What We Saw: Week 2

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Cardinals @ Raiders

Final Score: Cardinals 29, Raiders 23 (OT)

Writer: Justin Herrera (@Semtexmex93 on Twitter)

The Arizona Cardinals visited the Las Vegas desert in a matchup of two 0-1 teams. This game started fast for the Raiders, who went into the half with a 20-0 lead seemingly in full control. As the second half rolled in, the Cardinals came storming back with Kyler Murray using his elusiveness to get the Cardinals into overtime. In overtime, the Raiders quite literally dropped the ball, and the Cardinals scored on a fumble return to win the game. The game result was the Arizona Cardinals 29, Las Vegas Raiders 23.

Arizona Cardinals

Quarterback

Kyler Murray: 31/49, 277 yards, TD, INT | 5 carries, 28 yards, TD

Kyler Murray just went video game mode. This is crazy. pic.twitter.com/ztOoDLWmAf

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 18, 2022

Kyler Murray started this game under incredible duress from the defense. He didn’t respond well, completing seven of twelve passes for 63 yards and getting picked twice on the last drive, the first called back on a holding call. On the second drive of the third quarter, Murray started to get in a groove. Going five of seven for 67 yards through the air and scrambled for a 22-yard run. This was big as he had more yards in this drive than his entire first half and was able to hit Greg Dortch on a five-yard touchdown pass.

Two drives later, Murray continued his efficiency by going five of six for 55 yards, just missing his second passing touchdown by a yard. Marquise Brown‘s knee went down on the one-yard line, allowing Darrell Williams to cash in on a yard TD run. Murray converted the two-point conversion after evading the Raiders’ defensive line. On the final drive of the game, Kyler didn’t look great but was helped out by two defensive holding calls that landed the Cards on the Raiders’ three-yard line for the final four plays. Murray took matters into his own hands on the final drive after missing Zach Ertz twice and AJ Green once, Murray finally just used his legs to run the ball into the endzone. He would convert the two-point conversion by putting a dart on AJ Green to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Running Back

Darrell Williams: 8 carries, 59 yards, TD | 3 targets, 2 receptions, 3 yards

Eno Benjamin: 8 carries, 31 yards | 4 targets, 3 receptions, 20 yards

James Conner: 7 carries, 25 yards | 4 targets, 2 receptions, 26 yards

James Conner started the game for the Cardinals and played the entire first half before succumbing to an ankle injury sustained on the first drive of the third quarter. Prior to the injury, Conner was averaging 3.5 yards per carry, and his biggest play was a catch and run for 21 yards. Eno Benjamin was the change of pace back all game, averaging 3.8 YPC, and catching three of four targets for 20 yards. The main beneficiary of Conner going down was Darrell Williams who came in and had runs of nine, eight, and a big 30-yard run. Williams also ran in a one-yard touchdown. It looks like this will be a running back by committee approach going forward if Conner isn’t healthy enough to go next week.

KYLER MURRAY AS TIME EXPIRES 😱pic.twitter.com/pw6uiBCvAw

— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) September 18, 2022

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Zach Ertz: 11 targets, 8 receptions, 75 yards

Marquise Brown: 11 targets, 6 receptions, 68 yards

Greg Dortch: 4 targets, 4 receptions, 55 yards, TD

AJ Green: 7 targets, 3 receptions, 16 yards

Andre Baccellia: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 12 yards

Stephen Anderson: 1 target, 1 reception, 2 yards

Kyler to Greg Dortch gets the @AZCardinals on the board

📺: #AZvsLV on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FVZamC6mMP pic.twitter.com/rghw6YaRLH

— NFL (@NFL) September 18, 2022

Zach Ertz led the team in receptions and yards on Sunday. He was instrumental in moving the ball on each of the team’s scoring drives. His stat line on scoring drives was five of seven for 56 yards. He was Murray’s safety net in this game, and it showed.

Marquise Brown just missed a touchdown on a 25-yard catch, where his knee was down on the one-yard line. Outside of that play and an intercepted pass intended for Brown, the Cardinals didn’t really utilize his speed and deep threat talent. Greg Dortch caught all of his targets, with receptions of 29, 11, 10, and a five-yard touchdown. If Rondale Moore comes back at this point, Dortch might still take on a bigger role for this team going forward. He’s just really good. AJ Green caught three of seven targets and missed out on a touchdown at the end of the game, but caught the game-tying two-point conversion.

Las Vegas Raiders

Quarterback

Derek Carr: 25/39, 252 yards, 2 TD | 1 carry, 9 yards

Derek Carr had the reverse game of Kyler, starting off strong on his first drive going five of seven for 47 yards and a one-yard TD to Davante Adams. On his next drive, he went six of seven for 62 yards and helped his team put up a field goal. He then threw for 56 yards on the next drive, finishing it with a three-yard touchdown pass to Darren Waller, putting it only where waller could get it. Going into the half, Carr had 210 yards and was looking like he was going to break the mold of his usual mediocre play. Boy was I wrong, Carr came out and only had 42 yards in the second half. He completed seven of 16 passes, with a stretch of five straight incompletions. Carr went from a 78% completion rate in the first half to 43 % in the second half. It was one of the most Derek Carr games I think we’ve ever seen. Love him or hate him, this is him. Adding Davante Adams has seemingly changed nothing for Carr so far.

Running Back

Josh Jacobs: 19 carries, 69 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 12 yards

Zamir White: 1 carry, 2 yards

Ameer Abdullah: 1 target, 1 reception, 23 yards

Josh Jacobs turning 🍋 into lemonade pic.twitter.com/ZfdV6BdBXL

— Matt Waldman (@MattWaldman) September 19, 2022

Josh Jacobs needs to be given the ball more, and that’s what the early game plan dictated. On the first drive, we saw Jacobs get the ball nine times for 37 yards. He finished his first half with 13 carries and 48 yards. When your best back is having success, including a 15-yard run and a 12-yard catch, you’d think he’d be more involved in the second-half game plan, right? Instead, the Raiders with a 20-0 lead ran the ball with Jacobs six times for 21 yards, keeping him completely out of two drives, including the final overtime drive. Ameer Abdullah was the only other running back to have a big play, catching a dump-off pass that he extended for 23 yards. So far, this hasn’t been the Josh McDaniels offense that we were hoping to see.

Wide Receiver/Tight End

Mack Hollins: 8 targets, 5 receptions, 66 yards

Hunter Renfrow: 10 targets, 7 receptions, 59 yards, fumble

Darren Waller: 8 targets, 6 receptions, 50 yards, TD

Foster Moreau: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 30 yards

Davante Adams: 7 targets, 2 receptions, 12 yards, TD

pic.twitter.com/NRjLIG5sAF #Raiders Davante Adams Red Zone King. #RaiderNation #NFL #NFLTwitter

— NFL Rumors (@nflrums) September 18, 2022

Davante Adams only caught two of his seven targets with a one-yard touchdown. Mack Hollins got started early catching three of his five receptions for 52 of his 66 yards on big 23 and 20-yard receptions. Hunter Renfrow caught seven of his ten targets for 59 yards and was prominently used on the Raider’s overtime drive where he, unfortunately, fumbled twice. One of those fumbles was picked up and taken to the house for a game-winning touchdown. Darren Waller was a big part of this offense catching six of his eight targets, with catches of 19 and 13 yards. He also secured a three-yard touchdown and drew pass interference on the Raiders’ first drive to set up a one-yard touchdown to Adams. Foster Moreau caught passes of 19 and 17 yards, but his biggest play came in overtime when he recovered Renfrow’s first fumble.