Raiders receivers are having an unbelievable season, and not in a good way.
While Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree, Jared Cook, Cordarrelle Patterson and Seth Roberts have often come up with big, playmaking catches, the group also has had a bad case of the drops.
And on Sunday in Mexico City, those slippery fingers played a big role in the Raiders’ 33-8 loss to the defending Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots.
While Derek Carr didn’t have his finest day, completing 28-of-49 throws for 237 yards and one touchdown with an interception, he was the victim of at least six dropped passes, according to Matt Schneidman of the Bay Area News Group. He singled out Roberts, Crabtree and Johnny Holton for the mistakes. The only interception Carr threw, in fact, was batted by Holton to a Patriots defender on a deep route on which the pass looked catchable.
Roberts, meanwhile, also fumbled the ball away after making a catch at the New England 3-yard line just before halftime, spoiling a drive that could have cut the Patriots lead to 14-7 at the time.
Wrote Scheideman: “Carr’s receivers hardly helped the cause.”
After the loss, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio acknowledged the receivers’ problems Sunday, and that they were significant, when asked about the drops and other mistakes by the offense that killed drives.
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“So certainly, catching the ball, we had three drops early, hanging on to the ball near the goal line there, getting off on the third down, those are all areas where you have an opportunity,” Del Rio told reporters. “And what happens is the team that executes the best is going to go home happy. They executed way better than we did.”
The Raiders were coming off their bye week, and offensive coordinator Todd Downing had talked about working with the receivers over those extra days to eliminate drops. Cooper went into the game against the Patriots leading the league with 10 dropped passes, according to Pro Football Focus. Downing had said he was sure the receivers could eliminate the problem. He said that over the break, they had been making the balls slick and wet in practice to make them harder to catch, to get receivers to concentrate more.
“I trust those players are going to step up to the plate and do a better job on their next opportunity,” Downing had said.
But, it didn’t happen. Now the Raiders are 4-6 and tied with the Chargers in second place in the AFC West, behind the leading Chiefs, who are 6-4. The Raiders resume play this Sunday in Oakland against the Broncos.
