‘Nightmare, trash, embarrassing.’ Players, fans react after Raiders’ stunning loss
For the first 10 games of the NFL season, the Las Vegas Raiders played superbly, even in most of their losses.
Then Week 12 happened — again.
This time in Atlanta.
Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in the first half for the Raiders en route to a 43-6 upset loss to the Falcons.
Some of the miscues that doomed the Raiders:
▪ Going for it on fourth down, needing just a yard. Josh Jacobs was stopped and the Falcons turned it into three points.
▪ A sack of Derek Carr, who fumbled, and Atlanta again turned it into a field goal.
▪ A roughing-the-kicker call against Raiders safety Dallin Leavitt would help lead to a 4-yard touchdown pass by Matt Ryan to Calvin Ridley for a 13-3 Falcons lead. Oh, and Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo had missed the field goal attempt on which the penalty was called.
Gruden apologizes to Raider Nation
“It snowballed on us,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “It can’t happen again. The turnovers, penalties are inexcusable. It’s a reflection on me. We’re a much better team than that.
The game indeed snowballed into an avalanche for the Raiders (6-5), as fan reactions ranged from “repeat of last season 6-4 team that lost vs the Jets” to “ugly” to “garbage.”
It got worse in the third quarter, when Carr threw an interception that was returned 67 yards by Deion Jones for a Falcons touchdown and a 23-3 lead.
Adding to the stunning nature of the loss and Atlanta’s margin of victory: The Falcons played without star wide receiver Julio Jones and running back Todd Gurley.
“Our fans deserve better than what we did today,” Carr said. “Our organization deserves better than what we put out there today. That was a bunch of trash.”
Las Vegas WR Henry Ruggs: ‘It’s bad’
Even an NFL rookie knew dismal when he saw it.
Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III, over and over, described the game as “bad.”
Said Ruggs: “It was frustrating and it was bad. Bad on our part. Too many turnovers. Shot our foot too many times. We didn’t come away with any touchdowns as many times we were in the red zone. It’s bad.”
The Raiders were coming off a heartbreaking 35-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in a prime-time game last Sunday.
Maybe it was a case of a hangover off the tough defeat at the hands of their rival and AFC West-leading Chiefs. Raiders safety Johnathan Abram was blunt in offering no excuses.
“That’s not who we are,” he said. “We were supposed to come out and take our anger out on the Falcons and we didn’t do that. We had a pity party for ourselves.”
Déjà vu from 2019 vs. Jets, who are up next
Last season, the Raiders also were 6-4 entering Week 12. Then they traveled to New York and stumbled to a 34-3 loss to the Jets.
The free fall continued, as the Raiders lost four consecutive games before finishing the season 7-9.
Next up on the 2020 schedule is a game with the Jets. Carr clearly remembers the ugly feeling in New York a year ago.
“They beat the dog out of us the last time,” Carr said. “ We better get our mind right before we get on that plane and get ready for that game.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2020 at 4:11 PM.
