Believe it or not, the Las Vegas Raiders are 2-0! Overcoming some issues early on, the team came away with several positive takeaways.Â
The Raiders defense is pretty good…
To quote Larry David, the Raiders defense this year is “Pretty, pretty, pretty good.” This was one of those games where you can see a clear difference from last year. The 2020 Raiders would have wound up down 10 to zip early in the game and would have had to throw the entire game plan out the window. This year, the defense has kept the Raiders in games two weeks in a row. Last year, if the offense wasn’t cooking for 60 minutes, the Raiders didn’t have a prayer. Now the Raiders offense can take time time to get into a rhythm.
Gruden is evolving
Something has finally clicked with Jon Gruden this year. I was worried that he was refusing to adjust to the pass-heavy style that currently works in today’s NFL. After two games this season, it is clear that ‘Gru‘ has figured it out. He is finally letting Carr cook. ‘4’ is using his newfound freedom to show the league just how good he is. Gruden seems to have abandoned his “throw it back to 1998” mentality. That apparent change has been to the benefit of the team in 2021.
DC5K
I am calling it right now. Carr will throw for 5,000 yards this season. He is currently on pace for just under 7,000 yards passing. Of course, this pace is not sustainable, but even so, he will easily reach the storied 5,000-yard mark. Between having an extra game and Gruden’s evolution, Carr is poised to have a career year.
*Top Photo: Matt Freed/Post-Gazette