Raiders remain undefeated after road test
The Las Vegas Raiders were able to keep their perfect record intact over the weekend when they defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh, 26-17.
Derek Carr is doing a great job leading this team so far in the season. He finished with 382 yards on 28 of 37 passing and had two touchdowns on the day. Carr is currently the league leader in passing yards after two games with 817 total yards.
Carr doesn’t quite have the touchdowns, but his passing ability this season is setting up his team in great position to be able to put points on the board. The Raiders have scored on 12 of their 24 drives this season.
Outside of Carr’s passing, a lot of their scoring success has been put on the leg of Daniel Carlson. Carlson is currently 6 for 6 on field goal attempts, as well as 5 for 5 on extra point kicks this season. He is tied for the league lead in points by a kicker with 23 points after two games.
With first string running back Josh Jacobs, being out for this game, the rushing attack was split between first year Raiders Kenyan Drake and Peyton Barber. Barber led the team in rushing on Sunday with 32 yards on 13 carries. Drake added just nine yards on his seven carries in the game.
The passing attack saw a big game from a second-year player who hasn’t quite lived up to his expectations yet. Henry Ruggs III, a second-year wide receiver out of Alabama, had arguably his best game of his young career.
He saw career highs in targets and catches. Ruggs finished with five catches on seven targets for 113 yards and one touchdown. Ruggs’ touchdown put the Raiders up 23-14 and would turn out to be the game-winning score.
Four players, including Ruggs and Carr’s main target, Darren Waller, had five catches on the day. For the second week in a row, Carr targeted nine players on his pass attempts. However, this week looked much different for his targets as they were more spread out.
Week 1 saw 34 percent of Carr’s pass attempts go in Waller’s direction. This week, he only targeted Waller on 18 percent of his passes.
This is the second season in a row that the Raiders have started 2-0. This is also just the third season that the Raiders have started 2-0 with quarterback Derek Carr under center. In the previous seasons, the Raiders haven’t been able to get over that third game hump to get a 3-0 season start.
The Raiders’ next game will be at home on Sunday, Sept. 26, when they host the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins, coming off a loss to the Buffalo Bills, could be without their starting quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. He is currently questionable to play after suffering a rib injury in their game on Sunday.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:25 p.m.
Contact Sports Editor Danny Smyth at dsmyth@pvtimes.com
