Raiders’ quick slants: Ravens edition

Adams, Bowers, breath life into offense and Las Vegas plays complementary football for 26-23 road win

Like a rebel told to turn down the music, the Las Vegas Raiders instead turned up the volume.

Instead of music, however, the Silver & Black dialed up the volume on throwing the ball to elite wide receiver Davante Adams and impressive rookie tight end Brock Bowers. And because of it, the Raiders (1-1) offense came to life in the second half which parlayed into complementary football and a get-right 26-23 victory on the road against the host Baltimore Ravens (0-2) on Sunday afternoon.

Dubbed by head coach Antonio Pierce as “pitch and catch” the way quarterback Gardner Minshew was connecting with Adams — game-high 12 targets with nine receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown catch — and to Bowers — nine targets for nine catches and 98 yards. When Las Vegas needed it most, Minshew looked for No. 17 and 89 and the duo produced.

“Started getting Tae (Adams) really involved, Brock was balling, Kob (Jakobi Meyers) had a huge catch, Z (Zamir White) had some runs, that’s what it can be,” Minshew said of the team’s second-half revival. “And that’s the challenge, to be consistent with that. I look forward to continuing to build on that momentum. I think everybody feels pretty great about it. There’s a ton of tape to clean up, we’re going to do that, but I think everybody feels and believes what we can be as an offense.”

After looking comatose in the first half, the Raiders rose like a phoenix from the ashes to match the Ravens, who also awoke from an offensive slumber in the second half — even when it looked supremely grim trailing 16-6 after a turnover on downs.

Las Vegas defense answered the call, however, with middle linebacker Robert Spillane intercepting a pass off a great play by cornerback Jakorian Bennett. And seven plays later — after Minshew moved in the pocket and found Bowers for a 27-yard pass and catch on the scramble drill — running back Alexander Mattison plunged in from one-yard out to slash the lead to 16-13.

Baltimore would drive down the field for another end zone visit, Las Vegas answered with a field goal, and again, the Raiders defense rose to the occasion forcing a punt. That allowed Minshew and company to go nine plays and 70 yards that culminated in Adams’ one-yard end zone visit on a well-executed read-option pass.

And again, the Raiders defense rose to the occasion with the game tied 23 apiece forcing another punt. And this time, Ravens’ punter Jordan Stout shanked it as the boot only traveled 24 yards (an oddity for a John Harbaugh football team as he’s a special teams junkie).

Las Vegas capped the complementary football by kicking the go-ahead field goal and leaving just 27 seconds for Baltimore. The offense matched the defense’s resolve and the Raiders collected an impressive road win.

“Just tired of having these games where we put so much on our defense,” Adams said. “We talked to one another, not rowdy but I did speak up a little bit and used some voices to get guys going. You could kind of see it in everyone’s eyes, a switch flipped and looked like a different team.”

“To be able to dig deep and figure it out,” Adams added, “means a lot to us.”

Let’s hit the quick slants as the Raiders flipped the script on Sunday and dropped the Ravens:

—Minshew finished 30 of 38 for 276 yards with one touchdown and an awful interception. He was also sacked five times — par for the course as in his previous two outings against the Ravens, Minshew was sacked five times in each game.

—Can the hackneyed “Bowers is a luxury” talk die now? Without the talented rookie, where would the Raiders offense be? The 21-year-old formed a potent duo with Adams as protection held up, and when it didn’t, Minshew moved around the pocket and found his targets.

—Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby led the effort to limit Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (21 of 34 for 247 yards with a touchdown pass and a pick. Crosby dropped Jackson for sacks twice including one where he broke free on a stunt and smashed the QB.

—Going back to that stunt and sack, I’d be remiss if I don’t mention it was nice to see other offensive lineman blind to stunts or unable to react and recover. Raiders center Andre James gets a lot of heat for the same, and it’s good to see other team’s suffer same.

—Baltimore’s ground game churned out 151 yards on 27 carries (Derrick Henry had the lone touchdown). Las Vegas meanwhile generated a paltry 27 yards on 17 carries. The Raiders need to rejuvenate the ground and pound going forward.

—After an up-and-down season opener, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson was money Sunday. Going 4-for-4 with kicks from 53, 51, 25 and 38 yards out, Carlson accounted for 14 of Las Vegas’ 26 points.

Quote of Note:

“We came in here at halftime and said, ‘We can run with these guys’, We can’t just bow down to them because they were just in the AFC Championship Game. Our defense was playing their asses off, we had to do something. We came together and said, ‘Screw it, let’s go.’” —Las Vegas Raiders starting right tackle Thayer Munford Jr.