Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly in season opening loss to Rams
By Kevin Saito
Good: The First Half
The Raiders came out with a solid plan, a purpose, and they executed it very well. They mixed up the playcalls, keeping LA’s defense on its heels, blending sharp, crisp passing, with some power running.
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Over the first 30 minutes of play, Carr was on point. He was efficient. He kep the ball moving, and kept that vaunted LA offense off the field. He directed the Raiders on a 75-yard opening drive touchdown to stake Oakland to a 7-0 lead.
It was a drive featured some solid power running – no more so than Marshawn Lynch dragging multiple defenders into the endzone with him for the score. But it also featured some sharp passing, as Carr went a solid three-for-three for 56 yards.
For the half, Carr was a silky smooth 20/24 for 199 yard touchdowns. His lone gaffe in the half proved to be costly though as he threw an interception, keeping the Raiders from adding to the lead, and even worse, allowing the Rams to drive back down, and tie the score – though the Raiders did milk the rest of the clock away, taking a 13-10 advantage into the break.
For the half, the Raiders were in control, and doing what they needed to do to win the game – namely, keeping the LA offense on the sidelines. Through 30 minutes of play, the Raiders dominated in time of possession 21:31 to just 8:29 for the Rams, and outgained them in total yardage, 254 yards, to just 98 yards.
They missed a couple of opportunities – none bigger than on Carr’s interception – but they had to go into the break feeling pretty good about themselves after playing a solid 30 minutes.
It was as good a half of football we’ve seen from the Raiders, since basically, the 2016 playoff team was on the field.