Oakland Raiders: Notes from Week 7 loss to the Green Bay Packers
By Sean Basile
It was a career day for the great Aaron Rodgers as the Oakland Raiders fell to the shorthanded Green Bay Packers 42-24 at Lambeau Field. But not all is bad in Raider Land.
Well, it definitely started out well for the Oakland Raiders in this game. Coming off a bye, Jon Gruden’s bunch got out to a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter before this game turned into an Aaron Rodgers passing clinic.
Rodgers wound up scorching the Raiders defense for 429 yards and five passing touchdowns on the afternoon as he and the Packers cruised after pulling ahead in the second quarter 14-10.
This game turned out to be one of Rodgers’ best performances of his career that earned him the first-ever perfect passer rating in Packers history. There was just no competing with him in this game.
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I thought the Packers would win but barely. I thought this was a great spot for the Raiders to swoop in and give the Packers a game when they weren’t expecting it.
In terms of running the ball, which is what I thought would carry the day for them for the most part, Josh Jacobs had 124 yards on the ground on 21 carries (that’s even after he had to miss some snaps earlier in the game with an injury).
The Raiders had a solid game plan and the run game succeeded like it was supposed to. It just wasn’t enough on this particular day as they caught one of the best versions of Aaron Rodgers we’ve ever seen.
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Nine times out of ten, I think this game finishes a lot closer than it did this past Sunday, especially since the Packers have had to rely less and less on Rodgers this year as opposed to other years in the past.
Here’s something to hang your hat on if you’re the Raiders — even with the huge day Rodgers had, you still outgained the Packers 484-481 in total yards.
If the Raiders defense was able to make a couple of key stops here and there, and maybe if they got a break on some iffy calls down in the red zone, maybe we wouldn’t be talking about Rodgers quietly slipping into the MVP conversation today.
Next week, the Raiders go to Houston to take on a very good Texans team that’s coming off a hard loss in Indianapolis. But there’s a lot of good news for this Raider team coming up as they now face a Deshaun Watson who’s down one of his top receivers in Will Fuller.
It’s also worth noting that their schedule significantly lightens up now as they get a bunch of home games against mid-tier to below-average teams.
And judging by the looks of the AFC West, we have the Broncos who are basically tanked, the Chargers who are about to be buried, and the Chiefs who are without Patrick Mahomes for at least three weeks (perhaps less given recent reports).
Next. Oakland Raiders: Top 3 takeaways from Week 7 loss to the Green Bay Packers. dark
Dare I say the Raiders are in a pretty decent position to possibly make a move for a playoff spot? We’ll see how they fare these next few weeks.