Raiders Week 2 analysis: Aggressive Derek Carr, reliable Daniel Carlson and a complete defensive effort (2024)

The Raiders (2-0) have been here before. They started 2-0 last season, too, before going 6-8 the rest of the way. They’ve moved on, but the experience taught a painful lesson that’s carried over into 2021 and kept them from getting complacent.

“We have a long way to go,” coach Jon Gruden said Sunday. “We’re nowhere near perfect.”

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This time, though, things seem different. The defense, which had been awful since Gruden returned to the franchise in 2018 and bad even before that, has played at an above-average level through two weeks. The offense, despite suffering several significant injuries, still looks like a unit that could finish top-10 in scoring. And the special teams units have held strong as well. In addition to the play on the field, the team chemistry is peaking. The combination of it all has led to a start that many prognosticators, including myself, would deem surprising.

“All that preseason stuff, none of it matters,” quarterback Derek Carr said Sunday. “I don’t blame ’em. We haven’t done what we’ve wanted to do for the last couple years. We haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016. I don’t blame that thought process but, at the same time, as a competitor you’re just like, ‘I don’t care about any of that. Just put the ball down and let’s see if we can turn these into wins.’ Now, we’ve started 2-0 before, but we got to keep going. We can’t let this go downhill.”

Here’s my analysis from the Raiders’ Week 2 win over the Steelers on Sunday incorporating a blend of statistics, reporting and film study on several topics. This series will continue until the Raiders’ season comes to an end.

Carr has been clutch and aggressive to start the season

In second halves and overtime this season, Carr has completed 73.1 percent of his passes for 571 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. He’s averaged 10.9 yards per attempt and gained 22 first downs in those five quarters of work. As an offense, the Raiders have scored 40 points and averaged 7.9 yards per play in those periods. Carr and the offense have comparatively gotten off to slow starts in games so far, but one thing that’s remained constant is the quarterback’s aggressiveness.

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Carr’s averaging 8.8 yards per attempt and 9.2 air yards per attempt, according to TruMedia. He’s also been efficient on his deep shots as he’s 12-for-14 on passing attempts of 20 yards or more. He put up more total yards against the Ravens, but Carr clearly played better against the Steelers to the tune of completing 75.7 percent of his passes for 382 yards, averaging 10.3 yards per attempt and throwing two touchdowns while avoiding any turnovers.

The best throw of the afternoon for Carr came in one of its most high-leverage moments. The Steelers had scored a touchdown to cut the Raiders’ lead to 16-14 with 11 minutes, 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the Raiders faced a third-and-10 situation after back-to-back incompletions. Henry Ruggs III was lined up in a trips formation to the right and ran a post route. Darren Waller was isolated out wide to the left and ran a deep out curl route. The safety was watching Carr’s eyes but was keyed on Waller and jumped on a subtle fake by Carr, which basically gave Ruggs a one-on-one.

The Steelers sent a blitz, but Carr was able to drop back, plant and fire the ball Ruggs’ way before the pressure got home. Ruggs, who had sped past the Steelers’ cornerback, caught it in stride and ran it in for a 61-yard score that essentially iced the game.

Ruggs looks like more than just a deep threat

Ruggs got the most attention for his long touchdown, but played well overall with five catches for 113 yards against the Steelers. He averaged 22.6 yards per catch and was targeted a career-high seven times. Carr went his way on short and intermediate passes in addition to the deep shots, which didn’t happen often last season. Here are the air yards on his catches (most to least): 46, 17, 4, 1, -2.

To be clear, Ruggs still averaged 11.2 yards per target (third on the team) and 3.8 yards per route run (second on the team) against the Steelers, but he didn’t look like the same one-dimensional receiver we saw in 2020.

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Tight ends blocked well and assisted shorthanded offensive line

With three starters — guard Richie Incognito (calf), Denzelle Good (ACL) and Alex Leatherwood (suffered an oblique injury and missed the second half) — out, Gruden had to get creative in order to buy Carr extra time and make an effort to create rushing lanes. The Raiders used multiple running backs on 26.6 percent of their snaps and multiple tight ends on 50 percent of their snaps. While tight ends Waller, Foster Moreau and Derek Carrier combined for nine catches for 112 yards and one touchdown, their blocking efforts shouldn’t go overlooked, particularly against the Steelers’ edge rushers.

“The first words Jon Gruden spoke to me was, ‘You’re gonna be our blocking horse,’” Moreau said Sunday while reflecting on his first day in the facility after getting drafted in 2019. “We try to pride ourselves on our ability to help the tackles and the line in any way that we can. That’s just always a safety valve for us.”

That came to fruition Sunday for Moreau. Of his 18 snaps, 33.3 percent were spent in pass protection. Steelers defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt missed the contest, defensive tackle Tyson Alualu (knee) got hurt early in the first half and outside linebacker T.J. Watt (groin) missed the second half, but the Pittsburgh front still had talented players such as defensive lineman Cameron Heyward and outside linebackers Melvin Ingram and Alex Highsmith. The run game was ineffective, and Moreau did get beat by Ingram for a sack, but the tight ends had a positive effect on the pass protection and helped keep the Steelers’ pass rush in check.

O-line deserves credit for how the offense closed out the game

It was an uneven performance for the offensive line, but it’s hard to be overly critical considering all the injuries. In the fourth quarter, though, the line got the job done. Carr was only pressured twice in the fourth quarter, which was key in him completing 6-of-9 pass attempts while averaging 20.5 yards per attempt in the period. And, while the Raiders still only averaged 3.1 yards per carry in the fourth quarter, they were able to run the ball when they needed to.

On the Raiders’ penultimate drive of the game, the O-line helped clear the way for running back Peyton Barber, and he powered through a couple tackles on an 11-yard rush for a first down. They still had to punt four plays later, but the short drive still burned 2:32 of clock and made the Steelers use their second timeout. After a Pittsburgh field goal that made it a 23-17 game with 3:47 remaining, the Raiders needed to kill more time. After a 25-yard catch by Waller, the offensive line sprung Barber for a 13-yard rush for a first down that gave them the field position they needed for a game-clinching field goal. Las Vegas still needs better O-line play from start to finish, but the unit was at its best in the most important quarter Sunday.

Casey Hayward had an excellent day

There were questions about how Hayward would perform at 32 years old, but he put forth a clinic Sunday facing an offense with talented receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson. To start the Steelers’ second drive in the first quarter, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger attempted a deep shot to Claypool. Hayward had dropped into a deep zone but broke on the ball and nearly came away with an interception while forcing an incompletion.

On a third-and-4 with 13:44 left in the second quarter, Roethlisberger attempted another deep shot to Claypool in the end zone. Claypool had more of a chance of coming down with this one, but Hayward reached between the receiver’s hands and disrupted the football for another pass breakup.

Secondary had a few costly breakdowns

On a third-and-8 with 7:35 left in the second quarter, Smith-Schuster drew Tre’von Moehrig on a seam route from the slot to the offensive right. That left Johnson one-on-one with Mullen on a go route from the offensive left, and he beat the corner outside before bringing in a 41-yard completion. That’s not a scheme issue; Mullen just got beat, and the Steelers scored a touchdown two plays later.

On a second-and-7 with 12:17 remaining in the fourth quarter, Arnette, who played 17 snaps as Hayward and Mullen dealt with injuries, was lined up in man coverage with Claypool. Arnette didn’t press, so Claypool got a free release and simply ran past him on a go route. Claypool appeared to extend his arm just before the ball arrived, but already had a step on Arnette.

Claypool made the catch and Arnette made the mistake of not touching him down, so the receiver got up and gained a few extra yards for what was a 52-yard gain. The Steelers went on to score and make it a two-point game. Each of their touchdowns came after the two deep shots the Raiders allowed through the air.

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Pass rush had another effective game

According to data compiled by Pro Football Focus, the Raiders registered 18 pressures, 10 quarterback hits and two sacks on Roethlisberger. Defensive end Maxx Crosby led the team with six pressures and five quarterback hits, but defensive tackle Solomon Thomas also flashed with four pressures, three QBH and two sacks. His first was an effort play. Crosby and defensive end Clelin Ferrell collapsed the pocket from the edges, which forced Roethlisberger to step up. Thomas eventually shed his blocker and reached out as the quarterback went to throw to bring him down for a sack.

Thomas’ second sack was almost a mirror play. Ferrell and Crosby both created pressure from the edge and coverage downfield was strong, so Roethlisberger had to step up in the pocket. Thomas was initially stymied by the center and right guard, but didn’t give up on the play, kept moving forward and shed the right guard to bring down Roethlisberger for a second time.

Besides Crosby and Thomas, defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson had a solid performance with three pressures and two QBH. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue played a lesser role as he toughed it out through a hamstring injury, but still had three pressures. In 14 snaps, defensive tackle Darius Philon had a pressure rate of 15.4 percent (T-second on the team). Coming from both inside and outside, the Raiders were able to get consistent pressure.

Missed tackles were an issue again

On a third-and-8 late in the first quarter, Roethlisberger completed a screen pass to Smith-Schuster. Nickelback Nate Hobbs was the closest defender at the point of catch but got caught up on a block, so linebacker Denzel Perryman had the next chance to bring Smith-Schuster down.

Instead, he bounced off the wideout. Moehrig whiffed on a diving desperation tackle and Smith-Schuster picked up the first down. The Steelers went on to have a turnover on downs, so it wasn’t all that consequential, but missed tackles were an issue throughout the game. On Najee Harris’ 25-yard catch and run for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, for instance, safety Dallin Leavitt whiffed on an open-field tackle.

The Raiders missed 12.7 percent of their potential tackles in Week 1, according to Sportradar. The full numbers for Week 2 aren’t yet available, but that has to get cleaned up.

Daniel Carlson’s play shouldn’t be overlooked

Special teams players don’t usually get much attention unless things go wrong, but Carlson deserves some shine. He’s 6-for-6 on field goals and was 4-for-4 against the Steelers after drilling a 55-yarder in Week 1 to force overtime. He made three field goals of 40 or more yards against Pittsburgh and rightfully has the full confidence of Gruden no matter the distance or situation.

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The defense had a complete effort Sunday

Again, chunk passing plays and tackling were issues, but the defense played a better overall game than it did in Week 1. The Steelers averaged 5.9 yards per play and 7.3 yards per pass but had just 320 total yards largely because its run game was shut down. The Raiders held them to 39 total rushing yards and 2.8 yards per carry after allowing 189 rushing yards in Week 1.

Linebacker Perryman was all over the place and had a team-high 12 tackles. Johnathan Abram caught a nasty stiff-arm from Harris but had eight tackles and is clearly at home as a box safety. The defensive line did a better job of shedding blocks and tackling ball carriers before they could make it to the second level of the defense.

The Raiders didn’t differ all that much in their approach from Week 1 — they blitzed just once and played zone coverage on 83.3 percent of the Steelers’ passing plays — but they were more varied in their coverages. They played Cover 3 on 48.5 percent of the passing plays, Cover 4 and Cover 6 on 20 percent of the passing plays and man coverage on 14.3 percent of the passing plays.

Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley isn’t going to mix it up too much from week to week. As long as his scheme keeps getting good results, though, that doesn’t really matter.

(Photo: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)

Tashan Reed is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Las Vegas Raiders. He previously covered Florida State football for The Athletic. Prior to joining The Athletic, he covered high school and NAIA college sports for the Columbia Missourian, Mizzou football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball for SBNation blog Rock M Nation, wrote stories focused on the African-American community for The St. Louis American and was a sports intern at the Commercial Appeal in Memphis through the Sports Journalism Institute. Follow Tashan on Twitter @tashanreed