Raiders Insider Podcast Scouting Report on Bills
In our latest episode of the Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast, we give you the latest insider information from the Silver and Black. Don't miss this.
Transcript
00:00 - Hi everybody, this is Hondo Carpenter
00:04 from Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation,
00:06 Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast.
00:08 Very excited to be with you today.
00:11 Joined by my assistant beat writer, Zeke Trezevant.
00:15 Zeke's back in Vegas, I'm with the team
00:16 here in West Virginia today.
00:18 It's in the Greenbrier, it's great to be here.
00:21 Zeke, it's been quite a week here.
00:25 A lot going on with the team.
00:27 I'm gonna ask you point blank.
00:29 I feel better about the Raiders' chance at a win here
00:34 than I did when the season started before the Buffalo,
00:38 I mean the Bronco game.
00:40 It's certainly an uphill battle.
00:44 We know what Coach Shula said,
00:46 anytime you win in the NFL on the road, it's a steal.
00:50 But this is a Bills team that I think,
00:52 even with the Raiders coming,
00:54 are better as of right now at this moment,
00:56 and it's at home in Buffalo.
00:58 It's a tall task.
01:00 Give me your thoughts about this game,
01:02 just the task at hand, not your prediction, the task.
01:06 - Yeah, it's definitely a tall task,
01:07 no matter how you slice it up.
01:08 I mean, it's a tough task to go into Buffalo
01:10 and win that game.
01:11 I mean, if for no other reason,
01:13 just it's so far away logistically,
01:16 then you add it to the fact, you know,
01:17 the football team actually that's on the field
01:19 that the Bills present.
01:21 Then you also look at the fact that the Bills
01:23 just lost a very disappointing game to the Jets
01:27 not too long ago.
01:27 So I think all of those things add to a very tough game
01:30 for the Raiders for a lot of different aspects,
01:33 but it's not impossible for them to win.
01:37 - No, not at all.
01:38 And this is not like, you know, again,
01:41 it's not a game that's far reaching
01:44 or even an impossibility in the least,
01:46 but we're not trying to make it sound like that at all.
01:48 Let's talk about that physicality
01:50 of the Raiders offensive line.
01:52 It was evident.
01:54 It was very, very evident.
01:57 And I talked with Jimmy Garoppolo about it yesterday.
01:59 People can go back and watch that video
02:01 where he talked about, he could hear it.
02:03 You know, he obviously couldn't see it.
02:06 His eyes were down field, but he could hear it.
02:08 I talked with Greg Van Roten today in the locker room
02:10 about it.
02:11 We'll have those videos up later.
02:12 Where he was just talking about, you know,
02:14 it was extremely physical.
02:15 Andre James and I talked about a lot of them
02:17 when I talked about it.
02:18 This Raider team, we saw it all in camp.
02:21 I was standing next to you the first day in pads
02:25 when Josh McDaniels had them tackling hard to the ground.
02:29 I'm just, they wanted a physical team and they got it.
02:32 This is old school Raider football.
02:34 - 100%.
02:35 And if you remember correctly,
02:36 that was the very first day of pads,
02:38 they were attacking to the ground.
02:39 And that's not really all that common in the NFL.
02:42 And like you said, you know,
02:43 - Wait a minute, it's not all that common at any level.
02:46 I've never seen it before in high school.
02:48 I used to do high school football games for 10 years.
02:51 You know, the weekly, why I covered college,
02:54 the big power five and the NFL,
02:56 never seen it ever on the first day.
02:59 - Yeah, and it set the tone, you know,
03:01 it set the tone for the whole season
03:02 and kind of, you know,
03:03 how the Raiders wanted to approach the season.
03:05 So I think one thing, you know,
03:06 alluding to what you said about when you spoke to Jimmy,
03:09 Jimmy also said that he could feel the physicality
03:12 of the offensive line, right?
03:13 He said he could feel it.
03:14 And you know, that says a lot, you know,
03:16 'cause you gotta understand, obviously, you know,
03:18 the offensive line is keeping the quarterback clean, right?
03:20 So for him to be able to feel it
03:22 and not even be right there close to the line,
03:24 that says a lot.
03:24 And if he could feel it as the quarterback,
03:26 I'm sure the defensive line felt it as well
03:29 for the Broncos.
03:29 - Let's talk about the Raiders on offense.
03:34 If they're gonna win this game,
03:36 they're gonna have to attack the edge and the linebackers.
03:39 So that first seven to 10 yards
03:42 is gonna be the absolute most important.
03:44 And man, when you're talking about short distance
03:47 in the running game,
03:48 you're talking about the offensive line.
03:51 Now Thayer Mumford is a guy
03:53 that played the jumbo tight end last week
03:55 and played it very well.
03:57 So if you're trying to get stuff on the edge,
03:59 you're gonna need him, Austin Hooper, and Michael Mayer.
04:01 I know that, you know, Hoop had a couple of big catches.
04:04 I know that Mayer, you know,
04:06 did not do all that he wanted to do catch-wise, obviously,
04:10 but he was physical at the point of attack.
04:13 Those tight ends, those tackles,
04:14 it's gonna be huge on the edge, is it not?
04:18 - Yeah, 100%.
04:19 The running game and the short passing game specifically,
04:22 those are gonna be the Raiders' best friends
04:24 going into Buffalo.
04:25 They have to ride those until the wheels fall off.
04:28 And then, assuming Mayer's plays
04:31 and obviously Devontae, he plays,
04:33 that's when you start to kind of hit the longer passes
04:36 when the time comes.
04:37 But it's gonna be pivotal that they lean on their strengths
04:41 in terms of running the ball in the short passing game
04:43 to get them some scores up in Buffalo,
04:45 because the team is gonna go as the offense goes.
04:48 So they're gonna have to score some points.
04:49 If, and if they don't score points,
04:51 at least have the drives go longer
04:53 so you can keep that Bill's offense off the field.
04:56 - Yeah, and I think if you're a Raider fan
04:59 and you're looking for encouragement,
05:00 look at that last drive in the Broncos.
05:02 The place was going crazy.
05:05 And they knew they just had to get the ball back
05:07 and bam, the Raiders just ran it right down their face.
05:10 Again, I said earlier in the week,
05:14 right after the game against the Broncos and Monday,
05:16 that I was hearing people thought Jacoby
05:18 would be available.
05:20 Now I'm hearing that they don't,
05:22 they're not betting on it.
05:23 They're not convinced, don't necessarily believe that.
05:25 But man, how, we talked about the depth
05:28 of this Raider receiving core.
05:29 Here comes all pro Hunter, Hunter Biden, sorry,
05:33 Hunter Renfro, who jumps right in
05:36 and that's not a bad combination,
05:39 Devontae Adams and a Hunter Renfro
05:41 if Jacoby's not able to go.
05:43 - 100% and that depth being there at the receiver,
05:45 in the receiving room is a great thing,
05:47 especially right now when it comes to the injury.
05:49 So this is gonna give Hunter his chance
05:51 to kind of get back in the swing of things.
05:54 No, I don't believe there's any catches for Hunter last week.
05:57 No, no targets for him. - None.
05:59 - None. - Yeah, no targets as well.
06:00 So this is gonna give him that chance
06:01 to kind of get back into doing what he does
06:04 and getting some nice catches.
06:05 So I guess maybe resting Myers will be
06:08 probably what's best long-term
06:10 because he is a huge part of the offense as we saw.
06:14 But again, they're deep at receiver.
06:15 So I think they'll be fine.
06:18 - And I think another big one is,
06:20 JJ, Josh Jacobs is so good at bouncing,
06:24 just deciding where he wants to go and going.
06:27 I was talking with Andre James about that today,
06:29 the center in the locker room.
06:31 And to me, I think a big key with him is
06:33 he doesn't have to have 100 yards,
06:35 but you wanna see him up north of 80.
06:37 You wanna see him up there making some guys,
06:40 getting more reps.
06:43 To me, Josh Jacobs is gonna have to be a workhorse.
06:45 He doesn't have to do it all,
06:47 but he's gotta be a workhorse on Sunday
06:49 for the Raiders to win, your thoughts?
06:50 - He is the X-Factor for the team.
06:52 If he can either get some long runs going,
06:55 or again, catch the ball out of the backfield
06:57 and break some tackles,
06:57 he's gonna have to break some tackles.
06:59 That's really what it comes down to
07:00 and get some yards after contact.
07:02 If he does that at a high rate, like he generally does,
07:05 they're gonna do well, I really think so.
07:07 But he is pivotal.
07:08 There's no way Josh Jacobs can have a subpar game
07:11 and they win on Sunday, it's not possible.
07:13 - I'm gonna give you another name
07:15 that we'll talk about next week,
07:17 but another name that if the Raiders win this,
07:19 I think is gonna be key,
07:20 and this may surprise you, DeAndre Carter.
07:23 That's a guy with a lot of speed.
07:25 He's very elusive.
07:27 To me, that's a guy,
07:28 if you're gonna be attacking the edges,
07:31 if you're gonna be attacking some boundaries,
07:34 if you're gonna be attacking the flats,
07:35 DeAndre Carter's a name you gotta remember,
07:37 and potentially Trey Tucker.
07:40 - And that's actually what I was gonna ask you,
07:41 was how is Tucker looking?
07:43 Because obviously with Myers going down,
07:47 obviously Renfro steps up as well,
07:48 but Tucker is the prime name that you're thinking,
07:51 hey, if there's somebody that steps up,
07:53 it's gotta be him, right?
07:53 What's your thoughts?
07:55 - And today I was watching him work the jugs machine,
07:59 and he was working at full speed on the jugs,
08:01 which for people that don't know what that is,
08:03 it's a machine you put the football into
08:05 and it shoots it at you.
08:07 He was at full speed at 10 yards.
08:10 Bam, bam, bam.
08:13 It was fun.
08:14 I was standing there with, I think it was,
08:16 well, I don't remember who it was.
08:20 For some reason, I think it was,
08:21 I thought it was,
08:22 it may have been Adam Hill
08:23 from the Las Vegas Review Journal.
08:25 And bam, just watching him catch those balls
08:28 at short distance.
08:29 Yeah, but I think DeAndre's a name
08:31 that we could be potentially talking about.
08:34 If the Raiders were to get an upset on Sunday,
08:38 Trey Tucker is another name.
08:39 I don't think we'd necessarily be talking about him
08:41 as a main cog, but certainly having a big part.
08:44 Let's flip the script over to the defense.
08:46 Pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure.
08:48 Since Josh Allen has lost Brian Dayball
08:52 to go be the head coach of the Giants, he's struggling.
08:55 He's had a lot of turnovers.
08:57 He's forcing the ball.
08:58 All of last year he did it.
08:59 He did it in the first game.
09:01 And it's hard to complete a pass
09:02 when you're laying on your ass
09:03 and you want to see Josh Allen under pressure.
09:07 - Gotta make him uncomfortable.
09:09 You have to make him uncomfortable
09:10 because obviously you can't let a quarterback
09:13 of his stature not be uncomfortable.
09:15 And then obviously, like you said,
09:16 he's turning the ball over at a high rate.
09:18 Led all quarterbacks last season with 19 turnovers.
09:21 And then again, obviously this past Monday,
09:23 that was another four turnovers right there.
09:25 So make him uncomfortable and some good things will happen.
09:29 And if you're looking for a team
09:31 to get some turnovers against,
09:32 it's definitely got to be the Bills right now.
09:36 - Yep, agree with you.
09:37 Now let's talk about a couple of other things
09:40 that I don't think is getting enough conversation.
09:42 Marcus Peters, Jacorian Bennett, Nate Hobbs.
09:46 They're nickel, that's their three corners.
09:49 And those guys, they're going to be on an island.
09:53 And the more, the better they play,
09:55 the more guys in the box.
09:57 So let me explain to people at home
09:58 who don't understand that.
09:59 The box is between the tackle shoulders,
10:04 or tight ends, outside shoulders,
10:05 if there's tight ends that are up against the tackle.
10:08 And it's five yards to where the linebacker,
10:11 the middle linebacker's feet rests,
10:13 and five yards to where the quarterback,
10:15 if he was in a shotgun,
10:16 or the feet of the running back are, that's a box.
10:18 And if you're able to go one-on-one,
10:21 so there's three receivers,
10:22 and you're not worried about double-coveraging anybody,
10:25 you've got more guys in the box,
10:27 thus the ability to get more pass rush,
10:29 and the ability to stop the run.
10:31 How big are those three corners in one-on-one coverage?
10:35 - They're huge, all three of them.
10:36 And they actually kind of speak
10:37 to just how well thought out this roster was,
10:40 by Ziegler, by McDaniels and company.
10:43 Because again, Nate Hobbs, you can leave Nate Hobbs,
10:45 you can leave Peters,
10:46 you can leave all three of those guys by themselves.
10:48 And then another tidbit you do is,
10:49 you throw Devine Diablo in there,
10:51 who's again, basically like another defensive back in there,
10:54 and it allows you to do so many different things,
10:56 where you don't have to worry about sending an extra guy
10:59 or two to defend certain areas of the field.
11:01 So the fact that the defensive coordinators can just say,
11:03 you know what, we know that, hey,
11:05 those islands are taken care of,
11:06 and we can go play football underneath, it's huge.
11:09 It has completely changed their defense
11:10 in ways that people may not understand.
11:12 It takes away a lot of what the offense can call,
11:15 when they know, hey,
11:16 we can't throw the ball this way or that way,
11:18 we can only throw it here or there.
11:20 There's a lot to be excited about the defense,
11:22 and it was pretty cool to see them come together on Sunday.
11:25 - And I thought Marcus Epps, again, we said all off season,
11:29 you're not gonna see a ton of stats,
11:34 but man, he had guys in places,
11:36 if you watched him, he was moving them around,
11:38 he'll be back there quarterbacking those corners,
11:40 they're gonna be just fine.
11:42 Let's talk about Divine Diablo,
11:43 who I thought had a terrific football game.
11:46 His tackling in space was really good,
11:48 I think there's much more,
11:50 and he's got a much bigger upside,
11:51 I'm not saying that he's a completed project,
11:54 but I thought Divine Diablo played very well.
11:57 - Man, he was somebody I was keeping an eye on,
11:59 he was somebody that I'm like,
12:00 hey, you have to go have a good game,
12:01 because all eyes have kind of been on him,
12:04 this off season in terms of just how important he is
12:06 to that linebacker group,
12:07 and he showed up on Sunday,
12:09 had a very high grade in terms of PFF,
12:11 in terms of coverage, I think it was a 80 or 90,
12:13 if I'm not mistaken, grade,
12:16 and then again, he just played very well across the board,
12:18 stopping the short passes,
12:20 played well in coverage whenever he did drop back,
12:22 he actually had a really important batted down pass
12:25 as the Broncos were going in the score,
12:28 so he showed his value, and like you said,
12:30 there's even more growth to be had,
12:32 I think if he puts on a little bit more weight
12:34 and still keeps that speed even more so,
12:37 he's probably the best linebacker they have.
12:39 - Yeah, a lot of fun there,
12:41 and then let's talk special teams,
12:42 I was with Daniel Carlson today,
12:44 he's clearly emerged as the best kicker in the NFL,
12:47 and he's just ice in his veins, Carlson,
12:50 he's been phenomenal,
12:52 this is a game where the Raiders are gonna need points,
12:55 this isn't gonna be a 17-16 game,
12:58 it isn't gonna be a 17-14 game,
13:01 nothing wrong with field goals,
13:02 I think they're gonna get some field goals, hear me,
13:06 you know, I wouldn't be shocked
13:07 if they had two or three field goals,
13:09 but they're gonna also have to get some touchdowns,
13:12 but to me, every point's gonna be valuable,
13:15 and when you're in that position,
13:17 who better to have than Daniel Carlson,
13:18 and then A.J. Cole, reciprocally punting.
13:22 - Yeah, and you know, one is there to flip the field,
13:25 and one is there to, like you said,
13:26 help you get those points
13:27 when maybe you can't get the seven,
13:29 so special teams, like they always say,
13:31 special teams have to be special.
13:33 All three phases of the game are important,
13:35 so like you said, you got one of the best punters,
13:38 one of the best kickers in the league,
13:40 it helps tremendously.
13:41 - All right, let's kick it off now,
13:44 we're down now to the brass tacks.
13:46 You know this, I have 10 areas in which I grade a game
13:52 for who I think's gonna win it,
13:54 and I have a lot of offensive line, defensive line,
13:57 who's at home, all of that kind of stuff,
14:00 talent, all of it.
14:01 Coming into this game, I had 7.5 to 2.5,
14:06 remember that's not points,
14:08 it's just points on my judgment scale,
14:11 that Buffalo would win this game.
14:12 I still think Buffalo's better,
14:14 I don't think Buffalo's gonna play as poorly
14:16 as they did in the last game,
14:17 this is their home opener,
14:19 a lot of emotion, DeMar Hamlin,
14:21 it's just gonna be a night,
14:24 but I also think that it's not as
14:29 anywhere close to a 7.5 game.
14:31 I've got this as a 6.4 game,
14:34 with the push being the Bills at home,
14:37 so if they were to play this game 100 times,
14:39 I think the Bills would win 60,
14:42 so that's not an upset by any stretch of the imagination,
14:45 but I'm gonna ride with the Bills 24-23,
14:48 I think it's super close,
14:53 the line started at 9.5, it's down to 8.5,
14:56 and again 24-23 I'm riding with the Bills,
15:00 an upset would not surprise me,
15:02 a loss here is really no big deal,
15:04 I still think they go 9-8,
15:06 and losing on the road to a very good team,
15:09 whether it's by one point or 10 point is irrelevant,
15:12 I still think this is a Raider team that's improving,
15:15 and that's right on my track,
15:17 'cause it's an expected loss,
15:19 your thoughts Zeke, come on I've got my magic pen, let's go.
15:22 - Yeah so listen, so we talked very briefly
15:25 about this earlier, but my guess was,
15:27 my prediction was, Bills score 21-14,
15:30 now I think the Raiders can win the game,
15:33 I really do think the potential is there,
15:35 but there's just so many different things
15:38 that I think weigh against them,
15:41 and like you said, it could lose this game,
15:42 they're already kind of playing with house money
15:43 a little bit with a divisional win against the Broncos,
15:46 and then another divisional game against the Chargers
15:47 here coming up in a week or two,
15:49 so they could easily win that second game
15:51 against the Chargers and be what,
15:52 two and one, three and one, and be a top of the division,
15:55 so I think here their most important thing
15:58 is to go have a good showing, try to get better,
16:00 but I have them losing, now I do think it's gonna be
16:03 a closer game than my 21-14 prediction,
16:06 I sent that in to you yesterday,
16:07 and I've been thinking about it since,
16:09 but I think officially I'll go 21-14,
16:11 I would not be surprised to see the Raiders win,
16:14 but I've got Bills going with the W here.
16:17 - Yeah a win would not surprise me either,
16:18 but our job's not to be fans,
16:20 it's to look at it analytically,
16:21 and if they played 100 times I think the Bills win 60,
16:24 so I'm gonna give them the edge.
16:26 Gonna be a good one, thanks.
16:27 I'm Hondo Carpenter from Sports Illustrated's
16:29 Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast,
16:31 that's Ezekiel Trezevant, he's our assistant beat writer,
16:35 also from our Sports Illustrated's
16:37 Fan Nation Las Vegas Raiders,
16:39 great to have y'all with us, thanks for joining us,
16:41 we'll see ya, game day's coming baby.