Another week, another way the Las Vegas Raiders find a way to lose a football game.
The Raiders’ offense finally broke through against the Chicago Bears, totaling 357 yards, including 240 on the ground, 24 points and just one punt. That should have been enough to put the Bears away; however, four turnovers left the door open for Chicago, and a blocked field goal attempt allowed the Monsters of the Midway to slam it shut on Las Vegas. That gives us a mixed bag in this week’s winners and losers.
WINNER: Ashton Jeanty
The beginning of Jeanty’s career has been a struggle, as he hasn’t had much breathing room so far this season. But the holes were open on Sunday and the rookie took advantage by nearly doubling his rushing yards from the first three games with 21 carries for 138 yards (6.6 ypc) and a 64-yard touchdown run. He also found the end zone two more times as a receiver to turn in a three-score performance and his first multi-touchdown game.
What is even more encouraging is that the Boise State product showed more signs of the guy he was in college, breaking 11 tackles, according to Pro Football Focus, throughout the afternoon. Of course, Jeanty’s breakout performance was spoiled by the loss, but his play had Raider Nation taking a collective sigh of relief as it looked like he is starting to get comfortable in the league. Now, it’s just a matter of stacking these outings together.
LOSER: Geno Smith
You don’t have to look too far to find the primary reason why the Raiders lost on Sunday. Smith pretty much admitted that he was the problem during his postgame press conference, and it’s hard to win when the quarterback throws three interceptions.
What’s frustrating about his performance isn’t just that he’s now leading the NFL in interceptions with seven; he’s also making rookie mistakes as a 12-year veteran. Smith continues to stare down reads, force throws into coverage and be late with his timing. At $37.5 million a year, Las Vegas is paying a Matthew Stafford-level price tag for Jameis Winston-level production.
WINNER: Maxx Crosby
After the game, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams said that Crosby is the “probably best player [he’s] played against in [his] career,” (h/t Fox Sports’ Jordan Schultz) and that’s hard to argue with. Crosby has had plenty of dominant performances over the last seven years, but this one might take the cake as the most dominant of his career.
Despite getting chipped and double-teamed throughout the contest, the veteran pass-rusher managed to have five pressures, per PFF. But what was even more impressive was that he found ways to impact the passing game even when he couldn’t win as a rusher, batting three passes at the line of scrimmage, one of which led to his first career interception.
On top of that, Crosby was a menace against the run, recording three tackles for loss to earn the highest PFF run defense grade (79.2) among edge defenders for the week (pre-Monday Night Football). Again, a case could be made that this was the best game of the four-time Pro Bowler’s career, and that’s saying a lot.
LOSER: Devin White
While White managed to record a team-high nine total tackles, a lot of that production came several yards down the field. Chicago was clearly looking to pick on him in coverage, targeting the linebacker eight times with five completions for 68 yards, per PFF. The latter was the most among Las Vegas’ defenders. To make matters worse, White also missed two tackles and posted an ugly 46.0 grade against the run.
WINNER: Jackson Powers-Johnson
Powers-Johnson was supposed to be splitting snaps with Alex Cappa on Sunday, since those two are still competing for playing time, according to head coach Pete Carroll. However, the second-year pro played so well that the coaching staff couldn’t take him off the field. JPJ didn’t give up a single pressure on 23 snaps in pass protection and was a big reason why the ground game finally got going, earning a 70.1 PFF run-blocking grade.
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His 76.1 grade overall currently ranks fourth among guards for the week and should put to rest any competition for the starting job moving forward.
LOSER: Isaiah Pola-Mao
The Bears only scored one passing touchdown, and Pola-Mao was the primary culprit. Cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly was clearly expecting safety help on a post route from wide receiver Rome Odunze, but Pola-Mao didn’t rotate and was too shallow, leaving Kelly out to dry. That gave the Bears the lead in the second half to help flip the momentum of the game, and this isn’t the first time he’s been caught out of position.
Pola-Mao has been responsible for two touchdowns in four games, which is tied for the most among safeties, according to PFF. That’s a big reason why he currently owns the lowest grade (31.1) at the position (minimum 59 snaps). So, it might be time to see if someone else can get the job done.
WINNER: Malcolm Koonce
In the first three weeks, Koonce didn’t look quite the same as he continues to recover from the torn ACL suffered before the season opener last year. But it seemed like he was starting to feel more comfortable and back to his old self on Sunday, recording a season-high five pressures. Additionally, Koonce had a good showing against the run with a couple of defensive stops on just 10 run defense snaps and a 77.8 mark in that department.
It was good to see the defensive end start to feel more comfortable since the Raiders have been looking for a defensive lineman to step up and take some of the pressure off Crosby in the first month of the season.
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