First-year Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels didn’t like what he had in Derek Carr, so the team went ahead and signed perennial winner Jimmy Garoppolo. With Garoppolo on board, things were poised to be different; Las Vegas proved that with a blazing 1-0 start to their 2023 campaign, walking away victorious against their division rivals from Denver for the seventh consecutive time.
That grand-tale of success lasted for a full seven days.
Fresh off of a four turnover game in Week 1, Bills quarterback Josh Allen led his team to a 38-10 victory over the Raiders. Allen threw for 274 yards with three touchdowns while running back James Cook totaled 123 yards on the ground. Damien Harris and former Raider Latavius Murray combined for an additional 55 rushing yards, each scoring a touchdown.
Offensively, Jimmy Garoppolo was responsible for 185 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Rookie receiver Tre Tucker – emphasis on receiver – led all rushers with 32 yards courtesy of a jet sweep. Josh Jacobs, a first-team All-Pro in 2022, finished the day with -2 yards on the ground.
How could it all go south so quickly?
What if things were never all too promising, though? It’s true the Raiders began their season with a 1-0 record, but what do you remember from that contest, Raider Nation?
Winning is all that matters in the National Football League, of course, but how a team wins a ball game gives a lot of information on their [likely] trajectory.
A false new world for the Las Vegas Raiders, Josh McDaniels
The Raiders moved to Las Vegas following the 2019 NFL season. Since their move to Sin City, the Denver Broncos have yet to beat their AFC West rivals who sport the NFL’s iconic silver and black uniforms. Altogether, Las Vegas is 7-0, including a win in Week 1 of this year under Jimmy Garoppolo.
As fans, most of Raider Nation was too busy celebrating their club’s win to note the struggles that went on. Denver ran more plays (58 to 55), held the ball for four more minutes (32:08 to 27:52), and didn’t turn the ball over once. Meanwhile, Garoppolo was responsible for an interception in the red zone – something that would not be stood for had it been a certain No. 4 tossing the football.
To be blunt, the Raiders were outplayed in this one.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton began the contest by, to the surprise of all viewers, attempting an onside kick. Las Vegas recovered, and scored a touchdown working with the excellent field position. Once Denver’s offense got a hold of the ball, they too marched down field for six, missing the extra point for the tie. Later on, they’d also miss a 55-yard field goal.
All of these Denver mishaps led to a one-point Raiders win; the lowest margin of victory against their rivals since 2020, although the two did head to overtime in 2022. Truth be told, this is one the Broncos should’ve won.
Then, of course, comes the 10-38 beatdown.
Onto the Bills
Most of Raider Nation blames the defense for surrendering 38 points in Week 2. However, that’s not nearly as concerning as the 10 points Josh McDaniels cooked up for his offense.
Buffalo scored five touchdowns against the Silver and Black on Sunday. For this game to end in a draw, the defense would have to erase 80% of the drives that resulted in six from their opponents. It’s simply unreasonable to ask for that, yet still not win because your offense couldn’t move the football.
Letting up 38 points is far from something to celebrate, but you can still get he job done. During the 2022 season, there were 10 instances where a team let up at least 34 points yet still won. The Raiders themselves claimed a victory in one of these contests, knocking off the Seahawks in overtime. Even the Kansas City Chiefs let up 35 points in the Super Bowl while securing a W.
On the contrary, only three times during the entirety of the season did a team score 10 (or less) points and still win – and each of these teams scored more points on unscripted drives than the Raiders did against Buffalo.
In the game’s initial drive, Josh McDaniels helped Jimmy Garoppolo march down the field for six. The remaining 57 minutes of this contest welcomed a total of three additional points. For each of the three teams that won by scoring 10 (or less) points in 2022, no points were scored on the opening drive. This means all three clubs adjusted considerably better than Las Vegas during their respective showdowns.
Even if Buffalo scored 50, you simply cannot win a ball game by totaling three points in 57 minutes.
Diving deeper
Las Vegas’ defense isn’t great, and their offense is worse. No team in the NFL has less three-and-outs than the Raiders, but that just adds to the insanity of it all.
On only three non-scripted drives this season has Las Vegas walked away with points – one touchdown, and two field goals. For reference, former Raider Derek Carr has already led his team to three non-scripted touchdowns alone. This fact is made more bizarre when realizing the New Orleans Saints rank eighth-lowest in points per game, yet still stand superior to the Silver and Black.
Beyond that, the Raiders’ offense struggles to move the chains in bunches despite avoiding three-and-outs regularly.
With Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow, along with first-team All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs in the backfield to keep defenses honest, Jimmy Garoppolo hasn’t been able to do much. In Week 2, only four players recorded a first-down reception, and only 10 times did a first-down happen via pass.
For reference, no team scored less than the Jaguars (9) this past week, yet Jacksonville had more players catch a pass for a first-down, and more overall first-downs through the air. Arizona, most commonly referred to as the ‘worst’ team league-wide, also beat the Raiders in these categories.
Is this because the team squared off against a fierce Buffalo Bills defense? The Aaron Rodgers-less New York Jets faced Buffalo in Week 1 and totaled the same amount of total first downs with Zach Wilson at the helm. Of course, this Jets team not only put more points up on the board against the Bills’ defense than the Raiders, but walked away as winners. New York’s offense ranks sixth-lowest in points per game.
The Raiders’ offense and defense: Bad, and worse
Raider Nation assumed Las Vegas’ red zone problems would be fixed with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. Through two weeks, that hasn’t happened. Currently, the Raiders are only scoring touchdowns on 50% of their drives that make it to the red zone. They’ve even turned the ball over once inside the 20.
With the third-least total offensive yards per game (250.5) and a tied-lowest points per game (13.5), this offense is a disaster.
Defensively, fans might be shocked to know Las Vegas is performing notably better. This isn’t so much a testament to the defense, but perspective for how awful the offense truly is. Their 355.0 yards per game surrendered ranks 10th-lowest, and their 27.0 allowed points per game ranks seventh-lowest. These numbers, each bottom-10 league-wide, are the Raiders’ high-points this season.
Jimmy Garoppolo has a 1-1 record in Sin City, and he’s quite fortunate to have his lone win. Things don’t have to remain this way all season, but at this rate, the Caleb Williams-sweepstakes are – and will continue to be – alive and well in Las Vegas.
Will Josh McDaniels be able to turn things around?
*Top Photo: AP Photo/Adrian Kraus