Derek Carr

[Twinkie defense]

I thought Walford made the wrong adjustment on that INT. But that is the problem with PFT analysis, they don't know who made the error there, so they put it on Carr - he threw it after all.

But good QBs are not throwing to the receiver. They are throwing to a spot, and the spot changes depending upon the coverage. This is the kind of thing that is honed through hundreds of reps, chemistry, a raised eyebrow, etc.

There was another instance in the game, where it looked like Carr threw it to no one. He threw it to where Amari was supposed to be based on the inside coverage. But Amari made the wrong read.

There was at least one Carr mistake though - Crabtree was unguarded, and he threw it into a contested space, I believe it was to Seth Roberts... But he then hit Crabtree for a TD on the very next play.


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[Twinkie defense]

And credit where credit is due, MEJ had a nice game. He is going to get opportunities if offenses continue to run it away from Mack.


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[benchmobbin02]

I thought Walford made the wrong adjustment on that INT. But that is the problem with PFT analysis, they don't know who made the error there, so they put it on Carr - he threw it after all.

But good QBs are not throwing to the receiver. They are throwing to a spot, and the spot changes depending upon the coverage. This is the kind of thing that is honed through hundreds of reps, chemistry, a raised eyebrow, etc.

I hope you have the game dvred so you can go back and look at that play. Clearly a bad read and throw by Carr.

Roberts is the outside WR and runs a fade to the corner of the endzone. Walford is the next on the line and is running an out route. The Steelers are in Zone coverage. They have it perfectly defended. Walford cuts his route off because he see the outside corner taking away the the side line throw. Carr tries to squeeze it in there anyways. Even if Walford would have continued to the sideline, the pass would've been broken up at best and still intercepted at the worst.

The correct read for Carr is to dump the ball to Reece in the middle of the field. He is wide open with room to make a play on the middle linebacker. He may not have got the first down at the 2 yard line but we have another play inside the 5 most likely to get in the endzone.

Next best read is to try to throw the corner fade to Roberts. Can only over throw it and get another shot at the endzone on fourth.

To be fair to Carr, Bergstrom allowed pressure up the middle of the pocket from the NT and Carr hurried the throw. He just defaulted to the first read instead of taking time to avoid the rush and find the open man.

[Quake Griffin]

which leads me to the most important point as I'm not going to worry about Carr making mistakes early in his career while he's on pace 4k yards and a franchise record in TDs.


Hudson needs to be healthy against Minny or there's a srs chance of us catching an L in Oakland.
and I'm saying that because of Bergstrom.

[benchmobbin02]

I'm absolutely gonna worry about Carr making mistakes like the one he made last Sunday because if Hudson does miss time, Carr will have to deal with Bergstrom. That means more plays where he will have to think fast and react to pressure up the gut which is normally handled by our leader upfront and core player Rodney Hudson. A lot has been made of Carr's success vs the blitz this yr. Well, I'm sure if you asked him about it, the first person he would credit would be Hudson, who makes all the line calls.

Missing Murray may an even bigger deal. Looking just purely at the stat sheet, in the past 2 years when Murray starts and has 15 or more carries are 6-2 (Chicago and Pitt the losses) and when he doesn't start or has 15 or less carries we are 3-10. Add that to the fact that Jones isn't a #1 option with his size and ball security issue of late, Reece and Olewale being nice players but they are fullbacks and half the time Helu doesn't even dress for the game, we may be in trouble if Murray isn't cleared.

Seems we just can't win with injuries. Just when we will be getting Allen and Carrie back to help out the struggling secondary, now we may be short handed on offense in two very important spots. We are all hoping the injury report is merciful this week.

On the bright side, we could be the Chargers...

[Twinkie defense]

Hudson already came back, during the Pittsburgh game, why would he be out against Minny?

I don't think Murray is such an important piece, we clearly need to be a pass first team (in fact I hope we come out no huddle and chucking it on Sunday). But he is supposed to be progressing through the protocols well, I think he will be back.

Defensive secondary was horrible last week, getting Carrie and Allen back will be bigger than anything else.

And Raiders look to me like they will thrash the Vikes Sunday.


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[benchmobbin02]

Missing Murray may an even bigger deal. Looking just purely at the stat sheet, in the past 2 years when Murray starts and has 15 or more carries are 6-2 (Chicago and Pitt the losses) and when he doesn't start or has 15 or less carries we are 3-10. Add that to the fact that Jones isn't a #1 option with his size and ball security issue of late, Reece and Olewale being nice players but they are fullbacks and half the time Helu doesn't even dress for the game, we may be in trouble if Murray isn't cleared.

I don't think Murray is such an important piece, we clearly need to be a pass first team (in fact I hope we come out no huddle and chucking it on Sunday). But he is supposed to be progressing through the protocols well, I think he will be back.

Sometimes the things you say make me wonder...
Why do you think I posted the stats about Murray. Balance is key to our offense. When we have Murray running well, we can sprinkle in Jones and the defense has to stay honest and can't just focus on the pass. Carr is having an amazing year! Of course, I agree that we are a stronger passing team but we are a FAR BETTER TEAM when we are balanced and the record shows that.

Hudson already came back, during the Pittsburgh game, why would he be out against Minny?

Hudson never came back on the field after his ankle injury last week and today...
[tweet]https://twitter.com/BairCSN/status/664531817194622976[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/BWilliamsonNFL/status/664565004276928513[/tweet]

That's why.

[Twinkie defense]

Hudson must have come out, come back in, and then left for good - maybe due to different instances.

Sure you have to run the ball some. How often do the Pats run? But our run blocking is not that good, and when Murray hasn't gone other guys have filled the gap. Raiders should pass to set up the run, no huddle and run gun.

The stats about Murray's ypg and wins are not indicative of causation.

Looked at how the offense sputtered in the first half - and a huge chunk of Murray's yards came on one run on that first TD drive. Then look at Q3 when Raiders no huddled - that's when they tore it up. More of that. When they force the run game more often than not it is 3 and out.


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[benchmobbin02]

Hudson must have come out, come back in, and then left for good - maybe due to different instances.

Sure you have to run the ball some. How often do the Pats run? But our run blocking is not that good, and when Murray hasn't gone other guys have filled the gap. Raiders should pass to set up the run, no huddle and run gun.

The stats about Murray's ypg and wins are not indicative of causation.

Looked at how the offense sputtered in the first half - and a huge chunk of Murray's yards came on one run on that first TD drive. Then look at Q3 when Raiders no huddled - that's when they tore it up. More of that. When they force the run game more often than not it is 3 and out.


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Hudson left the game in the 4th qtr at 7mins to go and never returned. Sorry, you are wrong. I double checked to be sure.

I never advocated forcing the run game. I said balance and that when Murray gets more than 15 carries (a tiny # when you have 50 plus offensive plays a game), we are more likely to succeed. We need to keep the defense guessing so Carr can take advantage of mismatches and the play action game works.

Bring up the Pats as a comparison is... well I'll just present the facts. They run the ball on avg 20 time a game. More than what I was saying we should be looking for Murray to get. That avg is including their game with the Jets when they didn't even try to run the ball(5 atts) due to the Jets tough run defense and Dion Lewis being injured. Murray, behind our line on the other hand, ran for 113 on 20atts vs the Jets and WE WON THE GAME. Their run blocking oline is far more porous than our is according to PFF as well. Just different teams.

Guys filling in for Murray? Like who?
Reece 5atts 28yds 3.5y\g 5.6avg 0td Full back with 2/3 the speed and agility of Murray
Jones 14atts 70yds 11.7y\g 5.0avg 0td
Olewale 11atts 41yds 6.8y\g 3.7avg 1td
Helu 12atts 31yds 5.2y\g 2.6avg 0td

Non of these guys are any where near the back or the threat that Murray is.

I think offense has been great if you cut out the turnovers and and ill timed drops. Musgrave knows how to mix the sets and him and Carr have great chemistry in calling a game. Saying Murray's contributions aren't indicative of the outcomes of those games is laughable. Of course, he isn't the sole reason but he is definitely an important part of the recipe. We need to keep the balance that has put up over 30 points a game.

[Twinkie defense]

Hudson left the game in the 4th qtr at 7mins to go and never returned. Sorry, you are wrong. I double checked to be sure.

Could be - I was watching from a bar but coulda sworn I saw a white dude at center prior to the fourth quarter. They sure were blitzing up the A gap, I would expect we see more of that on Sunday if Hudson can't go (and with him out of practice again today, that seems likely). Gabe is also getting snaps at center but that may be more for emergency purposes.

Hey I like Murray but we are just not a dominant run team, while we ARE a dominant pass team. Of course we don't forget the run but it's the pass that the Raiders are going to live or die on, so what I'm saying is let's accept and leverage that fact. Let's come out in a no huddle and force the issue. When we run let's run out of pass formations to keep the defense on their heels. And I think a combination of Reece, Oliwale, Jones, Helu can do that - though it looks like they won't have to as it is likely that Murray will be back out there.

We're bottom half of the League (#18) in yards per game rushing, and that's WITH Murray. We are #7 (tie) in yards per attempt but that is skewed by a number of long runs. I guess I just think the stops for no yards are more indicative of this team than the 40 yard runs. And on the other hand the passing game has been a strength but we haven't really unleashed it yet except in spurts.

[benchmobbin02]

Hudson left the game in the 4th qtr at 7mins to go and never returned. Sorry, you are wrong. I double checked to be sure.

Could be - I was watching from a bar but coulda sworn I saw a white dude at center prior to the fourth quarter. They sure were blitzing up the A gap, I would expect we see more of that on Sunday if Hudson can't go (and with him out of practice again today, that seems likely). Gabe is also getting snaps at center but that may be more for emergency purposes.

I was watching from home on a 70 inch and have it dvred. Now I have tripled checked it. Hudson played every snap at center til the injury and Bergstrom played every snap at center after.

Hey I like Murray but we are just not a dominant run team, while we ARE a dominant pass team. Of course we don't forget the run but it's the pass that the Raiders are going to live or die on, so what I'm saying is let's accept and leverage that fact. Let's come out in a no huddle and force the issue. When we run let's run out of pass formations to keep the defense on their heels. And I think a combination of Reece, Oliwale, Jones, Helu can do that - though it looks like they won't have to as it is likely that Murray will be back out there.

We're bottom half of the League (#18) in yards per game rushing, and that's WITH Murray. We are #7 (tie) in yards per attempt but that is skewed by a number of long runs. I guess I just think the stops for no yards are more indicative of this team than the 40 yard runs. And on the other hand the passing game has been a strength but we haven't really unleashed it yet except in spurts.

We are a Great run team when we rush with Murray, especially to the left behind Penn Jackson and Hudson. And running behind Howard L. Smith and a pulling lineman or Barnes is nice too. Webb is the weak link. Murray is 6th in the league in yards, 7th in yards a game and 11th in avg. He isn't the type of back that is going to have the success that he has had this year out of passing formations (ask his brother from another mother in philly, DeMarco).

I bet we mix in more no huddle and passing sets this week if Hudson and Murray are out. It's gives Jones, Reece and Helu more space to get free on tosses, delays and passing routes. it also gives Carr more time in the pocket to see the rush. But when Murray and the line are back to full strength we would be foolish to abandon our power sets. This oline (including Barnes and L. Smith) is built to punch you in the mouth and wear you down. It is because of that and our great passing game that we are able to break runs for more than 15yards (8 this year with Murray). It's called keeping the defense off balance or alternatively having a balanced offense and it is what all teams strive for. Teams that are one sided are that way out of necessity and get figured out and eventually shut down.

[Twinkie defense]

My prediction is Murray is back and the Raiders noticed how explosive the offense was in the second half against Pittsburgh when they went no huddle and they are going to crank it up against the Vikes - and we are going to destroy them.


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