Tough week to be a Raider (current or former)
Week 4 was a tough one for the Las Vegas Raiders and a couple of their former players. Not only did the Raiders lose, but also a banged-up Derek Carr and the New Orleans Saints got blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while Darren Waller and the New York Giants didn’t put up much of a fight against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.
Derek Carr
- Stats: 23/37, 127 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
- Game result: 26-9, Saints loss
The biggest highlight for Carr and the Saints’ offense as a whole was that he was able to play after suffering a sprained AC join in his shoulder last week. Outside of that, it was all downhill after warmups as New Orleans could only muster three field goals and didn’t even score a touchdown. While Carr didn’t throw any interceptions, he did lose a fumble, and Pro Football Focus graded him as a bottom-five quarterback for the week, heading into Monday Night Football. He ended up getting pulled later in the game but former Raiders and current Saints head coach Dennis Allen said that he felt Carr’s shoulder was getting sore toward the end of the game, leading to the switch at quarterback, per ESPN’s Katherine Terrell.
NFC South Standings
- Tampa Bay 3-1 (Point differential: +16)
- New Orleans 2-2 (-14)
- Atlanta 2-2 (-15)
- Carolina 0-4 (-35)
This loss was an early hit to the Saints’ playoff hopes as it came at the hands of the Buccaneers, who are a surprising team around the league. New Orleans is still only one game back from the division lead, but Tampa now owns the tiebreaker over them and that’s two losses in a row for the Big Easy.
Darren Waller
- Stats: 3 catches, 21 yards, 0 TDs
- Game result: 24-3, Giants lose
It was another quiet outing for Waller on Monday Night Football. However, it’s hard to put much blame on him as the Seahawks tied a franchise record with 11 sacks and the Giants’ offensive line is a mess right now. Waller is up to 15 catches for 153 yards but still hasn’t found the end zone yet this season. Granted, New York has only scored five touchdowns as a team in four games and just two of those scores have been through the air.
NFC East Standings
- Philadelphia 4-0 (+28)
- Dallas 3-1 (+83)
- Washington 2-2 (-31)
- New York 1-3 (-76)
With their only win coming via a historic comeback against the lowly Arizona Cardinals, the Giants’ playoff hopes are pretty much gone after the first month of the season. Even the wildcard seems farfetched at this point as they own the worst point differential in the league by 14 points.