The Raiders were better with Joseph on the field, and he certainly helped an improved defensive effort in Sunday’s 17-10 victory over the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. That’s why I kept saying what I was saying. The 6-foot-3 running back took a handoff and juked safety Rashad Johnson to break free and go 22 yards for the touchdown to give Oakland a 7-3 lead. “It’s hard to complete balls against them”. “I think we all did”, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio said.
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Bad drops: The Raiders had several dropped passes in this game, but none came at a worse time than Amari Cooper’s. A flawless example of Raider “smarts” was Reggie Nelson’s pick at the end of the first half: He intercepted the rock with about eight seconds remaining, in Titan territory and within range for Janikowski, yet he didn’t run out of bounds.
Watson injured his groin against the New Orleans Saints in Week 1 and sat out the team’s Week 2 matchup with the Atlanta Falcons because of that ailment.
Titans coach Mike Mularkey said he needed to watch the tape on some of the plays. Lewan was flagged for unnecessary roughness, pushing the Titans back from a first-and-goal situation at the Raiders’ 3-yard line to a first-and-10 at the 18.
MARIOTA’S TURNOVERS: Mariota turned the ball over three times, and the No. 2 pick overall in the 2015 draft now has lost three fumbles with four interceptions already this season.
“Everybody but the officials”, Mularkey said. Unfortunately, the referees deemed Johnson’s openness to offensive pass interference, negating the touchdown.
Train gets rolling: The Raiders talked about the need to start faster on offense and delivered with a touchdown on the opening drive.
After Mariota’s 11-yard pass to DeMarco Murray pushed the ball back to the 12, Tennessee used its last timeout to set up its final play.
A 25-yard pass from Carr to Cooper to start the game kicked things off, and a few plays later, Latavius Murray took a run to the house. The capper was a thing of beauty when Carr hit Seth Roberts on a short out route and Roberts blazed past Brice McCain for a 19-yard touchdown. He finished as the Raiders’ leading tackler with 10 combined tackles (six solo). His field goal came after a holding penalty wiped out a TD pass by Carr. The Titans moved the ball easily when it mattered most, but the Raiders kept them out of the end zone and sealed the win. The offense didn’t get rolling until late in the game once the Titans began to run plays with more tempo.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After two figurative meltdowns in the first two weeks of the season, the Oakland Raiders were in danger of a literal meltdown Sunday in Music City.
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He also ran for 114 yards on 16 carries to become the first running back to reach 100 yards in a game since the 2013 season finale.
