Author: Chris McClain

The Oakland Raiders traveled to Cincinnati looking to build on last week’s upset win over the Pittsburgh Steelers but the Bengals proved to be too much to handle. Head coach Jon Gruden has been excellent at scripting opening drives all season long but that success ran out Sunday, going just 10 yards on five plays. Things didn’t get much better on the Raiders second offensive drive of the game as Derek Carr was sacked, fumbling the ball and giving the Bengals a short field. Paul Guenther’s defense came up bit as safety Erik Harris intercepted quarterback Jeff Driskel’s pass on the ensuing play, giving it right back to Carr and the Raiders offense. But once again, Carr and the Raiders couldn’t get anything going. They went three-and-out and were forced to punt the ball away. The Bengals got on the board first, putting together a 12-play drive that went 85 yards. The Raiders defense forced a fourth down, but Bengals standout running back Joe Mixon pushed his way through the line for a one-yard touchdown to put the Bengals up 7-0 early. The Raiders first score of the game wouldn’t come until they were already down 10-0 in the second quarter. It took Carr just five plays to go 80 yards. Facing first and goal from the one-yard line, Carr found a wide open tight end Lee Smith for...

The Oakland Raiders returned to the Coliseum looking for a big win over old AFC rivals Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Head coach Jon Gruden has been stellar all season at scripting an opening drive and that continued this week, helping his team take an early lead. Quarterback Derek Carr led the offense 74 yards down the field on eight plays, finishing it with a one-yard touchdown run from Doug Martin. Without both James Conner and Leveon Bell, the Steelers turned to running back/tight end Jaylen Samuels to carry the ball. Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther’s defense did a good job bottling him up. The Steelers rushed for just 40 yards. The Raiders defense kept the Steelers off the scoreboard until the end of the first quarter, when running back Steven Ridley rushed up the middle for a two-yard touchdown to tie the game. The Raiders defense did a good job slowing down Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense. The Raiders secondary held Antonio Brown to just five receptions for 35 yards. But with Brown limited, it was JuJu Smith-Schuster who found room to work. Smith-Schuster hauled in eight catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns, including an acrobatic catch to give the Steelers a 14-10 lead heading into halftime. Roethlisberger got hit hard on the play though, and was questionable to return. Oakland’s defense reaped the benefits of going against...