(NFL/CBS Sports/fansided.com)
A highly-impressive drive by Derek Carr led the Oakland Raiders to a come-from-behind (after letting Kansas City come from behind first, naturally) victory to mark their first notch in the win column this season. Carr led Oakland on a 17-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 7+ minutes of the clock, and capped it with a pump fake that froze Kansas City’s cornerbacks before finding a wide-open James Jones under the goalpost in the back of the end zone.
Latavius Murray burst into national consciousness with an eye-popping 112 yards on just 4 carries in the first half, including a 90-yard touchdown run, before leaving the game with a concussion. His output also included a 24-yard attempt that was called back for offensive holding. For a national television debut, it was really a dream come true for the unheralded 2nd-year back, coming off a rookie season that saw him placed on the Injured Reserve list and beginning 2014 as #3 on the depth chart. Looking ahead to 2015, Oakland has to be encouraged with Murray’s cameos thus far (89 yards on 16 touches in week 11 before this game), and all eyes will be on his recovery from the concussion sustained tonight.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic of the night is what Oakland’s win brought a culmination to, as brought up by the folks at ESPN:
With that Raiders win, the 2014 NFL circle of parity is complete. pic.twitter.com/gLVNd4SdVW
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) November 21, 2014
So, if you’ve ever needed proof why the “X beat Y, who beat Z, therefore X should beat Z” logic hardly ever works, see above.
And so, the 2014 Oakland Raiders finally have their first win, and the 2008 Detroit Lions can pop the corks on their champagne bottles………or perhaps not. As for the future, Carr has done about as well as can be expected as a rookie in the highest-profile position on a bad team, and this game-winning drive in a nationally-televised game will do wonders for his development and confidence going forward. Oakland would do well to trade down their (anticipated) early pick in the 2015 draft to get multiple picks back and shore up their lines on both sides of the ball. If they were to end up with the #1 overall pick, all eyes will be on Marcus Mariotta, and Oakland has no need to draft another QB. What they have to do is protect the QB they have, and improve a defensive line to put pressure on the QBs they will face.
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