Why The Raiders Beating Jacksonville Isn't As Bad As You Think

Hello, hello Bleacher Report, hello YouTube if you're watching after the fact. Hello one and all. A very Merry Christmas to all those Raider fans out there who are feeling a certain type of way, positively or negatively because there are, believe it or not, both sides to this feeling of, well, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars and snapping a 10 game losing streak. I was gonna say winning streak. Losing streak. My name is Rodney, thank you so much for coming back and watching another live stream, post, or upload on YouTube. It's nice having a victory Monday says Donuts Duncan right off the bat. Oh, we'll get into it, we'll get into the vibes, we'll get into the chaos of it all, which I'm kind of enjoying a little bit. Like look, I'm a Raider fan and I understand why that win didn't help us at all. And I might have even been rooting for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but we will discuss all of it. You guys know the drill. If you're watching on Bleacher Report, comment away, we'll be reading those sporadically. If you're watching after the fact on YouTube, leave some comments on there. If you don't know, I do have a YouTube channel, it is All Aboard Raiders, you can see that the way it's spelled, bottom right. So going into this game yesterday, I was hyper aware, just like I'm sure all of you were, that this game is going to be of severe importance to our draft stock, right? Where would we be picking? First overall, sixth overall. And going into the game, look, I'm a human being, I have a brain in my head. I understand that losing the game would be better. And we're going to get into now where our draft position is and what are our options and make sure we're commenting away. When the game starts, I don't actively root for the Jaguars. When Mac Jones makes a bad play, I'm not like, come on, Mac, get the first down. I'm just kind of sitting there watching it. I'm not really rooting one way or another, I'm just taking it all in. And the more the game continued to progress, the more I started to realize fast that we were going to win this football game. And once it ended, I was extremely conflicted. Now, again, I understand the implications of winning this game. Would I have rather lost it? Probably, yes, I will admit that. But we're going to get into the history of people who do have the first overall pick, who do draft the quarterback. We're going to get into the history of where you're going to fall in the draft order two weeks before the season ends versus right now. And we're going to talk about if the people that we think are going to get drafted in specific spots are actually going to get drafted there, because there are mock drafts that came out today that might suggest that we don't have to panic. Now, I'm not here to be the eternal optimist, right? I'm here to tell you the facts. And I see the comments going very, very rapidly. So as I pull up the box score of this game, I'm going to look at some of the comments right now. We screwed up our chances of getting quarterback. No doubt about it. Raiders will always find a way to Raider. Dumbest win ever. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. Can't be mad. Jack's even worse than the Raiders. They have a quarterback. Yeah. Okay. So look, there's a lot of things to discuss. Let's try to break down this game the best we can, and then we'll get into the implications of everything that just happened. And Romero, I see that comment about who you were talking about drafting. We'll get to that in a second. In terms of the box score and the stats, it's pretty even across the board. We were way better on first downs, converting more first downs than they did, even though we could not get on the field to continue the drives on third down. We won the turnover battle, which is what I've been saying. This team, as it's currently constructed, is not good enough to win games if they don't win the turnover battle. And we had a lot more time of possession. Penalties were flying fast and furious in this game. I think there was four penalties, two on each team on back-to-back-to-back-to-back plays. Now look, this game, in terms of just watching this game and breaking it down, it was ugly. It was two not great football teams. I thought that the Jags would win this game only because I thought that their weapons would work better, would be more of a factor than ours. Unfortunately, they didn't know how to guard Brock Bowers. And if we pull up the stats here, we'll talk about Aiden in a second. Brock Bowers had 11 for 99, 9 a catch. I mean, that's phenomenal. We couldn't really run the ball all that well. Amir Abdul had some nice runs toward the end of the game, and Aiden O'Connell looked mobile. Now look, I'm not going to spend too much time on Aiden O'Connell. I'm just going to say this right off the bat. I thought he looked pretty good. I thought he was a lot more mobile than we've seen him in the past. He didn't put the ball in harm's way. Yes, we were playing Jacksonville, who's not very good, but he made some scramble plays that I didn't think he would be able to do. Now, I'm not going to continue this whole, should we bring Aiden back next year, should he start, blah, blah, blah, because it's just beating a dead horse at this point. You guys know where I stand on this. He should have started since week one. We probably have like seven or eight wins right now. He didn't start. It is what it is. He's clearly the best quarterback on this roster. That does not mean he's a franchise guy moving forward, although these last two games should be a little more interesting with him at the helm. As I get to this first poll, though, because yesterday, as we win the game, and there's not a lot to talk about with this game specifically, but as we win the game, people were upset. I would say justifiably so, because you go through a season where you lose so many games in a row just to have the sixth pick in a draft. It almost feels like, well, what even was this for? I would have rather had the 15th pick than the sixth pick, right? Wrong. However, that's how it's coming off in Raider Nation right now. As I put this poll out here, I want you to, this is a moment here to self-reflect, to take it all in, the stuff that you read this morning, listening to me break this game down so far, what is the vibe that you are feeling after the win on a Monday afternoon, okay? 3 p.m. Mountain, 5 p.m. Eastern. How are we feeling? Because I would say yesterday, I was pretty angry. I would say since then, I've cooled down a bit, and I think we're going to get into why I feel that way specifically, but in terms of how I feel, I think we're starting to mellow out because I don't think it's as bad as people are saying, especially because there's two more weeks to go, right? We still have time to lose more games. We don't know where people are going to get drafted in certain positions. It's still December, okay? We have to kind of let everything play out, and I saw a bunch of people telling me in my YouTube comments yesterday, the Jags and the Italians play tomorrow, or tomorrow, next week, this week coming. So no matter what the outcome of that game is, we will then be picking fifth, assuming we lose out. The problem is, the problem is, we should probably root for the Italians to win that game. The problem is, we play the Saints, who have no quarterback and no weapons, and if we just beat the Jacksonville Jaguars pretty handily, I know the score was close, but it was a pretty handled game by us. There's a world in which we handle the Saints, which is a potential problem, right? The Raiders are going to run out. Could you imagine that? We could still get the number two pick. Saints are favored to beat the Raiders by one or two points, which means that we're actually technically favored because you get three points automatically for being at home, which means that Jacksonville was in a way favored in this game because we were only favored by two and a half, which is interesting. No franchise QB equals more years of sucking. Okay, so let's talk about the franchise QB, the Shador Sanders of it all, right? Because I get why people are angry. We've ruined our draft stock with two games to go. I want you to think back two seasons ago, if you will. The Houston Texans and the Carolina Panthers were on a fast track, a boat race, to the number one overall pick. I couldn't even tell you who the quarterback of the Texans was that year. Oh, what's that guy's name? Davis Mills? Am I making that up? And then the Panthers are running out, Baker Mayfield, and I think Sam Darnold at one point. Fast tracking to the number one overall pick. And Lovie Smith, the coach of the Texans at the time, the last game of the season, one game they should not have won. It cost them the first overall pick in the first round. He was then fired. They brought in D'Amico Ryans, and the rest is history. The Carolina Panthers took Bryce Young. The Texans took CJ Stroud. We have no idea what would have happened if the Texans lost that last game, had the first overall pick. They might still tell you we would have taken CJ Stroud. We have no idea. Now, Bryce Young has been playing a lot better recently, ever since the benching and the Andy Dalton freak car accident. But my point is this. Every Houston Texan fan had to have been absolutely upset that they won that meaningless game to drop from one to two. And it ended up working out for them. They were able to get the better quarterback, which might have been a little lucky. Now, I know what you're thinking as I say this. Us falling from one to six is not falling from one to two because we can still get a quarterback. And this is where I pose this question to you, right? Because we have no idea what quarterbacks are going to be up or down in the draft. We think Cam Ward and Shador Sanders are going to be the first two picks, but we don't know that for sure. If I told you in December of last year that six quarterbacks would be taken in the first 12 draft selections, you would have called me crazy. People were saying that Bo Nix and Michael Penix were second round draft picks. It wasn't until the bowl games and the combine where they skyrocketed into the first round and now they both look like pretty good players. In my opinion, Michael Penix was the best quarterback coming out last year. He was the sixth quarterback taken. So with all that being said, digest it all. Let's pretend right now we have the sixth pick in the draft and Cam Ward and Shador Sanders are gone. Drew Aller has said he's not coming out. He's going to stay for a senior season, or I don't know if he said that. Somebody in the building said that. If he changes his mind, we could have a separate discussion because in my opinion, he might be the best quarterback coming out. He's definitely got the highest upside. But the third quarterback in this draft class is Jalen Milrow. So if we have the sixth pick in the draft and everyone on God's green earth is saying the Raiders need to take a quarterback, no matter what, would you take Jalen Milrow with the sixth pick in the draft? Now, if you're voting no, I want you to comment. Are you saying then we should trade back and draft Jalen Milrow? We should draft the best player available or we should trade up? So you'd rather give up multiple firsts to get Shador Sanders or Cam Ward rather than draft Jalen Milrow with the sixth pick in the draft. Now, my opinion on this is let's wait till the combine. I'm leaning no, I would not take him with the sixth pick in the draft. But if Tom Telesco, who has been a proven quarterback whisperer in terms of the NFL draft, he was in the room when Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck were drafted. He was very much involved in the Philip Rivers of it all in San Diego and he selected Justin Herbert, who was a great quarterback. I trust Tom Telesco to make the right pick here. Milrow has project written all over him. I don't think he's a first round pick either. That's the thing about this draft that's kind of unfortunate is that this is a weaker quarterback draft than it was last year. I've heard people say that Shador Sanders and Cam Ward would be the fifth or sixth quarterback taken last year. And ultimately, my point is this. If these quarterbacks aren't yet that great prospect wise, is there a chance that the teams drafting way up there aren't going to reach for them? Is there a chance that the price to trade up with the Patriots or with the Jags isn't going to be nearly as high as it would have been for us to go get Jaden Daniels the year before? As he drafted sixth and traded back into the first, I don't hate that. Dylan Gabriel is a much better passer than Milrow. There is the Dylan Gabriel of it all. There have been whispers that we like Dylan Gabriel. We also have Tom Brady to help out too. I want you to think about this as well. As I think about the combine, I think about how people skyrocket up the draft board. 2014, one of the better drafts we've had in a long time. Khalil Mack with the first pick that we had. And in the second round, it was Derek Carr. Two staples of the league for years to come. I had no earthly idea who Khalil Mack was until the end of the combine. If you would have told me in the middle of that season that we would have the fifth pick in that draft and we were going to take a defensive end out of Buffalo, I would have slapped you in the face. And then we're going to take the Fresno State kid. David Carr's brother. I would have been like, really? But Reggie McKenzie, good GM at the time, had a plan in place. We're going to take the best player available. We'll take our quarterback in the second round. And Derek Carr didn't end up being a franchise guy, but the peak of Derek Carr was pretty dang good for where he was selected in the second round. Got MVP votes, can't deny that. My point is this. It is December. We have no idea the type of player that's going to be there when we pick. And we also have no idea where we're going to be in this draft. There are still two games to go. Now, Aiden O'Connell is clearly leaps and bounds better than Desmond Ritter and Gardner Minshew. So if we win these next two games, we're going to be picking ninth or whatever. And that's another thing I'd like to touch upon before I get into the mock draft that I saw, and if we should sign a specific quarterback in the offseason. I completely lost my train of thought. I said, Aiden O'Connell is significantly better. We'd be picking ninth. Where was I going with that? I don't know. Let's move on. So as I close this poll here, close, close, I'm going to start a new one. Because there are some people that think we should draft Jalen Miller or something. We shouldn't, blah, blah, blah. Okay. And this is all contingent on if this guy's available, because the more he plays, the better he looks. Now, the problem is, I don't know if they're just going to let him go. But let's just have the conversation, because we've been talking about it for a while, and I want to see the vibe here. Oh, that's what I was going to say, which leads me to this. If we have the ninth pick in the draft, if we win next week, right? Oh, and that's what I was going to say. The problem this season specifically, and it's not the Raiders' fault, is that there are like six teams with three or worse wins. This has been one of the worst seasons in the NFL in terms of the bottom of the league. So four wins is going to get you like the 10th pick, which is unfortunate. It's very unlucky for anybody that's racing to the bottom. Should the Raiders go best player available and sign Sam Darnold? Now, the reason I pose this question is because the last time we had the first pick in the draft, I'll get to that donut in a second. The last time we had the first pick in the draft, it was 2008, we drafted Jermarcus Russell. We were coming off a season with, I think, Aaron Brooks as our quarterback. So everyone was like, well, the Raiders have to, have to, have to, have to, have to take the quarterback. They take Jermarcus Russell. The other quarterback that might have gone in the first round that year was Brady Quinn to the Cleveland Browns. Terrible quarterback draft blast. I've heard this one is not that good either. Might be better than that one. It is what it is. Lane Kiffin, the coach of the time for that team. There are whispers that Lane Kiffin wanted to draft the best player available in that draft. And do you know the name of that best player available that we passed up on to have a shot at getting the transcendent John Elway 2.0 Jermarcus Russell? Who was the best player available that Lane Kiffin wanted to draft in 2008, but we didn't because we took the franchise quarterback. You got it. Calvin Johnson. And he says, I wanted Calvin Johnson and Trent Edwards later on. Calvin Johnson was available for us to take with the first overall pick, one of the best wide receivers ever to grace the football field. And instead we went to Jermarcus Russell because we had to take a quarterback. We had to, we had to, we had to. And instead of trading for a veteran or drafting someone maybe in the second round or signing someone at free agency, getting Calvin Johnson, maybe not being great another year, but then going to draft the quarterback in the next draft, we bent the knee and we took the quarterback. Now I'm not comparing Shador Sanders or Cam Moore to Jermarcus Russell, but that again, this is not emotion. These are facts. That's what happened. And I just want to, to, to have a word of caution here. It is very, very dangerous to be dead set on drafting a quarterback and being wrong, especially when there could be generational talent to be had like a Travis Hunter or the wide out from Arizona state. You will set your franchise back five plus years. If you get the quarterback wrong, that's why I posed the question. Do we go all in on Sam Darnold draft, the wide receiver from Arizona state. So now our weapons are Brock Bowers, McMillan, Jacoby Myers, sign Najee Harris in the off season, sign Sam Darnold. Now I saw the concern here. Who said it? Who said it? Who said it? Donuts Duncan. I believe Sam Darnold is only good because of the system. Well, guess what? I have the solution and his name is Josh McCown. Josh McCown is the quarterback coach of the Minnesota Vikings. He knows the Kevin O'Connell system like the back of his hand. He's been coaching Sam Darnold to the best season of his career. And there are rumors that Scott Turner might go to North Carolina with Bill Belichick if we don't retain him or even if we want to retain him. So whether or not we keep AP doesn't matter. Josh McCown, the quarterback coach of the team that Sam Darnold is currently playing for can now come over and be promoted to our offensive coordinator and run the same exact system that they were running in Minnesota. And you would say to me, well, Sam Darnold has elite talent over there in Justin Jefferson. You ever heard of Brock Bowers? Well, they have a great number two wide receiver. No doubt about it. We have a decent one in Jacoby Myers. We could also draft someone. There are solutions out there to help us win games immediately. If we do not have the position to draft a quarterback in this draft or if Telesco scouts and goes, we're going to wait for Duraler next year. That could be a plan to be had. I know all you guys voted before that. Maybe I've convinced some of you. I've seen some people in there saying good call. Sounds dope. I'd be happy with Abdul Carter. He's a stud. He's our stud. Momo and saying that Liam Cohen should be the next head coach. I don't hate that either. I don't hate that either. Now all that to say, we've been complaining about losing or winning the game. Oh, poverty franchise. Mark Davis should be tried in federal court for what he did to Raider fans. I just want to show you guys something that I saw when I woke up this morning on Christmas Eve Eve, which is a mock draft. I see Wavy Twin says, I can feel you should or Sanders is going to be that six in my opinion. It's so funny that you say that because if we pull up two separate CBS mock drafts posted this morning, the one on the left has us trading from six to three to draft Shador Sanders on the left. There you see the other one has him falling to six. And what I'm seeing on the right side here is not out of the realm of possibility to happen. Especially if Shador Sanders says I'm not playing for Tennessee or Cleveland, which there are rumors that he wants to force his way to a specific team. Donald is looking for a crazy contract. Oh, it's too risky. Well, look, we have all the money in the world. What if I told you he would get his 10 wins next year? Sam Darnold is leading the team right now. That might be the one seat in the NFC in the prime of his career. It's rare that these people at the market. But anyway, back to this right here. Obviously, we would rather not trade up, right? That means we have to trade draft capital. If he falls to six, that would be awesome. But for the people that would be upset that we were going to trade up, does it even matter? If you get your franchise quarterback, all right, trade up to go get him. If he, if Shador Sanders is the guy, it doesn't matter who we trade up. Look at Jaden Daniels now. If I said we would have to trade six first round picks to get him, you guys would all be like, yes, where do I sign up? So the fact that we might have to trade up to get this guy ultimately does not matter. It does not matter. So I just wanted to show you guys that post this win, two people on CBS Sports still have us landing the quarterback that everybody wants. Now I'm not completely sold on Shador Sanders like everybody else. I do think this quarterback class is a little bit weaker. Again, Drew Aller was my guy. He has the highest upside of all of them. And if he's not coming out, then I might go best player available and draft Darnold or draft Darnold, sign Darnold. The doomsday, quote unquote, scenario is Sam Darnold gets franchise tagged or re-signs with the Vikings. We're picking six and three quarterbacks go before six, which means we're going to have to go best player available, maybe run it back with Aiden, trade for somebody. I don't know if Matthew Stafford is going to be available at the end of the season, draft a Jackson Dart in the second round or a Dylan Gabriel. That's doomsday scenario. Aiden has showed me that he can be competitive. Obviously right now he doesn't look like a franchise guy, but he looks like a fringe starter, right? And he's also hasn't played a full 17 games. So that is the potential doomsday scenario. But all that to say, and look, I was as angry as everybody else was yesterday, but sometimes you just have to like take a step back and realize, number one, we have no idea where we're going to be picking. There are still two games to go with a lot of games yet to be played, right? If we weren't supposed to win that game yesterday, the Giants or the Browns or the Titans can win a game or two they weren't supposed to win. Number two, we don't know how good these quarterbacks like Jackson Dart, Dylan Gabriel, or Jalen Miller are going to look in the combine that might propel themselves into the first round. I'm crossing my fingers that Drew Aller is going to change his mind and actually declare for the NFL draft, although I don't think it's going to happen right now because next year he will be the first pick overall, assuming Arch Manning doesn't come out. And last but not least, everything's going to be okay. Christmas is in a few days. Have some hot cocoa. Watch Home Alone 2, the greatest Christmas movie of all time. Don't let it ruin your holiday, especially when winning might not be the worst thing. Just ask the Houston Texans and the Carolina Panthers. Thank you so much for watching 26 minutes of trying to cope with beating a team that was terrible that we probably had no business beating in the first place. If Aiden O'Connell looks like Tom Brady these last two games, maybe we need to have a separate discussion. But for right now, here's what I'll leave you with. The last game of the season is against the Chargers. Wouldn't it be funny if we beat them to eliminate them from the playoffs? That would be kind of funny. Romero says Polar Express is better. You're a psycho. You should be checked into a hospital. Thank you so much for watching. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good evening, a good night, and I'll see you next week, Monday, 5 p.m. Eastern. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. If you don't know that I have a YouTube channel, go visit me. Go check me out. We're doing this three times a week. Thank you again, Bleacher 4, for having me. I love you guys, and I'll see you next time.