At lengthy final, soccer is lastly again in our lives. The NFL returned as they opened up the preseason with an exhibition between the Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars within the Hall of Fame sport in Canton, Ohio. With lots of the starters left on the bench for this head-to-head, it was predictably not a brilliant aggressive affair and the Raiders had been in a position to run away with a 27-11 victory.
Las Vegas scored on its first three possessions and had been in a position to get out to a snug lead as Jacksonville — who held out the majority of their notable offensive gamers together with quarterback Trevor Lawrence — was stagnant on that aspect of the ball. Raiders starter Jarrett Stidham completed with 96 yards passing whereas finishing 8 of his 15 throws. Meanwhile, Jake Luton, who received the beginning of the Jags, accomplished 10-of-17 for 94 yards.
Below, you may discover the important thing takeaways from our first preseason sport of the 12 months.
Why the Raiders gained
Give credit score to the hometown child, Josh McDaniels — the Raiders got here to play proper out of the gate. From the bounce, Las Vegas appeared dialed-in offensively, even with key starters like Derek Carr, Davante Adams, and Darren Waller not taking part in. Jarrett Stidham received the nod to begin the sport underneath heart and led two subject objective drives on the Raiders’ opening two possessions. Those drives had been headlined by the sturdy play of operating again Josh Jacobs, who constantly moved the chains throughout the time he was on the sphere. He rushed for 30 yards on simply 5 carries and caught each of his targets for 14 yards. That success on the offensive aspect of the ball continued all through the primary half the place Las Vegas would go on a 20-0 run to actually draw back.
Defensively, the Raiders had been going up in opposition to backups, however that also does not imply it wasn’t a robust effort by them. In the primary half, Las Vegas’ protection pressured three punts, a fumble, and watched as Jacksonville missed a 60-yard subject objective. That stout defensive play continued for the majority of the second half, exterior of a rubbish time landing within the fourth quarter.
Why the Jaguars misplaced
Of course, the shortage of success offensively does include a grain of salt because the Jaguars did not have any of their heavy-hitters taking part in on this sport. However, Jake Luton did not precisely do himself many favors in attempting to safe a roster spot. The offense struggled to maneuver down the sphere whereas he was underneath heart and had been unable to place any factors on the scoreboard. Even although there was a missed subject objective sprinkled in when Luton was taking part in, it wasn’t prefer it was a gimme kick by any measure because it got here from 60 yards out, so he did not precisely put his workforce in the very best place to succeed. The solely time the offense was in a position to put up factors was when former USFL star Kyle Sloter was in.
Meanwhile, it was a bit regarding to see their protection get pushed round early with a few of their beginning rotation alongside the entrance seven, particularly on the bottom. In the primary half, the Raiders ran for 95 yards on a 4.5 yards per carry common and two touchdowns. For the sport, the Jags gave up 159 yards and three touchdowns on the bottom. That’ll want to enhance as they transfer ahead this preseason.
Turning level
As we rocketed in direction of halftime, the Raiders had already established a 13-point lead. With the Jaguars getting the ball again to start the second half and down by lower than two scores, nevertheless, it was conceivable that they may make a comeback. But, Jarrett Stidham did his half to slam the door shut early on this one. With simply over 90 seconds to play within the half, Stidham took a third-and-8 snap, rolled out proper, and used his legs to hurry for a 12-yard landing. That rating put the Raiders up by 20, which primarily eradicated any chance of Jacksonville making this a ballgame.
Play of the sport
I imply, now we have to present this to the primary landing of the brand new 12 months, proper? With 13:36 remaining within the first half, Raiders operating again Ameer Abdullah took a first-and-goal carry eight yards to scamper into the tip zone and cap off a 50-yard drive for Las Vegas. Abdullah completed his night time with that landing and 30 yards from scrimmage.
Not solely did we get that rating, however we additionally received our first landing celebration of 2022.
What’s subsequent
From right here, the Raiders will head again to Las Vegas and put together for his or her exhibition with the Minnesota Vikings, which can happen Aug. 14 at Allegiant Stadium. As for the Jaguars, they’re going to gear up for a house exhibition with the Cleveland Browns on Aug. 12 at TIAA Bank Field.
