Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly in week eight loss to Colts

Good: Offensive Line Play

Oakland’s offensive line – once a tremendous strength of this team – has been banged up, and beaten down this season. Tackle Donald Penn is on injured reserve (his future with the team, along with Marshawn Lynch, likely over), and punishing guard Kelechi Osemele missing multiple games with an injury, the line has become a liability.

The struggles with the offensive line – a line that features two rookie tackles in Kolton Miller and Brandon Parker, and a career backup in Jon Feliciano filling in for Osemele – has allowed Derek Carr to take a beating this year.

On the year, Carr has absorbed 17 sacks – which puts him on pace to shatter the career high 24 he took as a rookie, back in 2014.

However, against the Colts, that patched up offensive line held their own. The line came together and performed well, blowing open holes to spring the running backs – Oakland averaged 5.4 yards per carry against Indianapolis – and keeping Carr upright and clean.

The Colts got to Carr just once – recording one hit. And for the very first time this season, the line didn’t give up a single sack. Not one.

It’s a pretty solid achievement, given that the Colts defense came into the game with 21 sacks on the year, which is good enough to put them in the top-10 in the league – and only a six-pack fewer than league leading Baltimore.

So, yeah, you could say it was a good day for a patchwork offensive line. Now, if they can start stringing more of those good days together, they may just be on to something.