It was a much-needed road win for the Raiders on Sunday as they took down the Colts 31-24.
The Raiders took advantage of a Colts roster that was depleted by injuries and capitalized on their glaring mistakes all afternoon.
The final score doesn’t indicate how dominate the Raiders truly were as they consistently beat the Colts in all three phases throughout the game.
The Raiders jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a Derek Carr touchdown pass as well as a 60-yard touchdown run by newly acquired wideout Trevor Davis.
Late in the third, the Raiders found themselves up 24-10 after a 26-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson. But the Colts didn’t go away quietly.
Quarterback Jacoby Brissett put together a scoring drive to make it 24-17 and got the ball back with two minutes left and a chance to force overtime.
However, a pick-6 by Raiders safety Erik Harris sealed the win for the silver and black.
“I’m as proud of this win as anyone I’ve ever had before,” Head coach Jon Gruden said after the game. “There’s a lot of reasons to start making excuses, but our guys, they’re really resilient and they’re tough mentally, and those are components I think that are going to serve us well as we try to build our team. I’m really proud of these guys.”
The Raider offense was able to dominate on the ground all afternoon. They outgained the Colts 188 to 81 on the ground, averaging six yards per carry on 32 attempts.
It wasn’t a huge performance for quarterback Derek Carr but it was a solid one. He finished 21/31 for 189 yards and a pair of touchdowns as he played the role of game manager thanks to a sloppy performance by Indianapolis.
The Raider defense capitalized off several huge dropped balls by the Colts. They were able to shut down Indy’s rush offense, forcing Brissett to go to the air 46 times.
Time will tell if this was a case of good Raiders or just bad Colts.
Indianapolis was without several key starters including safety Malik Hooker, linebacker Darius Leonard, and receiver T.Y. Hilton. However, a win is a win in the NFL and 2-2 sounds a whole lot better than 1-3 for a team that’s in the midst of a very tough five-game road stretch.
The Raiders next game is next Sunday in London where they will face the 3-1 Chicago Bears
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