Ballers & Busters for Raiders Week 12 vs Cowboys
It was a happy, albeit very long, Thanksgiving for the Raiders. In a game that took nearly four hours in real-time, the Raiders would go blow-for-blow with the Cowboys and come out on top in the end with a 36-33 overtime win.
Ballers
WR DeSean Jackson
There were no questions whatsoever that the difference in this Raiders offense from their three-game losing streak was the presence of Jackson. This offense showed just how toothless it was without a deep threat since Henry Ruggs III was released.
Jackson is 12 years Ruggs’s senior, but the savvy veteran still has the speed to get open and separate from defenders. He put that on display early in this one, getting behind a defender, making the catch, and cruising 56 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.
Just his presence was clearly opening things up for others and the Raiders offense was resurrected. With the Raiders in scoring position already late in the second quarter, Jackson forced a pass interference in the end zone that put them in first and goal from the one and they scored on the next play to give them a 14-6 lead.
Another pass interference from Jackson’s man set the Raiders up for a field goal late in the third quarter and they took a 27-19 lead. The next two Raiders scoring drives began with Jackson catches of 16 and 29 yards respectively to give the Raiders a 33-30 lead late. It’s no coincidence the game Jackson sees his snaps basically triple, the Raiders score a season-high 36 points.
K Daniel Carlson
Five field goals — a career-high. A 56-yard field goal to give the Raiders a late lead — a career-high. Game-winner in overtime — BALLER. Turkey leg. Goodnight.
DT Johnathan Hankins
Hankins is a big man. He likes to eat. It was Thanksgiving. And he was feasting. Four different times in this game, Big Hank made the big play on the drive.
We start with the Cowboys’ third drive. On the first play, Hankins stuffs a run for two yards. That helped lead to a three-and-out. Next drive he was held on a run. Three plays late, the drive was over.
The first Dallas drive of the third quarter featured Hankins batting a ball down at the line. The drive would stall a few plays later. In the final possession of the third quarter, Hankins stuffed a run for one yard and it led to another three-and-out.
The overtime period began with the Cowboys on offense at their own seven-yard-line. On the second play, Hankins ran down a screen — yes all 340 pounds of him — to make the stop at four yards. It led to a three-and-out and a punt from their own end zone. The Raiders would then drive for the game-winner.
RB Josh Jacobs
Jacobs put up a season-high 87 yards rushing and had 112 yards from scrimmage. He also scored a touchdown from one yard out late in the second quarter to give the Raiders a 14-6 lead.
The next Raiders drive saw him break a tackle on a screen pass and go for 17 yards. He added a nine-yard run from the 20 and a three-yard run to put the Raiders in third and goal from the three, but the Raiders couldn’t get the TD and settled for a chip shot field goal.
Early in the third, Jacobs would help the Raiders get back into goal-to-go with consecutive six-yard runs. This time Mariota came in and faked the handoff to Jacobs and took it in for the touchdown and a 24-13 lead.
In the overtime period, Jacobs started the Raiders’ drive with an eight-yard catch off a swing pass, followed by an 18-yard run that put the Raiders in Dallas territory at the 49. They would go on to win it on a short field goal.
WR Hunter Renfrow, QB Derek Carr
Carr was slinging it again and Renfrow was his favorite target. So much so that the shifty slot receiver set career marks in catches (8) and yards (134). He also had career-long catches TWICE in this game.
The day started with Carr throwing a surgical pass over the defender to Desean Jackson for a 56-yard touchdown. The next two scoring drives would feature completions on third and long to Bryan Edwards (12 yards) and Zay Jones (12 yards).
Early in the third quarter, Carr connected with Renfrow for 31 yards — a new career-long catch for Renfrow. It would put the Raiders at the Dallas 44. Two plays later Carr went back to Renfrow for 14 yards. That drive would end in a touchdown.
The Cowboys would answer with a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown by Tony Pollard. Carr was inspired by Pollard’s wheels and on the ensuing drive, he broke off a season-best 22-yard run on third and 11. That drive would lead to a field goal and a 27-19 lead.
Carr found Jackson again for 16 yards to begin the next drive. Then Renfrow broke open deep and made another career-long catch of 54 yards to the Dallas 15. They would settle for a field goal and a 30-22 lead.
No doubt the Raiders and Derek Carr benefited greatly from a few pass interference penalties in this game. But even with the yards on those penalties, Carr still completed 24 passes for 373 yards and a touchdown.
S Johnathan Abram, DE Yannick Ngakoue
The Cowboys opened the game with a three-and-out with Ngakoue making the run stop on second down and Abram making the tackle on a one-yard catch on third and four.
After a Dallas scoring drive, they went three-and-out again. On third and 13, Abram had coverage on an incompletion.
With the Raiders holding a 17-6 lead late in the second quarter, Ngakoue got around Tyron Smith to put a hit on Dak Prescott to force an incompletion. Two plays later, they would attempt a 59-yard field goal and miss it, giving the Raiders good field position.
With a chance to take a lead early in the third quarter, the Raiders defense stiffened up just in time. On third and ten, Abram made the stop on a seven-yard screen to force a punt.
Later in the quarter, the Cowboys would score on a 100-yard kick return. They opted to go for two and Abram burst past his blocker to blow up the play and keep the score at 24-19. That would turn out to be a crucial stop.
Early in the fourth quarter, it appeared for a moment that Abram had given up a touchdown. But Ngakoue was held on the play and the Cowboys were marched back to third and 13 and would settle for a field goal. The next Dallas possession ended with and three-and-out and Ngakoue sacking Prescott on third and five.
Just as Abram stopped the two-point conversion attempt earlier, he surrendered one on a catch late in the fourth that tied up the game at 30-30. But you can’t fault him too much because had he not made the first stop, that would have been an extra-point attempt for the lead.
Abram would put up two tackles on the Cowboys’ final drive of regulation and the first tackle of overtime to finish with a team-leading ten combined tackles.
Ngakoue would add his team-leading eighth sack of the season and lead the team in this game with two QB hits and a tackle for loss.
P AJ Cole
Four of his five punts were stopped inside the 20. He finished with a net of 45.4 yards per punt.
LG John Simpson
He made the block to clear the way for Josh Jacobs to score untouched from one yard out. The next drive he blocked for Kenyan Drake on a four-yard run that put the Raiders in first and goal. Simpson’s biggest play came on the next drive when he recovered Derek Carr’s fumble off the strip-sack.
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Busters
RT Brandon Parker
Micah Parsons was abusing Parker all game long. He got through Parker to lay a hit on Carr on the first pass of the game. Then the first play of the second drive, Parker gave up a run stuff to lead out a three-and-out.
Parker gave up two QB hits, both on incompletions before being called for holding that would lead to a failed conversion on third and 12. Then on the drive in overtime, he gave up a sack for an eight-yard loss that nearly killed the Raiders’ chances. It put them in third and 18 and the Raiders were bailed out by a pass interference penalty. And just to put a cherry on top, he was flagged for a false start on the first would-be game-winning field goal attempt.
CB Brandon Facyson, CB Casey Hayward
Dak Prescott started out the game pretty slowly, missing a lot of open targets. But he still managed to light up Facyson on a few throws. Two of those coming on their first scoring drive. That drive saw Facyson give up a 15-yard catch and the ten-yard touchdown catch at end of it.
Along with a pass interference penalty, Facyson would give up a 51-yard catch on the Cowboys’ second touchdown drive in the second quarter.
Hayward was flagged for holding on a third and ten in the third quarter.
Come the fourth quarter, Prescott started heating up and Facyson and Hayward were getting burnt.
He led the Cowboys on their third scoring drive, first by completing a 15-yard pass with Facyson in coverage and two plays later lighting up Hayward on a 41-yard completion. Facyson got very lucky Prescott missed his receiver later in that drive, because Facyson had fallen down on what should have been a touchdown. A holding penalty would ultimately force the Cowboys to settle for a field goal.
The next time they got the ball, they were down eight and Prescott didn’t miss. Hayward was beaten to give up a 32-yard catch on their way to score and convert the two points to tie the game at 30-30.
A score by the Raiders would put them back up 33-30 with 1:52 remaining. They moved into scoring range on a 17-yard completion to Michael Gallup with Hayward covering. A few plays later, they tied up the game to send it to overtime.
LB Cory Littleton
The longest play on the Cowboys’ first scoring drive was Littleton giving up a 17-yard catch.
On their second touchdown, Littleton was unable to fill his gap from one yard out. The next drive he missed a tackle to give up a 12-yard run. Then on the drive to start the fourth quarter, he gave up a 7-yard catch and 12 yards on a screen play to set up a field goal. He gave up four catches for 46 yards in the game.
He had nine tackles, but just one of those was on a play that was less than six yards. That play was a three-yard first-down run.
RG Alex Leatherwood
Moving Leatherwood to guard has mostly only served to make his mistakes less devastating than when he was the right tackle. And while he has his good games, more often than not, he’s a liability.
Early in the second quarter, he gave up two run stuffs on consecutive plays, the second for no gain. Later in the second quarter, the Raiders lined up in third and seven and Leatherwood was flagged for illegal hands to the face. They were unable to make up for the lost yardage on the next play and had to punt.
First possession of the third quarter, Leatherwood gave up a tackle for loss on third and one and the Raiders went three-and-out.
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