Derek Carr that good, or was our secondary that overhyped?

During the draft people were saying we had the best roster in the NFL, and it would be really hard for any rookies to make the team.
Post draft they said the same things. They were all wrong, or last night was just one of those nights and we will move on and show better.

Time will tell.

he kept hitting Waller.

their WR's weren't doing all that much. Hell nothing really.

they had the one long play to the other TE whatever his name is.

waller wasn't gashing the D for big gains but they didn't have an answer for the short or mid range game.

it wasn't all bad though.

3 sacks and several tackles for losses.

its not like the D-line was getting knocked off the ball.

Credit the Raiders for the time of possession.

third down defense was a crap fest but so was theirs.

both teams converted fairly well on third down and its not like Jacobs was having some game for the ages.

but you can't let the opponents top receiving threat beat you and that's exactly what happened.

We were very bad and overmatched with speed and height.

If you can cover simple out routes and curls, your secondary sucks. Allen did the right things, it was the secondary and LBs that let us down. Can't expect the front to get pressure when he is throwing everything off of a 3 step drop.

Carr is a good qb. He reminds me a ton of Brees in San Diego. He has very little to work with on the outside and has relied on his TE over the last few years heavily. People forget that before that bad injury he had he was a legit mvp candidate a few years ago. All the while playing in one of the more unstable franchises in the NFL pre Gruden.

quote:

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Allen’s defense seems to have one of these games at the beginning of every year

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And in the playoffs

The Raiders can be a frustrating team to play if you can't get it going on offense.

They run the football and dink and dunk the ball to their tight ends and backs. They take few if any risks so they aren't really going to beat themselves. Ruggs got wide open 2-3 times last night for long gains, but Carr never even looked his way. He works short to long and doesn't read his entire progression.

The saints likewise can't stretch the field anymore, so it set up as a matchup that LV was going to be able to hang around in. The Seattles, Arizonas, KCs, Baltimores even Dallas, Falcons around the league would probably beat that Raiders team senseless. They all have the ability on offense to put the raiders into chase/desperation mode early and they aren't built for that.

Carr is a pretty average QB in terms of ability, but he is the definition of a "game manager". He is not going to take many risks at all, and it's what will inevitably hold LV back against more explosive teams.

The saints look like a pretty easy team to defend at the moment, even when MT13 comes back. I think teams are figuring out that they don't really have to respect the deep ball with Brees under center. Ironically Brees right now in his current form is basically what Carr has been his entire career- they just have an elite weapon at TE and are going to commit to running the ball as long as the game is somewhat close.

This was always going to be Carr's year. He has a lot of good pieces to work with year:

1. Year 3 of Gruden's offense
2. Franchise RB and TE
3. Highest paid OL in the NFL

The only thing they are missing is a WR1, but Ruggs/Edwards definitely have a chance to be good.

I was just about to say Dennis Allen deserves some of the blame to.It look like to me they played zones most of the game and Carr was just picking it apart