The Raiders kept rolling Sunday, outscoring the Bills 29-0 over the final quarter and a half to get their sixth straight win.
Now at 10-2, Oakland is up by a game over the 9-3 Chiefs in the AFC West as they head toward a Thursday night showdown in Kansas City.
The headliner in Sunday’s victory over the Bills again was quarterback Derek Carr, who led his team to yet another come-from-behind win. But it was his blockers up front who made it all possible.
Carr wasn’t sacked once all day against Buffalo. In fact, he wasn’t even hit all day and he was pressured just four times.
The analytics website Pro Football Focus gave the Oakland offensive line a pass-blocking efficiency grade of 91.4 Sunday, the second-best mark in the NFL this past weekend.
“Carr was able to excel as a result,” wrote Pro Football Focus. Added PFF: “Carr is currently No. 5 in PFF’s season grades among QBs at 88.4, and the ability of the Raiders’ offensive line to keep him clean has played a big role in his success.”
Carr completed 19-of-35 passes for 260 yards and two TDs, with no picks. Those numbers should have been even better, however, because Jon Abbott of PFF noted that Raiders receivers had five drops.
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As Abbott wrote, in the rare times when Carr was pressured, his quarterback rating was 39.6. But when given time his rating was 113.2.
Left offensive tackle Donald Penn, center Rodney Hudson and left guard Kelechi Osemele received three of the five top grades given to Raiders offensive players by Pro Football Focus for the game.
“All of the Oakland offensive linemen finished with positive pass-protection grades,” wrote Abbott. “Carr did not see any pressure from his blind side, as Osemele and Penn were not charged with any pressures.”
Right tackle Austin Howard says the offensive line gets plenty of help in doing its job, which is to allow Carr to do his.
“Honestly, I’ve said this before, our running backs, they help us pass protect, our tight ends help us pass protect, and also Derek, he gets the ball out pretty quick,” Howard told a writer with the team’s website after Sunday’s game. “He makes very quick decisions, so all of this kind of works into how we were able to go out there and have success in terms of keeping him clean out there.”
Carr has been sacked just 12 times this season and just once over the past three games. But Thursday could be more challenging. When the Chiefs beat the Raiders 26-10 in October, Kansas City twice sacked Carr.
Kickoff for Thursday night’s game is set for 5:25 p.m.
