The first day of every new month is always important, get your finances in order, clean the house a little bit and maybe set a goal that you look forward to reaching. On Sunday, the Las Vegas Raiders started their November month with a win, over the Cleveland Browns by the score of 16-6.
Las Vegas, traveled to Cleveland prepared for some elements but no one really was ready for the 38 - 45 mile per hour winds, consistently gusting through First Energy Field, just off Lake Erie. Like they always say though in the Raider Nation, the autumn wind is a Raider and instead of making things harder on themselves, Head Coach Jon Gruden gave Josh Jacobs the green light to run wild on the Cleveland Browns.
Josh Jacobs, one of the, if not the best players on the Raiders rushed for 128 yards off of 31 carries. Jacobs became the first Raiders rusher with over 30 carries in a game since Darren McFadden in Week 15, 2012. It has been a long time since a Raiders back has had such a workload but the rushing attack in general on Sunday proved they can be downright dominant, even without a completely healthy offensive line.
Las Vegas’s front office, led by Mike Mayock has tried to provide Jon Gruden a front line of five monsters down in the trenches. Yet the line that would consist of Kolton Miller, Richie Incognito, Rodney Hudson, Gabe Jackson and Trent Brown have not been together for very many snaps this year due to injury. Still, the Raiders rushing attack found themselves controlling a bad weather game against a number three ranked run stop defense. Which leaves the Raiders salivating at what the run game can do behind a line at full force.
Offensive line coach, Tom Cable deserves a lot of credit for how well the line has been able to perform so far this season. With so much shuffling going around, blind side blocker for Derek Carr, Kolton Miller has not allowed a sack all year on the Raiders signal caller. Being protected by this line, that can only improve with getting Trent Brown and Richie Incognito back will only do wonders for what this impressive Raiders offense will be able to do on Sundays.
Carr against Cleveland showed his outstanding leadership and willingness to win, in a game where he was unable to show off much off his arm due to the weather. He made plays with his legs, which is what Raider fans have been dying to see out of him. Carr’s 15/24 112 yard and one touchdown performance was just enough to get the Raiders out of the land and back to Las Vegas with the win.
This was a very gritty, grimey, win by any means type of football game between two teams that have much in common. Cleveland now moves to 5-3, floating around a sixth seed in the playoffs, whereas the Raiders move to 4-3 and face all divisional opponents their next three games.
Teams that will be taken more seriously will be found down the holiday stretch of the season and time and time again the Raiders will find themselves in opportunities, to, well how Josh Jacobs says it. . . Shock the world.
Raiders will travel to Los Angeles to play their first game against Justin Herbert in So-Fi Stadium.
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