The year 2020 has been such a bizarre
year for the country, we been hit with a major pandemic that the reality
tv star turned president failed to keep under control, most sports were
limited and had no fans in the stands which was awful for the Silver
and Black as 2020 was the inaugural season of the new Las Vegas Raiders
in such a beautiful new stadium had to go empty on game days. No fans in
the new Allegiant Stadium was strange to
watch with no crowd, some NFL teams had some fans but owner Mark Davis
said if all can't go then nobody should go including himself.
Still,
2020 was thought to be the season the Raiders would finally make the
playoffs and show off their new weapons in the 2019 draft and 2020 draft
plus the money the team spent on defense it just appeared that the team
was finally done rebuilding and everything was set for this team to
take the big stage. Las Vegas Raiders had a bunch of prime time games
and they even kicked off the new season by beating Carolina Panther and
then the big one in the first game in Vegas in front of no fans the
Raiders beat the New Orleans Saints in week two. Raiders were 2-0 and
suddenly everyone in the media to fans started to think this team
could possibly be for real and were destined for the playoffs. Why
wouldn't you think that as Raiders had such a dynamite offense and QB
Derek Carr who came into the season "Pissed off" and wanted to be
respected was playing at a high level with all his weapons. Carr no
longer just had Jared Cook to throw to, now he had guys like Nelson Agholor
and first round pick Henry Ruggs, plus Darren Waller and Hunter
Renfrow, throw in Josh Jacobs in the backfield this team seemed
unstoppable for the first 2 games. The Raiders then went into New
England and got embarrassed by a bad Patriots team and then they got
destroyed by the Buffalo Bills. Suddenly Raiders were 2-2 and the buzz
was starting to die, especially considering the next game Raiders had to
go into Kansas City where QB Derek Carr has never won a game but
Raiders and Carr shocked the world when they went into Arrowhead and
defeated the defending Superbowl champs. Raiders were back to being the
hottest team in the NFL. Everyone erased the back to back bad games
Raiders had before the big win in KC.
Bad move...
Raiders
were not consistent at all in 2019 and they proved that again in 2020
despite all the overpaid free agents in free agency and all their high
draft picks from the year prior this team could not string together more
than three consecutive wins the entire season. Derek Carr once again
started to fall apart in the second half of the season and the corona
virus seemed to hang over the Las Vegas Raiders team all season as well.
Lot's of games Raiders were missing key starters and that probably hurt
them but would have it changed their current record with 2 games to go
sitting at 7-7, probably not. After all Raiders didn't just lose these
games they were demolished. Plus the teams they lost against were not
great teams at all. In fact their toughest stretch of games were in the
first half of the season which gave fans hope Raiders could easily get
to 10-6 or even 11-5 but it didn't matter if was Buffalo Bills or a 3
win team like Atlanta Falcons, where the season went off the tracks and
hopes for playoffs were gone. It was the same as last season, nothing
did change. Raiders were 6-4 and then fell apart and now with 2 games
left the question is will they end up with the same record 7-9 or can
they get to 9-7 and at least say they won 2 more games than last year?
Even if Raiders went 9-7 it means nothing. Derek Carr wanted to be
respected this season and he did do some good things like finally using
his legs in games but still it was the same Derek Carr that made dumb
mistakes and couldn't feel any pressure. Derek Carr is averaging 1
fumble per game. Raiders defense is a complete mess and the high paid
free agents like Carl Nassib wouldn't start for any team in the NFL
right now. Raiders can't get pressure on defense and the secondary is
the worst in the NFL. Even the fan favorite Jonathan Abram has been
awful in coverage and tackling. Raiders brought in big time linebackers
for the first time and that didn't work out very well at all as Corey
Littleton brought nothing to the table.
Now
here we sit in the same situation as last season, Raiders have 2
meaningless games left one that was actually flexed for prime time when
people thought maybe the game would have playoff implications for both
teams. One thing we did get to see in 2020 though is Marcus Mariota as
the QB of the Raiders. Last week Derek Carr pulled his groin in the 1st
quarter against the LA Chargers and Mariota was rushed into battle. It
was fun to watch as Raiders had a scrambling QB that improvised most of
the game, although Raiders would go on to lose that game it did feel
like a fresh of breath air with that type of QB under center. Mariota
was another highly paid free agent in the offseason that was brought in
just to push Derek Carr but Mariota was awful in training camp and was
never fully healthy with a bad shoulder and elbow. Coaches did not trust
Mariota at all, in fact he wasn't even activated most of the season due
to injuries and was even put on IR in September. Mariota showed a new
style for this team that they never had before like the run-pass option
plays,plus Mariota rushed for a game-high 88 yards on nine carries
picking up big first downs with his legs. It wouldn't be enough since
Chargers would get the ball last in overtime and everyone knew that
meant it was over as Raiders defense couldn't even stop an 0-11 Jets
team. Raiders would end up beating the Jets only due to Jets for some
strange reason bringing a blitz when all they had to do is protect the
endzone for a victory. Back to last weeks game though, as Derek Carr
watched from the sidelines as Mariota did things head coach Jon Gruden
(perhaps another overly paid employee) has begged for. Surely,
Derek Carr was not going to let Mariota play the last 2 games after
seeing what was happening. Carr got some good news he did not tear his
groin, since then he has been on a mission to be under center against
Miami on Saturday night. Some call it toughness, some call it
being scared coaches like too much of what they see Mariota type QB can
do for this team. 2020 has been a disaster for the Raiders, they fired
the Paul Guenther with only 3 games left on the schedule due to being in
charge of the worst defense perhaps in the NFL. But everyone knows that
was not going to change anything and the former DC was just a scapegoat
by Jon Gruden. The defense has been terrible all season but lot's of
teams don't have a great defense in 2020. The Chiefs defense scares
nobody yet they have an elite QB that can improvise and utilize the
run-pass option. Raiders offense just stalled out and couldn't get
points in the redzone again plus the 2019 Josh Jacobs never showed up in
2020 despite making the pro bowl for some strange reason. Jacobs only
had 1 good game all season so far. So now the question is this, what do
the Raiders do to build back better? First off they got to fix this
defense, then they will need to make a decision on offense. Do you give
Carr one last chance since it's his last season and did show some signs
of improvement early on or do you go get another QB that fits the system
better. The other question is for the ownership and that is was Jon
Gruden really worth that big pay check since he has not got this team
back to being a true contender and is in charge of getting this offense
to be explosive all season and not just for half the season. Whatever
the case may be one thing is for certain. Someone has to Make Raiders
Great Again..
The draft selections have not equaled wins just yet but maybe, just maybe Raiders need 1 more year with a revamped defense and a quality defense coordinator. The offense has talent but it's all about putting that talent together and being consistent.
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