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David Becker/Associated Press
The most exciting show in Las Vegas on Monday was produced by the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jon Gruden’s team rallied back from a 14-point first-half deficit and had an answer for everything the Baltimore Ravens threw at it over the course of the second half and overtime.
Derek Carr delivered the final blow to the Ravens with a 31-yard touchdown pass to Zay Jones with three minutes and 38 seconds left in overtime.
Las Vegas got to that point because of its pass-rush that forced a fumble out of Lamar Jackson on Baltimore’s lone overtime possession.
Carr and the offense will receive plenty of praise for battling back in the second half and overtime, but they would not have reached that point without the exploits of the defensive front four.
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Chris Unger/Getty Images
Carr put too much reliance on tight end Darren Waller to make all the plays in the passing game in the first half.
Carr targeted Waller on seven occasions in the first quarter alone. The Raiders quarterback looked for his top target five more times in the second stanza.
Waller finished with 10 receptions on 19 targets, but he became more effective in the second half because Carr was not forcing the ball to him.
Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards and Zay Jones all came up with big catches in the second half and overtime to take some pressure off Waller.
Renfrow had a massive 27-yard reception that helped the Raiders move downfield during their first overtime drive, Edwards made two catches for 38 yards on the game-tying drive to end regulation and Jones brought in the game-winning touchdown pass.
Additionally, Kenyan Drake caught five passes for 59 yards to give the Raiders a passing option out of the backfield when Josh Jacobs is off the field.
If Carr improves on spreading the ball around in the first half, the Raiders could have a more balanced passing attack. That would allow Carr to not force feed Waller and it should make opposing defenses stay honest instead of honing in on the tight end.
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Chris Unger/Getty Images
Las Vegas’ pass-rush flipped the game around in overtime.
The Raiders came up inches short of winning the game on an Edwards catch, but then Carr threw an interception on 3rd-and-Goal on the team’s first offensive drive of the extra period.
Maxx Crosby, Carl Nassib and others answered the challenge of stopping Baltimore by putting pressure on Lamar Jackson and not allowing the Ravens to make a push down field.
Nassib forced a fumble on the fifth play of Baltimore’s lone overtime drive. The defense forced two incomplete passes and held Latavius Murray to a three-yard run on three of the other plays in that series.
The rush from the Vegas defense allowed Carr to finish off the contest with his game-winning pass to Jones.
Nassib’s strip of Jackson was the final play of an impressive performance from the Raiders front four.
Crosby was Las Vegas’ best defensive player. He led the team with five quarterback hits, two sacks and a pair of tackles for loss.
In total, the Raiders defense had seven quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, three sacks and a pair of forced fumbles.
If the defense can be that effective all season, the Raiders should be competitive in almost every game and they could make a push toward a playoff position.
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Rick Scuteri/Associated Press
Henry Ruggs produced two catches for 46 yards off five targets.
The output did not match what is expected out of the highest drafted wide receiver in the 2020 NFL draft.
Both of Ruggs’ catches came on the same drive in the fourth quarter that produced Waller’s 10-yard touchdown reception.
Outside of those receptions, Ruggs was largely anonymous in the Raiders passing attack. He was not targeted on any of Carr’s pass attempts in overtime.
The No. 12 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft has not had more than three receptions in a single game in his NFL career. He has a single 100-yard performance from October 11, 2020 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
That production is unacceptable for a player of Ruggs’ stature. He needs to find a way to get more targets over Edwards, Renfrow and Jones, who were all positioned beneath him on the depth chart.
The offseason departure of Nelson Agholor was supposed to open up more production for Ruggs, but he was unable to take advantage of that in Week 1.
If Ruggs continues to struggle, more questions will come about regarding general manager Mike Mayock’s draft approach. Clelin Ferrell, the team’s top first-round pick in 2019, was inactive as a healthy scratch on Monday.
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