Tag Archives: Oakland Raiders

Khalil Mack Cover

Khalil Mack’s Dominant Preseason Performance versus the Cardinals

Sep 3, 2015
Samuel Gold

Khalil Mack continues his dominant performance from the 2014 season in last week’s preseason matchup versus the Cardinals. In this game, ProFootballFocus graded Mack at +10.7 overall with 2 sacks, 1 quarterback hit, and 5 quarterback hurries to go along with an excellent game in run stopping as well. Let’s take a look at some of his plays to see how he earned these incredible ratings in this breakdown.

Note: Khalil Mack is wearing #52 in the following GIFs.

Pass Rush

In his rookie year, Mack wasn’t especially known for his pass rushing prowess only collecting 4.0 sacks total. He definitely played better than his numbers indicated collecting a total of 54 quarterback pressures, but it was his versatile pass rushing moves that impressed me the most in this season’s preseason match.

In this first play, Mack (top of your screen) rushes from the 5-tech against starting left tackle #68 Jared Veldheer. After the snap, Mack attacks the outside shoulder of Veldheer initiating what is presumed to be a speed rush around the edge to turn Veldheer’s hips outwards.

After Mack pushes to the outside shoulder, he plants his right foot (outside foot) into the dirt and cuts back completely disengaging from the left tackle to penetrate into the backfield.… Article continues here

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HaydenFeature

A Breakdown of DJ Hayden’s Performance vs. the Vikings

Aug 27, 2015
Matt Fries

DJ Hayden was drafted #12 overall by the Oakland Raiders in the 2013 NFL Draft. He has an amazing recovery story attached to his career, as he suffered a tear of his inferior vena cava during what seemed to be a routine collision at practice his senior year of college. That injury has about a 95% fatality rate, but Hayden miraculously survived and was able to recover in time to make Houston’s Pro Day. Coming out of school, Hayden was considered slightly undersized but excellent in man coverage. However, his play at the NFL level hasn’t lived up to his draft status. Hayden was the 2nd CB off the board, after Dee Milliner, but he was also taken before Desmond Trufant and Xavier Rhodes, who have turned out to be blossoming stars at the position. Heading into his third year, Hayden will need to show improvement in his game to validate his draft spot. In the game against the Vikings, he showed a number of areas where he still needs work.

To begin, I’d like to offer a few caveats to my analysis of Hayden. First of all, the NFL doesn’t release the All-22 tape of preseason games. This is really frustrating, particularly when you’re trying to watch CBs or WRs, because half of plays those guys don’t even stay on the screen.… Article continues here

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Feature

Rookie Review: Comparing the TDs and Turnovers in 2014 of Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Derek Carr

Jul 29, 2015
Matt Fries

A while ago I finished a series of articles on Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Derek Carr where I look at each touchdown and interception the three rookie QBs threw in 2014. This article is to wrap-up those posts, and give a bit of a comparison between the three rookies. If you missed one of those articles or just want a refresher, they are below:

  • Derek Carr’s 21 passing TDs in 2014.
  • Teddy Bridgewater’s 14 TD passes and one rushing TD.
  • Blake Bortles’ 11 TD passes.
  • Teddy Brigewater’s 12 turnovers.
  • Derek Carr’s 16 turnovers.
  • Blake Bortles’s 18 turnovers.

    • Before I begin the post in earnest, I’d like to offer a disclaimer. The analysis I’m making in these posts is based off of a subset of plays that doesn’t even represent a tenth of each rookie’s attempts in 2014. While I believe that looking at TDs and Turnovers can give you a view into some of the things each player does well and some of the things each player needs to work on, I don’t believe it gives you a complete view of each QB. I’m going to try not to make any sweeping generalizations in this post. I will be comparing the players within each category, but I’ll try not to make any overarching statements.… Article continues here

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    Feature

    Derek Carr’s 16 Turnovers in 2014

    Jul 6, 2015
    Matt Fries

    Over my next few articles, I’m going to be covering the biggest positives (touchdowns) and negatives (turnovers) from the young QBs in 2014. This article will cover Derek Carr’s 12 interceptions in 2014, plus the ten times he put the ball on the ground. First, I’m going to cover some charting data I came up with while watching his passing. Then, on page 2 and beyond, there are my thoughts on the individual plays themselves. You should note that while the section covering each individual play includes the fumbles, the charting data does not.

    Here are the articles so far:

  • Derek Carr’s 21 passing TDs in 2014.
  • Teddy Bridgewater’s 14 TD passes and one rushing TD.
  • Blake Bortles’ 11 TD passes.
  • Blake Bortles’ 11 TD passes.

    • One of the first things I charted for each interception was blame. I assigned three categories, which should be self-explanatory:

    Blame

    QB’s Fault 8
    Partially QB’s fault 3
    Not QB’s fault 1

     

    By my count, 3/4ths of Derek Carr’s interceptions were his fault. There was one that I don’t blame him at all for, because a catchable pass bounced off of his receiver’s hands. There were a couple that were only kind of his fault, but most of the interceptions he threw were his fault.… Article continues here

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    Feature

    Derek Carr’s 21 TDs in 2014

    May 19, 2015
    Matt Fries

    While he was the third QB drafted in 2014, Derek Carr was the first to start. He started all 16 games for the Raiders in 2014 and led a very bad team to three wins. While he wasn’t the most efficient, there were quite a few positives to take away from his play and many people are hopeful that he can turn into the franchise QB the Raiders have been missing for a long time.

    Over my next few articles, I’m going to be covering the biggest positives (touchdowns) and negatives (turnovers) from the young QBs in 2014. Derek Carr leads off with his 21 passing TDs in 2014 (he didn’t have any rushing TDs). First, I’m going to cover some charting data I came up with while watching his passing. Then, on page 2 and beyond, there are my thoughts of the individual plays themselves.

    Here’s data on the yardage from Carr’s TDs:

    Yardage Breakdown

    Yards 257 Average 12.2
    Yards after catch 123 Average 5.9
    Yards in Air 134 Average 6.4
    Yards in Air+ 200 Average 9.5

     

    The difference between “Yards in Air” and “Yards in Air+” is that I give credit for yards in the endzone in “Yards in Air+.” So, if the line of scrimmage is the 2 and he throws a TD pass that’s caught 7 yards into the endzone, the YIA for that play is 2 while the YIA+ is 9.… Article continues here

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