Raiders lack deep threat, explosive plays in loss to Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The numbers for Derek Carr and the Raiders’ offense looked just fine in the final box score of Sunday’s 23-16 loss to the Giants at MetLife Stadium. It was more about how the Raiders got to the final numbers that raised a bit of concern.

For the first time this season, explosive downfield plays were mostly absent from their offensive repertoire. Sunday marked the first game in which the Raiders did not complete a pass play for at least 29 yards.

While the Raiders downplayed the emotional toll of the crash involving Henry Ruggs that led to the death of a Las Vegas woman, his arrest and release by the team, his departure appeared to take with it a large portion of the team’s downfield presence.

Interim coach Rich Bisaccia fought back a bit on that notion. “I don’t think that’s part of it,” Bisaccia said of whether Ruggs’ departure was the biggest reason for the team’s lack of plays downfield.

Bisaccia pointed to a 24-yard throw to Darren Waller where he was able to get a little running room after the catch, but lamented plays like a late hit call on offensive lineman Nick Martin for charging into a pile to pick up a 15-yard penalty that all but wiped out a 22-yard catch and run by Kenyan Drake.

“We eliminated some of the explosive (plays) we did have with some uncharacteristic penalties that we haven’t had in the last two (games),” he said.

Still, the lack of a deep presence was a glaring issue for an offense that moved the ball well between the 20s, but struggled in the red zone.

The team acted quickly after the game, coming to terms on a deal with free agent wide receiver Desean Jackson, one of the most dangerous deep threats in league history. But Jackson is 34 years old and may need some time to pick up the offense.

There has to also be answers in house. Zay Jones got the first shot at the job on Sunday. The audition didn’t go particularly well.

Jones had just one catch on four targets in the loss while playing a large majority of snaps in the position once occupied by Ruggs.

One of those unsuccessful attempts was a deep shot down the right sideline in the fourth quarter on one of the only occasions Carr did actually try to throw downfield. It was intercepted, one of several mistakes by Carr that led to questions about whether the issue was not having a deep threat on the field or being distracted by the overwhelming sadness of the week.

“Zay ran a double move,” Carr said. “I tried to fit it in before the safety got there, but he got there. That had nothing to do with emotion. That was a decision I made and it didn’t work out.”

He said defenses do things differently when Ruggs isn’t on the field, but it’s something the Raiders have gotten used to when Ruggs would be in or out of the game over the last two seasons.

“With that kind of speed, obviously you have to do different things,” he said. “But it wasn’t anything like out of the blue or anything crazy or anything like that. I miss him. I love him, but when we went out there today, we still almost threw for 300 (yards). We ran the ball efficiently with explosives. We just turned ball over. That’s why we lost.”

Fellow receiver Hunter Renfrow said he still has faith in Jones to continue to fill the role when called upon.

“I think Zay is a deep threat that can take the top off a defense as well,” he said. “I felt like we didn’t get much different coverage from what we were expecting or what we would have been anticipating if Henry would have been out there. … you’re not going to have a hundred yards every week.

“You might, but it’s tough to do.”

Jones finished with 20 on Sunday.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.