VIDEO: Gruden on Raiders defeat vs. Buccaneers. CLICK HERE if you’re viewing on a mobile device.
The circumstances were less than ideal, but the Raiders were within four points in the fourth quarter Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Then it all came apart. With quarterback Tom Brady looking as good in pewter as he ever has in the red, white and blue of the New England Patriots, the Raiders went on to lose 45-20 at Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders had only themselves to blame, although cognizant of the fact that the mission before them was formidable after a strange week.
Tampa Bay improved to 5-2, looking every bit a Super Bowl contender on both sides of the ball.
After the Raiders had crept within 24-20, Brady threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin and then the Buccaneers turned a Derek Carr interception into a 1-yard, short-field score by Ronald Jones to put the game out of reach.
Brady was 33 of 45 for 369 yards and four touchdowns, also hitting Rob Gronkowski for 5 yards, Scotty Miller on a 33-yard strike just before halftime and a late 1-yard touchdown strike to Tyler Johnson. The Raiders barely breathed on Brady, and the 43-year-old quarterback had all the time he needed to throw.
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Carr (24 of 36, 284 yards) threw touchdown passes of 20 yards to Nelson Agholor and 1 yard to Darren Waller. Daniel Carlson kicked field goals of 42 and 36 yards for the Raiders, who fell to 3-3 in a game in which they didn’t learn the fate of their starting offensive line until Sunday morning because of a five-day coronavirus quarantine.
No one was happy with the result, but the Raiders seemed to understand that given the caliber of the opponent, it was the closest thing to a dreaded moral victory as exists in the NFL.
“I’m proud of our guys, really proud of our team,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “We had a tough week. We were in the ballgame, seven, eight minutes left, 24-20. It got away from us at the end. We have to play better. Obviously on defense, we’ve got better players. We’ve got to play better. We will. It’s disappointing, credit to Tampa Bay. They’re a good team, I think we are too.”
Carr, in his 100th NFL start, talked about the NFL being a “production-oriented business” but gushed about the preparation and performance of the offensive line despite missing practice all week and then dealing with the ejection of guard Gabe Jackson late in the third quarter.
Highs, lows and all you need to know with the Raiders visiting Cleveland next week:
The final blow: Bucs safety Mike Edwards broke up a Carr-to-Agholor attempt with 7:09 to go, and the deflection went directly to Antoine Winfield Jr. for an interception that he returned 16 yards to the Raiders’ 25-yard line. Brady made the Raiders pay with a 23-yard strike to Godwin, followed by a 1-yard leap by Jones for a 38-20 lead with 6:40 to play.
Ground to a halt: Running back Josh Jacobs had just 17 yards on 10 carries against the NFL’s top-rated run defense. The Raiders had just 76 yards rushing, and only got that many because of some late runs by Jalen Richard with the game out of reach.
Tampa Bay came in to the game giving up just 3.0 yards per carry and hasn’t given up 100 yards rushing to any team. The Raiders at their best run it as often as they pass it, but ended with 36 pass attempts and 24 rushes.
Brady’s answer: Brady sliced and diced the Raiders en route to an 11-play, 67-yard drive when the Buccaneers lead had been cut to 24-20 early in the fourth quarter. A 4-yard pass to Godwin was his third touchdown pass of the day.
The play that broke the Raiders back came on third-and-13 from the Tampa Bay 30-yard line. Brady threw a checkdown to Leonard Fournette — not a particularly strong receiving threat — for 13 yards and a first down at the 43.
“We had ’em right where we wanted ’em. And they convert it on a checkdown,” Gruden said. “Very disappointing.”
The Raiders didn’t help themselves on special teams when they gave up a 35-yard kickoff return following a Daniel Carlson field goal that brought them within four points.
Carlson connects: The Raiders got within 24-20 with 12:43 left on Carlson’s 36-yard field goal, which capped an 11-play, 54-yard drive.
Gruden opted to take the points rather than go for a first down with fourth-and-1 at the Tampa Bay 17 after Waller was pushed out of bounds a yard shy of the first down on a short pass to the sideline from Carr.
He had no regrets about the decision.
“It was a long one — more like two (yards),” Gruden said. “We felt at home, with a little momentum, we could hold Tampa to at least get a field goal or get off the field. It’s easy to second guess now, but in hindsight I probably would have done the same thing.”
Big break, then big mistake: Carr’s worst pass of the game — an interception into coverage by Mike Edwards — was negated by a Shaquil Barrett offsides penalty and the Raiders took advantage to score on Carr’s 1-yard pass to Waller with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
The Raiders got into position for the score on a 44-yard Carr-to-Agholor strike to the 3-yard line. The touchdown put the Raiders within 24-17.
On the touchdown, however, a scuffle with William Gholston led to the ejection of Gabe Jackson for unnecessary roughness. The starting right guard, Jackson had played every snap this season.
NFL referee Scott Novak issued the following explanation to a pool reporter about the ejection:
“On the play after the touchdown, the down judge throws a flag for number 66 (Jackson) stepping on an opponent, right on his shoulder, while he was on the ground,” Novak said.
Darren Waller reacquaints himself with the end zone.#TBvsLV | #NationalTightEndsDay | FOX pic.twitter.com/fcwJbv34sh
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 25, 2020
Deep too often?: On the Raiders’ opening possession of the second half, Carr threw a couple of deep passes to Henry Ruggs III and Rico Gafford but connected on neither (the second would have been negated by a penalty anyway).
Brady then took the Bucs 69 yards in 10 plays, culminating in Ryan Succup’s 29-yard field goal after Trayvon Mullen broke up what would have been a second touchdown pass to Gronkowski.
Brady’s first-half exclamation point: With 17 seconds left in the half, Brady threw a perfect 33-yard touchdown pass to Miller to put the Bucs up 21-10. It finished off an 88-yard, 13-play drive. Lawson had made a nice breakup of a Brady-to-Miller attempt earlier in the drive, but Miller gave the Raiders fits all day, catching six passes for 109 yards.
Scooter for 33 yards on his second TD of the season 😎
📺: #TBvsLV on FOX pic.twitter.com/7D0MpqsWRB
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 25, 2020
Moving at will: Tampa Bay took a 14-10 lead with 4:21 to play in the half after driving 85 yards in eight plays. Brady’s 5-yard strike to Gronkowski against single coverage by Nevin Lawson accounted for the touchdown. The former New England duo had a 26-yard hookup to get inside the 5, with Gronkowski getting past Cory Littleton and catching the ball in front of Jeff Heath.
The big running play in the drive was a 24-yard run by Fournette.
Brady and Gronk: The touchdown hookup was the 92nd in the union between Brady and Gronkowski, tying Steve Young and Jerry Rice for No 2 on the all-time list.
The top pitch-and-catch touchdown duo in NFL history is Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison with 118.
Brady’s four touchdown passes give him 559 for his career, at least temporarily passing Drew Brees for first place on the all-time list.
Line takes another hit: Already without Trent Brown at right tackle thanks to his placement on the team’s COVID list, the Raiders lost backup Sam Young late in the first half to a knee injury. Rather than move Denzelle Good back to right tackle and put rookie John Simpson at guard, the Raiders inserted Brandon Parker.
The Bucs quickly blitzed Devin White on Parker’s side, resulting in an 11-yard sack and helping to force a Raiders punt.
Early gamble: After Carr threw incomplete on a third-and-1 from the 34-yard line, the Raiders went in to punt formation and safety Jeff Heath, lined up in the upback position, took the snap and gained the necessary yard for a first down.
The drive resulted in a 42-yard Carlson field goal for a 10-7 lead, but not before a bit of nostalgic drama. On third-and-4 from the Tampa Bay 24, Carr was hit while throwing, Ndamukong Suh scooped up the loose ball and ran it deep into Raiders territory.
The officials initially ruled it a fumble but correctly reversed the call and deemed an incomplete pass but not before forcing Raiders fans to revisit the Tuck Rule misery involving Brady, Charles Woodson and Greg Biekert in the playoffs at the end of the 2001 season.
The big play in the scoring drive was a quick pass to Henry Ruggs III that gained 29 yards.
Yeah, @derekcarrqb came out firing. 🎯#TBvsLV | #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/tx8oiK0zDK
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 25, 2020
First strike: When Carr hit Agholor for a 20-yard touchdown on their first possession, it marked the Raiders first opening drive score since Carr threw a 56-yard TD to Hunter Renfrow in Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers last season.
Carr was 3-for-3 on the drive for 62 yards, Agholor, who finished with five catches for 107 yards, had 48 yards on two catches on the opening drive.
The Patriots answered back immediately, with Brady scoring from the 1-yard on a quarterback sneak on third down to cap a 77-yard, 10-play drive. Included was a 22-yard pass to Gronkowski.
Irving watches from sideline: Defensive end David Irving, who signed earlier this week after coming off suspension under the NFL’s policy on substance abuse, was inactive for the game one day after being promoted from the practice squad. He will likely revert to the practice squad Monday.
Other inactives for the Raiders were cornerback Keisean Nixon, guard Patrick Omameh, quarterback Marcus Mariota and wide receiver Bryan Edwards.
