Team Grades: Lions Defeat Raiders 18-13 In An Ugly Game
By Abraham Gutierrez
After putting the league on notice, the Oakland Raiders playoff hopes are fading, as they've now lost a season-high three games. Their latest disappointment came Sunday morning at the home of the Detroit Lions, where the Silver and Black fell to 4-6 after finishing on the losing end of an 18-13 decision.
Oakland was outplayed seemingly in every facet of the game, as the numbers tell a very compelling story. It was truly an ugly game, to say the least, but unlike in other instances, the Raiders weren't able to come away victorious.
Offense: F
Offensively, it was painful to watch this team struggle, especially during the first half of the game. The Raiders would go on to record just 13 first downs, 214 total yards and only held on t the ball for 23 minutes and 58 seconds of game time.
Oakland went 4-for-11 on third downs, and as a team tallied 50 rushing yards on 21 carries and 266 passing yards on 25 pass completions. After scoring a ton of points per game leading into this one, Derek Carr was kept out of the end zone by an inspired performance from the Lions defense.
The second-year signal caller completed 13-of-25 passes for 169 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions for a quarterback rating of 73.6. In terms of receiving yards, Seth Roberts (2 catches, 54 yards) led the way, followed by Michael Crabtree (6 catches, 60 yards) and tight end Clive Walford (2 catches, 25 yards) also in on the action.
The only touchdown of the game came on a Latavius Murray rush, as he finished with 13 carries for 28 yards and a score. The team's second-leading rusher was Jamize Olawale, who tallied 12 yards on four rushes.
Defense: F
Defensively, this was also an ugly game with neither one of these teams being able to get going offensively. The Lions closed out the day with 22 first downs and 375 yards of offense, out of which 109 came on the ground and 266 through the air.
In addition, Matthew Stafford was sacked four time, as Ben Heeney, Malcolm Smith, Benson Mayowa and Denico Autry were all able to get to Stafford this afternoon. Finally, tackling leaders include Khalil Mack (8 tackles), TJ Carrie (8 tackles), Ben Heeney (7 tackles) and Charles Woodson (6 tackles).
Coaching: F
It's unfortunate that the Raiders hot start now seems like a distant memory, as Oakland has lost three straight ballgames. Jack Del Rio and his staff have to be made accountable for their team's poor play as of late, especially for their inability to beat the teams they are supposed to.
The Raiders lack of a running game also showed, as Carr did not play well enough to get into the end zone all afternoon and Latavius Murray's score didn't come until the fourth and final stanza.
As far as the coaching goes, the play-calling was shaky at beast, which enabled Detroit to create just enough of an advantage in order for it to hold up.
Abe Gutierrez's (Twitter: @GutierrezAbe) passion led him to ditch law school journey in order to launch his own publishing company. His expertise make him a valued addition to Examiner.com, AXS.com and the CBS-Sports family. Some of his work can be found on CBS-Miami (Dolphins), CBS-LosAngeles (Chargers), CBS-BayArea (Raiders), CBS-NewYork (NY Jets), CBS-TampaBay (Buccaneers), AXS.com, aExaminer.com and other online publications.