Battle Of Losing NFL Teams Generates Interest In Las Vegas Thanks To A Saturday Coaching On A Sunday; Final: Indy Colts 25 Raiders 20
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
Man, this game in Las Vegas — at first look — sure smells like a dog of an NFL contest.
Coming off a 10-win playoff season, the Raiders have won only two games under a new coach struggling to ignite chemistry in his relationship with a squad that pulled out some hellacious wins in 2021.
Meanwhile, the opponent of this 2-6 last-place team are the Indianapolis Colts, a team that literally plucked one of their former players off the ESPN NFL chatterbox roster to be their interim coach. Former Colts center Jeff Saturday, who was chatting about NFL news a week ago, will be Indy’s top man on the sidelines for today’s Raiders-Colts battle before an announced attendance of 62,197.
It would have been interesting to have a heart monitor on me. It was fantastic. I woke up, spoke to my wife early. A lot of prayer, did church on the phone and watched my normal church back home. Talked to my son and my wife, and then had a lot of text of just encouragement, prayer, thoughts, all those things. So grateful for that. All the boys sending text chains and, ‘Go get it.’ And Edg [Edgerrin James] sent me a text and said, ‘I’m here.’ It was magical in all honesty. In truth, I felt very at peace. I felt like we had a really good plan in place. I felt like all the men who I had talked about empowering and giving them the ability to do what they can do exceptionally well, they all stepped up. And so, I knew what my role was, and I was going to execute my role to the best of my ability. And I was going to allow all of those men to do the same and they stepped up, man. It was an incredible day. And again, it’s one win, but heck man, they’re hard to get in the NFL. So, just really proud of each and every one of them and their effort. — Colts interim head coach Jeff Saturday
After the Colts named Saturday, a former six-time All-Pro lineman as Peyton Manning’s center, the interim coach on Monday to replace fired head coach Frank Reich, LVSportsBiz.com joked to himself that owner Mark Davis will be replacing coach Josh McDaniels with Fred Biletnikoff.
The Raiders have not endured the daily drama of a season ago when a former player accused of driving drunk killed a woman in Las Vegas with his car and the head coach left amid an email scandal.
But it’s been a major letdown in 2022 after McDaniels and his college pal and Raiders General Manager Dave Ziegler came to Las Vegas to build on a competitive 10-7 team from a year ago. Today, key receivers Darren Waller and Hunter Renfrow will not play because they are on the injured reserve list.
John Fogerty is performing at halftime and about three hours before kickoff Fogerty was practicing in Allegiant Stadium:
Matt Ryan: back in the lineup under the Saturday regime.
The Raiders are down more players than just Waller and Renfrow. Linebacker Blake Martinez was tackling Jacksonville players last week, but now he’s retired. Fellow linebacker Denzel Perryman is inactive. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell, a former Raiders first round draft pick, is also inactive.
*
Let’s just say the Raiders didn’t get off to a scintillating start against the Saturday-led Colts.
A loud chorus of boos greeted the offense when the players jogged off the field on a fourth down and 29 yards to go.
The Colts, led by quarterback Matt Ryan, marched down the field against a Raiders defensive unit that was peppered with backups like linebacker Luke Masterson and defensive back Sam Webb. Ryan snuck in from the one-yard line and Indy led, 7-0.
The boobirds chirped again when the Raiders offensive unit left the natural turf field again before the end of the first quarter. After the first 15 minutes, which seemed to drag for a while, it was Colts 7 Raiders 0.
*
In the second quarter, the Colts’ outstanding running back, Jonathan Taylor, began to chew up yardage.
It set up a Chase McLaughlin field goal from 48 yards and the Colts were up, 10-0, on the Raiders.
The Raiders received the ball and began moving. Quarterback Derek Carr completed only his econd pass of the game and Josh Jacobs began churning out the yards.
But then the boos returned when the Colts stopped Jacobs on fourth and two.
The Raiders defense did make a big play, forcing a Colts fumble after a reception and Carr marched the team to a TD score when he lobbed a pass to tight end Foster Moreau in the end zone for a nice four-yard catch. After a sluggish start, Carr was 11 of 16 after the first 30 minutes.
The Colts moved the ball into field goal range and McLaughlin’s boot was good from 48 yards.
At halftime, it was Colts 13 Raiders 7.
*
The Colts moved the ball nicely down the field on the Raiders defensive after taking the second half kickoff. Colts runner Jonathan Taylor was picking up yardage effectively, but on a third-and-one the Colts chose to pass and it backfired on them. Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby sacked Ryan and McLaughlin came on for yet another 48-yard FG attempt. The kick caromed off the upright and the Raiders still trailed by six.
Carr then led the Raiders on a 62-yard drive, with Jacobs knifing into the end zone from a yard out. Late in the third quarter, the Raiders led, 14-13. Jacobs finished the game with 78 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
Then Taylor got his hands on the ball. He broke a 66-yard run to the end zone. A two-point conversion attempt failed and Indy was back in front, 19-14.
End of three quarters: Colts 19 Raiders 14
*
This game has come down to two elite athletes squaring off — the Colts’ gifted runner, Taylor, and the Raiders’ Davante Adams, who caught a pass from Carr and raced to the end zone for 48 yards and a Raiders lead. After a failed two-point conversion try, the Raiders led, 20-19, early in the fourth quarter.
Then, the lead see-sawed back to Indy when Ryan connected with Parris Campbell on a 35-yard TD toss after the Raiders defense blew a chance to recover a fumble by the Colts. Michael Pittman, Jr.
Another blown two-point play left the Colts on top, 25-20.
At the time, the Colts had 208 yards passing and 209 yards rushing. Taylor finished with 147 yards on the ground on 22 carries.
Then it was do-or-die crunch time as Carr moved the Raiders down the field with less than two minutes left.
It came down to a fourth-and-seven play at the Colts 16.
This being a 2-6 season for the Raiders, a Carr pass try to Adams dropped to the ground and it was game over.
After the game, it sounded as if Carr said not every player is on board with the program. Here’s his quote:
I love Josh [McDaniels], I love our coaches. They’ve had nothing but success, way more success than I’ve ever had. I’m sorry for being emotional. I’m just pissed off by some of the things that a lot of us try and do, just to practice, what we put our bodies through just to sleep at night. For that to be the result of all that effort pisses me off. It pisses a lot of guys off. It’s hard knowing what some guys are doing. Like I said, just to practice, what they’re putting in their body just to sleep at night, just so we can be there for each other. I wish everybody in that room felt the same way about this place. As a leader that pisses me off, if I’m being honest.
Final: Colts 25 Raiders 20
I can’t speak for everybody. I know where I stand, and I love the Silver and Black. I’m going to give it everything I can, every time I go out there, and I can’t speak for everybody, for every man, what’s going on in their head. But I can tell you what’s going on in my head, and I’m going to give it all that I can every single time. — Raiders quarterback Derek Carr
Raiders dropped to 2-7 on the season. After the game, McDaniels sounded the phrases he has uttered all season: He said he appreciated the team’s effort, but the Raiders have to learn how to close out games (though the Raiders won many close ones last season) and stop the “self-inflicted” mistakes.
Carr was emotional at his presser and said there’s no disconnect between him and McDaniels’ new system.
