Raiders Get Off The Mat And Manhandle The Cleveland Browns

It is not a Raiders victory without taking years and years off my life, and boy is there a lot to talk about. Right off the bat, here's what I want to say. We're 2-2. It felt like the sky was falling, but we have risen off the canvas, and we are ready to face a terrible Denver Broncos team to potentially get to 3-2. There's a lot to talk about. I will be breaking down this game in its entirety tomorrow on Bleach Report. 1 p.m. Eastern, make sure you join me there, set your reminders. I want to hit a couple things right off the rip before I talk about all the positivity. I just want to get this out of the way right now. Gardiner Minshew is terrible. He's still missing guys wide open. He's holding onto the ball too long. He was protected very well today. That's all I'm going to say because I don't want to keep this negative. If we want to win more games, we need to make the quarterback change. We could finally run the football, and it wasn't just Amir White. They got Madison involved. They got Tyreek McAllister involved. There was, oh my god, just so many open holes. The offensive line played so well today. We finally got things going with JPJ and DJ Glaze. I thought all things considered, they protected Minshew well enough. A rookie going up against Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett had his way a little bit, but we were able to do enough offensively to get the job done. The defense kept us in the game the whole time. Other than that first drive, they were great. We were able to get continued pressure. Bad offensive line that we were going up against. No doubt about it. But without Max Crosby, without Marcus Epps, this defense rose to the occasion and shocked a lot of fans of the Raiders. Snowden looked great. Even Tyree Wilson showed some flashes. He looked fast. He looked like he was playing free. The secondary was great. An interception by Trayvon Maric. Kind of lucky. Thank you, Mark Cooper. Once a Raider, always a Raider. Isaiah Polamau was maybe the MVP of the game on defense. A lot to like about what you're seeing from that kid. The nephew of Troy Polamau. And it shows. Here's what I want to say. And I'm going to come in here hot and heavy. And I don't want to mince my words in the words of AP. I'm not biting my tongue. Luke Goetze won us this football game. He called an absolute master class. He put Tyreek McAllister in the backfield. He said, if these guys can't run the rock, I'll find somebody who can. We scored two touchdowns on ender rounds. We got Brock Bowers to ball in creative ways. Wide receivers were running wide open all goddamn day. Any time it was an incompletion, it's because Gardner Minshew threw a bad ball. People were wide open. The plays were creative. We were getting running plays outside the numbers. We were getting guys like Alexander Madison involved. Troy Tucker is special. And Luke Goetze was able to adapt from the first three weeks and able to call a great football game. And anyone that says fire anybody after three football games, that's a fake opinion. That's not a real opinion. It will no longer be discussed. That was a great game called by a very good offensive coordinator. And that's what happens when good players execute play calls that work well. You need to be able to execute the plays for the plays to work. And even on the incompletions. The Jacoby Myers play where he had to reach out one-handed. He was wide open. There was a couple times Troy Tucker was wide open and Gardner skipped the ball to him. And we have to remember this. We didn't have Devontae Adams or Max Crosby. And we were able to basically control the line of scrimmage for a majority of this football game. And this is what happens when you can run the football. It opens up lanes for everybody else. And it doesn't matter if your quarterback is suspect. And Minshew, again, was not good today. But the one thing he did not do was turn the football over. And if you don't turn the football over, quarterback-wise, you have a chance. Minshew, you did next to nothing this whole game. You just handed the ball up, but that's okay. He managed us. I still think there are plays to be left on the field. And I now think the offensive line is ready to protect Aiden O'Connell. And if they make the switch, I'll be singing from the mountaintops. But you know where I stand on that. I think Aiden's the better quarterback. And this offense might finally be ready with this running game with this line to put in the young kid who played unbelievably well last year against the Denver Broncos team. That's not that different from the team that we're playing this year. I think it's time to make the change. But again, Luke Getzey showed what happens when players execute. And AP showed a lot here in this game too. He managed the clock well. He didn't do anything crazy right before half. He took the knee. He didn't want to risk anything happening like what happened in the Charger game because it was a very similar situation. We got the ball back. We could go down to score and then double dip. We got a big run with Tamir White. But then we called the dogs off because Gardner Minshew took a sack, and that was the end of the drive. Come out second half. Go down the field. End around to DJ Turner. Touchdown Raiders. DJ Turner flashed a lot too early in the game. We had that third and 16 where Minshew just missed him. Could have been a 96-yard touchdown pass. And look, this was a Pittsburgh Steelers type win. I told you there's going to be games this year where we're going to have to Pittsburgh Steeler it up and win games despite some offensive struggles. And the problem is we were able to run the ball early because they were daring us to pass, right, or they were daring us to run. Guarding all the passing lanes. At the end of the game, the Browns knew, all right, we've got to stack the box and we've got to force Gardner Minshew to make a couple plays. And he could not do it. And Luke Getty and AP didn't give them the chance to do it. They showed that they did not trust him at the end of the game running screen passes and pitch plays. And that's going to be a problem moving forward because now we've shown an ability to run the football. They are now going to force Gardner Minshew to make plays. And with Devontae Adams out week to week, that's going to be a major problem. And I think now is the time to make the quarterback change. We survived with Gardner Minshew for as long as we can. The offensive line is starting to gel and click. By no means were they perfect today, but they showed improvement, and that's what we needed to see. Improvement upon the offensive line, improvement from Luke Getty, improvement from the running game. Zamir looked really good today. He had that fumble, and they sat him down. And Alexander Madison came in and showed some flashes. I think moving forward, Alexander Madison has to touch the ball at least the same amount as Zeus, if not more. I like getting Tyreek McAllister involved. I like getting DJ Turner involved. There's a lot to like about this game. It wasn't perfect, but at the end of the day, we are not a perfect football team, and you never complain about winning football games. Next week, we play a Denver Broncos team that just won the game 10-9. We have to find a way to get the passing game going, especially with the run game going. Everyone said if you run the ball, you'll open up the pass. We run the ball well today, didn't we? Did the pass game open up? No. Crickets. It's not all on the run game to open up Gardner Minshew, because we could run the ball today, and Minshew still couldn't get it done. He was okay today. He threw for 130 yards total. He didn't turn the ball over, but he missed some guys that were wide open, and that's when we could run the football. I'm telling you, it's on film. The time is now to make the change to Aiden O'Connell. I know we won the football game, but if we want to make some noise, make a run at the playoffs, guys, the Kansas City Chiefs are 4-0. Everybody else in our division is 2-2, and the Chiefs are vulnerable. Now is the time. We cannot afford to sit on our hands. We cannot afford to. If we're not going to trade for somebody like a Rogers or a Stafford midseason, I don't think that's going to happen. We've got to make the quarterback change, because we were able to run the football today, and it still didn't open up the pass, because Gardner Minshew couldn't get the ball out of his hands, because he can't see over the lineman. Now is the time. I'm very happy that we won this game. The defense is special. We had one bad game last week, and everyone was calling for Patrick Graham's head. That's just not how it works, guys. I'm not going to lie to you and say the sky is falling when it's not. Last week was bad, but at the end of the day, we're 2-2, and that's basically how everybody had us at the end of the first quarter of the season. I thought we were going to beat the Panthers and the Chargers and lose to the Browns and the Ravens, and we flipped them. All right. Interesting. Interesting path. But here we are. So let's see what happens against the Browns. I don't foresee them going to Aiden, but hopefully on film, they think now the line is ready to protect them, and they let the kid rip. If not, we've got to play this week by week, continue to run the football, Gardner Minshew, protect the ball, don't make any stupid decisions, and keep winning the games with the defense. That's what it's going to have to come down to. We're going to have to Pittsburgh Steelers the rest of this season if we go with Gardner Minshew the rest of the year. But anyone calling for Luke Getzey's head, I hope that he's shut you up for at least a week because that's the wrong opinion to have. People are running wide open. Every single play, he's calling great games. We just need players who can execute. Make sure you're hitting that subscribe button. Join the link in the description below for the Patreon, and the Discord. The Discord is free. The Patreon is $5 a month. You get your name in the credits. You get ad-free content. You get exclusive content never before seen on YouTube. Please be sure to subscribe. I'm going to try to see you. I love you guys, and I'll see you next time.