The calendar just turned to December and the Las Vegas Raiders have already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs after their Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. It was another game where the Raiders were hardly competitive, a common theme throughout this season, as it feels like the team is just going through the motions and trying to get to the offseason at this point.
With that in mind, let’s get to this week’s winners and losers.
LOSER: Brennan Carroll
Pete Carroll made the decision to fire offensive coordinator Chip Kelly last week, which is hard to argue with. However, Las Vegas’ offense looked about the same, scoring just 14 points and being held under 20 for the seventh time this season. The offense’s biggest issue remains the lack of a running game, as the team had 18 carries for 31 yards (1.7 ypc), and Ashton Jeanty continues to have no breathing room with 15 carries for 31 yards (2.1 ypc).
With Kelly out of the picture, the offensive line and run game struggles fall squarely on Brennan’s shoulders, seeing as those are his two primary responsibilities. The Raiders have regressed in the trenches to the point where if Pete refuses to fire his son in the offseason, that should be more reason for Mark Davis to move on from the head coach.
WINNER: Brock Bowers
One silver lining from the Silver and Black’s 10th loss is that Bowers is clearly still a stud. He only received four targets but caught all of them for 63 yards and two touchdowns, including an incredible one-handed grab on a back-shoulder throw for six points. The tight end accounted for nearly 40 percent of the team’s receiving yards and has matched his touchdown total from last season.
Granted, Las Vegas still hasn’t won a game when its best offensive player over the last two years scores…
LOSER: Dylan Parham
What isn’t mentioned while discussing Carroll above is that the Raiders also gave up five sacks on Sunday. The line’s biggest culprit was Parham, who accounted for three of them, according to Pro Football Focus. What’s most frustrating with the four-year veteran is that he continues to struggle picking stunts, an issue that has plagued him throughout his career. At this point, it’s hard to imagine that the impending free agent will get re-signed in the offseason.
WINNER: Jeremy Chinn
Chinn stood out on the box score, racking up a team-high 17 total tackles, and the advanced stats are equally impressive. He led all safeties in Week 13 (pre-Monday Night Football) with six defensive stops and finished with the third-highest PFF defensive grade (87.0) at the position. Defending the run is where the six-year pro stood out the most, ranking first at his position with a 90.9 mark and four stops in that phase of the game.
LOSER: Lonnie Johnson Jr.
Las Vegas missed 20 total tackles against the Chargers, per PFF, so that’s clearly a team-wide issue. But Johnson was one of the biggest problems, with three misses while only participating in 36 out of 67 total snaps. He’s played in just four games this season and has recorded six missed tackles over the last three weeks. Obviously, that’s not what the team was hoping for when the veteran safety was activated off injured reserve.
WINNER: Caleb Rogers
Raider Nation finally got what it’s been asking for over the last several weeks, as Rogers hit the field for the first time during the regular season. He did give up a pressure and earned a below-average pass-blocking grade from PFF (51.7), but the rookie did have a decent showing in the running game with a 68.7 mark in that department.
The problem is that the coaching staff is still keeping the training wheels on him, as Atonio Mafi received the majority of the reps at right guard, taking 31 of 48 snaps. Even so, it was good for Rogers to get some experience and have something to build on moving forward.
LOSER: Devin White
Don’t let the box score fool you. While White did have the second-most tackles on the team with 11, he also had a team-high four misses and gave up 30 yards and a touchdown in coverage to earn the defensive lowest grade with an ugly 28.0 mark, per PFF. It’s a lack of consistency that’s been the free-agent addition’s biggest issue this year, as he currently owns the second-most missed tackles (19) and is in the bottom 15 for receiving yards allowed (381) among linebackers.
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