Winners and losers in the Raiders-Giants game, In his first game, Antonio Pierce made a strong impression.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ season has had more down than ups, and it seemed like they had no chance of winning less than a week ago. But their 30–6 win across the New York Giants in Week 9 felt different.
The Giants aren’t even close to being a good team, and they lost their starting quarterback shortly before the game. But the Raiders should be praised for sticking with it and having by far their best game of the season.
When you vent your anger at your head coach in a group meeting and that coach is fired soon after, you must get ready to play on Sunday. A few days after firing Josh McDaniels, the Las Vegas Raiders looked like they were back to being good.
The thieves cleaned up the house. Dave Ziegler was fired as head coach or general manager, and QB Jimmy Garoppolo was put on the bench. This is one of the few times a team changes all three of its key positions in the middle of the season. For at least a week, it worked.
The New York Giants lost 30–6 to Las Vegas. The games were never close. The Raiders appeared like they were hoping that their disliked coach, who had just been fired, was watching from home.
It is said that coaches and players on the Raiders slammed McDaniels during what will be remembered as a famous team meeting. Their game on Sunday sent a clear message to the fired boss.
Player whose seasons were going badly got better when they worked with McDaniels. Josh Jacobs scored two touchdowns in the first half.
Hunter Renfrow showed up with a couple of catches after McDaniels was hired. He had been forgotten about.
An unproven quarterback named Aidan O’Connell did a great job, but McDaniels chose the more experienced Brian Hoyer to start a couple for weeks ago. The Raiders didn’t look like the same team.
What’s going on with the Giants? They’re having a terrible second season after Brian Daboll’s inaugural campaign as head coach. Daniel Jones had to leave the game because he hurt his knee, and Tommy DeVito possessed to take his place.
It’s hard to comprehend that the Patriots put Tyrod Taylor on the injured reserve and watched DeVito throw for -1 yard after coming in halfway through the subsequent quarter last week, but they didn’t add an improved backup quarterback.
Jones is said to be “ready to go” for Sunday’s game against the Raiders, even though he has missed the Giants’ last three games.
While Jones has been out, the Giants have pushed the ball hard with Saquon Barkley and the rest of their running backs. In that time, they have led the NFL in 39.3 rushing attempts per game.
The Giants will still rely a lot on Barkley, who averaged 27 carries per contest over the last three weeks and 14 targets during that time. Jones is back.
However, Barkley (ankle) is only iffy for Sunday, and tight end Darren Waller (hamstring) has already been ruled out. This makes New York’s already poor passing game even worse.
The Raiders give up the third-most running yards per game (140.6) and the seventh-most yards each rush attempt (4.5) for opponents. This gives the Giants a slight edge as long as Barkley is on the field.
Also, the Giants’ defense has been much better lately. In their last three games, they have given up the fewest points every game (11.3) in the NFL.
As bad as the Raiders’ offense has been this season, putting a fourth-round novice quarterback in center and firing their head coach or general manager won’t magically change the course of their season.