Jon Gruden has been my favorite thing to watch this entire season. He was unintentional  comedic gold during the Raiders’ Hard Knocks run and then that turned into him ruining a bunch of my bets by making the Raiders competitive. And now I’ve been profitable riding the Raider train the last couple of weeks.Â
Gruden has been stellar so far this season with the X’s and O’s. The Raiders were missing a couple of offensive lineman and also Arden Key. The Raiders were also ripped to shreds with dumb penalties but somehow, some way they continue to get it done. I had written the Raiders off after Antonio Brown forced the Raiders to cut him, but here I am in week 10 really hoping that Oakland can find a way to grab the 5 seed and make the Saturday afternoon wild card game a fun one. Here is what else I saw in the final primetime game at Oakland Coliseum.
Performance Checks
– Melvin Gordon is starting to look like himself again the last couple of weeks so kudos to you if you were able to buy low on him. Gordon has 22 carries for 108 yard and a touchdown while adding a 25 yard reception. At least one part of this offense was humming on Thursday despite the Raiders being stingy against the run this season.
– On the very first drive, it looked like it was going to be a big Austin Ekeler night when he caught a 23 yard pass. He also picked up a 12 yard chunk on a carry pretty early but then things settled in to the Melvin Gordon show. That is until Ekeler snuck in one of his patented 4th quarter touchdowns. Ekeler remains one of the most solid flex plays in fantasy football.
– Philip Rivers was a disaster last night. And I’m guessing that a good chunk of people started him after what Stafford did against the battered Oakland secondary last Sunday. Rivers ended up throwing 3 interceptions and fumbled. He was also sacked 5 times. He should have actually had 4 interceptions. 2 were called back because of brutally dumb Oakland penalties but one of those drives ended in an interception after all.Â
– Keenan Allen made an appearance last night and picked up a decent chunk of points for PPR formats. Allen caught 8 passes for 68 yards and his 2nd biggest play of the night was actually an 18 yard carry. This offense really doesn’t have much.
– Mike Williams followed up his first 100-yard game in the NFL with 2 catches for 55 yards. Owners are probably a bit disappointed if they left him on the bench last week only to start him this week and get 7.5 points at best depending on format.
– Hunter Henry remains a bright spot for the Bolts. Henry only caught 4 passes for 30 yards, but he did snag a TD. You could definitely do worse at tight end.
– Josh Jacobs couldn’t find a ton of room last night, but he did when it mattered most punching in the game winning touchdown from just outside the 20 yard line. That touchdown turned a disappoint stat line into a pretty solid start for Jacobs owners.
– Jalen Richard led the Raiders in receiving yards last night with…. 43.
– That means that Waller, Renfrow, and Tyrell Williams were all major disappointments last night. But wait! Derek Carr did throw a touchdown… Oh never mind, you probably didn’t start Alec Ingold.Â
– Although this stat line was one of a game manager, Derek Carr has really turned his career around with the help of Jon Gruden this season. Carr was able to lead big drives when the Raiders needed it most and they got the win. As far as fantasy football goes, you could do worse for your QB2.Â
