Five takeaways from Oakland's 27-20 win over Houston
Derek Carr finished with 295 yards and 3 TD passes as the Raiders scored the games final 14 points in a 27-20 win over the Houston Texans.
By Rich Winter
Although the Oakland Raiders may not have played their best football in last night's 27-20 win over the Houston Texans, the troops rallied in the fourth quarter, scoring the game's final 14 points, stopped Houston on back-to-back short runs late in the game, to move to 8-2, atop the AFC West and tied with New England for the best record in the AFC.
Big, tough, physical Houston team last night with the addition of Vince Wolfork...That's the type of game that Oakland would have lost last year, or even earlier this season against the Kansas City Chiefs, but Oakland found a way, and on the biggest stage, with the NFL world watching.
Five takeaways from Monday Night Football:
1. Bruce Irvin was everywhere: Seems like there was some anti Bruce Irvin chatter in Raider Nation, especially early in the season. That banter has died down and should go away completely as Irvin was spectacular on Monday night. The free-agent acquisition finished with a sack and nine solo tackles. It wasn't just the tackles, it was where Irvin made said tackles. The man sets the edge like a beast and then runs to space where on Monday night, he made several critical plays to either thwart Houston drives or make a tackle during what looked like could have been huge plays. The man plays hard, runs hard and has a championship pedigree of toughness he's bringing to the Silver & Black
Bruce Irvin had nine solo tackles last night, and a sack as the Oakland Raider defense survived a revved up Houston offense.
2. Michael Crabtree needs to catch the god-damn ball: Love me some Michael Crabtree but do think it's a little over the top when commentators refer to him as having the best hands in football. Crabtree was terrible last night, 3 catches, four drops and 5 total yards. I think we all gathered from last night's telecast that Houston has some monster corners but time after time, especially in that first half, Crabtree dropped perfectly thrown balls in critical situations. Seth Roberts, you're close in the angst column this morning, but the man did have one hell of a block as Amari Cooper broke free for that TD catch and run in the 4th quarter.
3. How about some love for OC Bill Musgrave: The sledding was tough last night and despite having the nasty boys up front, Oakland just couldn't move the ball on the ground. Add to that, the No. 3 ranked pass defense in the NFL was making things tough on Cooper and Crabtree and company...And so, Musgrave took to the air, albeit passing the ball to his RB's coming out of the backfield.
* Olawale - 3 catches, 90 yards 1 TD
* Latavius Murray - 5 balls for 59 yards
* Jalen Richard - 3 balls for 50 yards.
So, the Raiders RB's caught 11 balls for 199 yards...That's sick and a great adjustment on the fly by Musgrave.
4. Derek Carr is a stud: The stats will be poured over today and the 'experts' will pony up some Derek Carr MVP stuff after the Raiders QB put up 295 yards, 3 TD's (and a pic), but Derek Carr is so much more than an elite NFL QB. Late in Monday's game, after the TD pass to Cooper, Carr stood out in the middle of the field and chest-bumped Donald Penn and then high-fived every offensive lineman as they came off the field. NFL QB's, the good ones, do that and they don't do it for the cameras they do it because football is the ultimate team game and that kind of thing builds team chemistry.
With the NFL world watching last night, the pre-game crew threw up on the Raiders for a solid two hours in last night's prior to the game festivities. Liked the piece on Carr's two brothers and father who all help coach the high-school football team in Bakersfield, the one where all the Carr brothers went to high school (That Bakersfield team is 10-1 and still alive in the California football playoffs). That's awesome, (Baby) and Carr seems to reflect that sense of family and doing things the right way....I love our QB and the face of the franchise talked about hoping other teams would pass on him in the draft so he could end up right where he did during a taped interview with Keyshawn Johnson.
5. Once a Raider always a Raider....It was interesting listening to Jon Gruden in the booth last night as he tried to remain un-biased although you could tell his heart was pulling for the Raiders. Late in the game, after the Cooper TD, the crew threw up the AC/DC graphic outlining the connection of Derek Carr and Amari Cooper. The graphic probably sat there all night and as AC/DC played, Shoot to Thrill in the background, Chuckie had a hard time containing himself with phrases like..."I'm so fired up right now" and "I love that song."
Me too! Love it....
Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden called the game in the booth for Monday Night Football.
