Raiders 24, Bears 21: Studs and duds from a topsy-turvy win in London
The Raiders played a nearly-perfect first half of football, came apart in the third quarter and then rallied Sunday for a 24-21 win over the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Josh Jacobs, who rushed for 123 yards on 26 carries, capped a 97-yard drive with a 2-yard run with 1:57 to play.
The 97-yard drive was extended by a fourth-and-1 first down by personal protector Erik Harris in punt formation. The ball came loose and was ruled a lost fumble, but correctly reversed because Harris’ elbow had hit the ground.
.@iAM_JoshJacobs goes up and over to put the @Raiders ahead in London! #RaiderNation #CHIvsOAK @NFLUK
: FOX
: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app
Watch free on mobile: https://t.co/d6meepU6Nz pic.twitter.com/MivwUZlQ5X— NFL (@NFL) October 6, 2019
Gareon Conley sealed the win for the Raiders as he intercepted an overthrown Chase Daniel pass with 1:14 left.
Gruden played it cool in the post-game media press conference.
“A key road win against a good football team,” Gruden said. “It was on the playoffs last year. So we’re making progress. We’ve got some injuries to deal with. And really, really proud of our coaches and players and everybody affiliated with us right now. We’re working hard.”
He was considerably more animated in the postgame speech to the Raiders as recorded by the club’s website.
“I don’t have a disco, but let’s all start dancing,” Gruden said. “I’m 56 years old, that’s the most fun I’ve ever had. I am so proud of you, you have no idea. We’ve been through a roller-coaster already but what you proved today is one thing — you can beat anybody, anywhere, in any (expletive) time zone.”
STUDS
Derek Carr: Completed 12 of 15 passes for 109 yards and was not sacked in the first half. Completed passes to eight different receivers with Tyrell Williams and J.J. Nelson inactive. Finished 25 of 32 for 229 yards and all things considered, the 97-yard game-winning drive serves as a defining moment in his tenure as Jon Gruden’s quarterback. Gruden completed 5 of 6 passes for 53 yards on the final drive.
“He did a great job. I thought we had a couple of special plays and short yardage that were very effective,” Gruden said. “Probably the biggest plays of the game. It takes a quality quarterback to pull some of those off. He made great some pinpoint throws. I don’t believe he had a sack tonight. And not a lot of people can say that against that defense.”
Josh Jacobs: Shaken up a few plays earlier, Jacobs capped a 90-yard, 10-play touchdown drive with a 12-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Jacobs had six carries for 34 yards in the first quarter. Rushed for 57 yards on 11 carries with a long gain of 21 yards. Jacobs left with an elbow injury briefly but returned.
“Jacobs got hurt early in the game. He came back twice,” Gruden said.” He proved a lot tonight. He made some great runs. I thought Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington picked up the slack for him. But we were persistent. No one talks about our guys up front.”
The blocking. The run. The touchdown.
Simply beautiful. #CHIvsOAK pic.twitter.com/ouGLcr70Vu
— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) October 6, 2019
Tarik Cohen: Chicago punt return specialist broke a 71-yard return against the Raiders to set up the score that put the Bears ahead 21-17 on Chase Daniel’s 16-yard pass to Allen Robinson.
Maxx Crosby: On the Bears’ first possession, Crosby registered a sack of Chase Daniel to help force a Chicago punt. Crosby, a fourth-round pick out of Eastern Michigan, had a forced fumble and batted down two passes last week against Indianapolis.
Nicholas Morrow: The third-year linebacker from Division III Greenville intercepted a Daniel pass and set up the Raiders 24-yard touchdown drive culminating in a 3-yard touchdown run by DeAndre Washington and a 14-0 lead.
Trent Brown and the offensive line: The Raiders controlled the Bears’ defensive front and ran the ball consistently against the No. 3 run defense in football. Carr also had ample time to throw, in part because of that push in the running game. Tackle Trent Brown more than held his own against Khalil Mack when the two squared off.
Carr even invoked the ghost of the other Brown — Antonio — who came aboard in the off-season before self-destructing.
“He was awesome, right?,” Carr said. “We signed two Browns in the off-season. One is a dynamic play-maker, we all know that. He’s a great football player. But may favorite Brown is Trent, for obvious reasons.”
Defensive line: Sacked Daniel four times (Crosby, Benson Mayowa and two by Maurice Hurst) and stuffed the Chicago running game. Responsible for getting offense back on the field.
Brilliant dispossession. #CHIvsOAK pic.twitter.com/KM66V1hTLz
— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) October 6, 2019
DUDS
Derek Carr-Josh Jacobs: With the Raiders leading 21-0, a pitch from Carr to Jacobs went awry and the Bears recovered. It set up Chicago’s first touchdown on a 1-yard run by David Montgomery and the Bears had new life. Carr changed the play at the line of scrimmage and Jacobs wasn’t expecting the pitch.
“It was one of our faults,” Carr said. “We’ll just make sure the young guy gets another rep at it.”
Trevor Davis: After breaking a kickoff return 52 yards early in the fourth quarter, Davis had the ball punched loose by Sam McManis on a goal line carry. The Bears recovered and instead of taking a 24-21 lead, the Raiders still trailed 21-17.
Maurice Hurst: The Raiders defensive tackle had a first-half sack, but early in the fourth quarter, his roughing the passer penalty erased a Daryl Worley interception with the Raiders trailing 21-17 and with a potential possession deep in Chicago territory. Hurst was judged to have put his whole body weight on Daniel. Tough call. In a bit of poetic justice, Hurst sacked Daniel to end the game.
Here is the HORRIBLE roughing the passer call on Maurice Hurst that took away a Raiders INT… #OAKvsCHI pic.twitter.com/pgGooNxjYz
— Mitchell Renz (@MitchellRenz365) October 6, 2019
Richie Incognito: After Carr completed a 7-yard pass to Jalen Richard on third-and-10, the Raiders were set up for a 39-yard field goal attempt on their opening drive. Enter Incognito, who went to the pile to clean up and shoved a Bears player in the head. Dead ball foul. No field goal attempt. A.J. Cole punts it into the end zone instead. Incognito was questionable to play with a bad back. Late in the half, Incognito had a chop block penalty.
Richie Incognito…
— NFL Stats (@NFL_Stats) October 6, 2019
Chase Daniel: The Bears quarterback threw an interception directly at Morrow that helped set up the Raiders for a short-field 24-yard drive, capped by a 3-yard DeAndre Washington run. His late interception to Gareon Conley sealed the verdict. No one was sure where Daniel’s last pass was headed before it came to rest in Conley’s arms.
Khalil Mack: Mostly silent in the first half, in part because of extra attention from Raiders blockers as well as Carr’s ability to get rid of the ball quickly. Mack jumped on the Carr-to-Jacobs pitch error to help get the Bears back in the game. Mack had no sacks although he nearly had one that Carr was able to throw away.
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