In a much needed win for the Raiders, Derek Carr and the offense mustered enough points to beat the Giants, 24-17. The team as a whole dodged some big mistakes throughout the day. There was two throws made by Carr that the Giants needed to secure and a botched punt to end of the half that could have given up the lead. Thankfully, the Giants defense dropped the two passes. Also, Khalil Mack stripped Geno Smith on the ensuing possession to kill the scoring threat.
Nonetheless, the Raiders won on Sunday and moved into a three-way tie for the division lead. Let us take a look at the games stud and dud performers in the Raiders victory.
Stud: Cordarrelle Patterson
This could have been Mack or Bruce Irvin for their defensive performances. Yet, the do-it-all Cordarrelle Patterson made some great plays at key moments in the game to help the Raiders prevail in this one. Patterson provided awesome coverage on returns throughout afternoon, even had a solid tackle on an early kick return.
However, his plays in the passing game stood out the most. The former Vikings player turned a quick screen and short pass into 19 and 59-yard gains. Those catches in the fourth quarter setup the last two touchdowns for the Raiders. Up to that point, the offense struggled to get anything going after Marshawn Lynch’s rushing TD on the teams opening possession. Patterson sparked the team in the second half, especially with both Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree missing in this one.
Dud: Jalen Richard
Even though Jalen Richard’s three fumbles were recovered by Oakland, he looked out of sorts in this game. Richard muffed three punt returns, two in the first quarter that could have been costly for the Raiders. The former 2016 UDFA could never recover and played timid after that. Richard only had one rush and one catch for a total of nine yards because of these early blunders. These are the types of mistakes that cannot happen in game, let alone three of them. Not sure if the coaches will consider removing Richard from his return duties moving forward. However, it does not bode well for him overall with another major game in Kansas City next week.