Oakland Raiders vs Green Bay Packers
Oakland Raiders
Quarterbacks
- Derek Carr: 22/28, 293 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT | 2 carries, 0 yards
- Mike Glennon: 2/3, 36 yards, 1 TD
Derek Carr has been playing pretty efficiently lately but he was struggling to convert third downs with crucial throws to begin the game. Carr started heating up soon enough though, piecing together a nice efficient drive on his third series. Just when it seemed like the Raiders couldn’t be stopped and Derek was carving up the Packers’ secondary, Carr had a pretty flukey touchback as he was stretching for the touchdown by the sideline. It was the right call though, the ball came out before he was out-of-bounds and the ball clearly went by the pylon as well. The second half was more of the same. Carr would get a nice drive going but kept coming up just short. Derek now has two games of 15.7 fantasy points, his highest total of the season.
Running Backs
- Josh Jacobs: 21 carries, 124 yards | 3 targets, 3 receptions, 10 yards
- DeAndre Washington: 6 carries, 29 yards | 1 target, 1 reception, 12 yards
Josh Jacobs began his day with a nice little run where he got to the outside and lowered his head to bounce off the first defender who tried to tackle him. The Raiders trusted him with plenty of carries and he started breaking off big plays on the first drive with a nice 42-yard carry on the Raiders’ first series. He got a little banged-up on that play and had to go into the locker room for a few minutes but didn’t miss too much game time. It’s encouraging the Raiders continued to feed Jacobs even though they were playing from behind for most of the game. You give Jacobs enough carries against the Packers’ rush defense and he will eventually produce. His YPC was fantastic and he was nearing the 125-yard mark heading into the fourth quarter. Jacobs came so close to finally getting that touchdown in the fourth quarter but came up just short when the Raiders decided to go for it on fourth-and-goal. He jumped for the goal line well, but the Packers defense barely sent Jacobs spiraling away from the end zone. DeAndre Washington is still getting in the mix but he is still just the change-of-pace guy the Raiders play from time to time.
Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends
- Trevor Davis: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 26 yards
- Keelan Doss: 5 targets, 3 receptions, 54 yards
- Hunter Renfrow: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 14 yards
- Darren Waller: 8 targets, 7 receptions, 126 yards, 2 TD
- Foster Moreau: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 24 yards, 1 TD
Keelan Doss’ first targets came pretty quickly and in important situations but they were poor throws by Carr. His first reception of the day was a nice 31-yard gain right up the middle at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately, Doss wasn’t targeted much for the rest of the game. He didn’t have another catch until after the Raiders knew the game was over. Trevor Davis began the game as Carr’s most reliable receiver but slowed down pretty quickly as his targets steeply declined. Just two targets isn’t encouraging.
Darren Waller’s first target of the day saw him wide open on a play where the coverage was completely blown. Unfortunately, the touchdown was called back by a holding call. He got back in the mix pretty quickly though. Waller had two great back-to-back catches before the half and the second was just short of the end zone. He continued to be the main option for the receivers and the Packers simply could not cover him. Waller seemed to make a play whenever the Packers’ coverage was completely blown. His short, effortless touchdown catch was no different. His second touchdown came during garbage time and wasn’t all that impressive either. Waller had himself another fantastic fantasy performance and I’ll gladly eat crow on my awful prediction about him earlier this week (I’m a big dummy).
Foster Moreau started his day with a great catch that he took in for a touchdown. All in all, he made an impressive play where he stretched just enough after taking a big hit a few yards short of the goal line. He had another impressive catch in the second half but didn’t do much besides that. He continues to get limited work. I liked what I saw from Hunter Renfrow but he got just as little usage as the other Raiders receivers. You can’t do much with only a few targets.
Green Bay Packers
Quarterbacks
- Aaron Rodgers: 25/31, 429 yards, 5 TD | 2 carries, 6 yards, 1 TD
Aaron Rodgers started the game playing like the Rodgers we all know. He was playing well but, interestingly, didn’t have a completion to a wide receiver until about halfway through the second quarter. Instead, the Packers were mostly targeting tight ends and backs. Rodgers began heating up and started finding his receivers open more often. By the end of the half, it seemed like Rodgers was playing lights-out with some great passes on his way to three touchdown throws in the first half. The fantasy points kept rolling in during the second half as Rodgers killed the play to cancel the run and rolled out to run the touchdown himself. He finished with a perfect QBR. Rodgers was absolutely on fire today to the point that the Packers let Tim Boyle finish out the game because they were so far ahead. Rodgers’ ridiculous 44-point performance should have fantasy owners smiling from ear-to-ear.
Running Backs
- Aaron Jones: 12 carries, 50 yards | 4 targets, 4 receptions, 33 yards, 1 TD
- Jamaal Williams: 3 carries, 5 yards | 5 targets, 4 receptions, 26 yards, 1 TD
- Danny Vitale: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 43 yards
Aaron Jones was given most of the starting work and had a nice little cut into open space on the Packers’ first drive. He finished the drive with a fantastic touchdown catch where he had to turn his body around and find the ball just in time to come down with the reception. Just when you think Jones may be the hot-hand, the Packers make sure to get Jamaal Williams into the mix and give Danny Vitale a random pass. I believe both Jones and Williams were on the field for both plays when the Packers were in a goal-to-go situation before the half. The Packers gave the ball to Jones on the first play and Rodgers found Williams for a short pass that resulted in a touchdown. The Packers didn’t run the ball much in the second half, mainly because they kept having success with the pass. Although neither back got a ton of work today, 18 points from Jones and 13 from Williams is hard to complain about.
Wide Receivers/ Tight Ends
- Allen Lazard: 4 targets, 3 receptions, 42 yards
- Geronimo Allison: 5 targets, 4 receptions, 33 yards
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling: 3 targets, 2 receptions, 133 yards, 1 TD
- Jimmy Graham: 4 targets, 4 receptions, 64 yards, 1 TD
- Jake Kumerow: 2 targets, 2 receptions, 54 yards, 1 TD
Surprisingly, Jimmy Graham had the first Packers catch of the night but did not see another target in the first half. On his second catch, Graham made a nice little move around the defender after his catch that instantly made him look 10 years younger. He finally came down with a touchdown on a similar play that Graham had messed up last week. This time, he knew that all he had to do was grab the ball as he came down in the end zone. Allen Lazard didn’t have a target/reception until there were about five minutes left in the first half. His second target was a beautiful throw but Lazard had an ugly drop on the play. He started playing better after the drop and had a crazy grab near the end of the third quarter. Lazard somehow came down with the full-stretch catch by the sideline. Unfortunately, seven points will be disappointing for fantasy players who trusted him this week.
Geronimo Allison was easily the most reliable Packers receiver in the first half with the most targets and receptions among active receivers. He came close to a touchdown early in the second half, but his momentum took him out of bounds. Jake Kumerow was having a quiet first half until just before halftime when he had a beautiful 37-yard touchdown where he barely tip-toed along the sideline enough before jumping for the pylon. He came up with another big catch in the second half but didn’t do much more besides that. He likely won’t have any fantasy relevance with his limited usage. It took a while for Marquez Valdes-Scantling to get his first target but he’s still got that homerun-ball potential. His first catch of the day went for 59 yards. His ankle didn’t look too shabby either when MVS was running for a 74-yard touchdown on his second catch.
–Ryan Kruse (@ryanpkruse)