Oakland Raiders a second straight defeat to open his
tenure as coach.Case Keenum and the Broncos were able to move the ball down the
field with little pressure in the heat and altitude of Denver and get a 36-yard
field goal from Brandon McManus in the closing seconds of a 20-19 victory
Sunday.A second straight game with no consistent pass rush raised an obvious
question for Gruden about whether the decision to trade edge rusher Khalil
Mack
White Cody Whitehair Jerseys , who was holding out, to Chicago for a package of draft picks was a wise move."It doesn't make me regret," Gruden said Monday
"We made the trade. We made the trade. There has got to be hindsight,
50-50
Cody Whitehair Jerseys 2019 , all that stuff. We would have loved to have him here and I'm not going to keep rehashing this. I would have loved to (have) coached
him, loved to have him here, but he's not here. Somebody's got to step up."That
hasn't happened through two games so far this season as Oakland has just two
sacks combined in losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Broncos in the opening two
weeks.Bruce Irvin, who used to be nicknamed Robin to Mack's Batman
White Leonard Floyd Jerseys , has been unable to deliver with the bigger responsibility of being the top pass rusher. He had one sack in the opener
against the Rams but didn't provide much this past week.He committed a personal
foul that extended a touchdown drive for the Broncos after Oakland had appeared
to make a third-down stop and looked gassed on the final drive when Keenum moved
the ball from his 10 to the Oakland 18 with under two minutes remaining."Well
obviously we need to get more out of our captain," Gruden said. "He's put in
some tough spots, certainly. He's a good player. He's had some really good
snaps. We need more and more from him. I know he's giving us everything he has
and it's tough on him, certainly
Leonard Floyd Jerseys 2019 , because we do have a lot of new guys around him upfront. We're happy he's here."The Raiders also hoped to get a boost from three
rookie draft picks in end Arden Key and tackles P.J. Hall and Maurice Hurst. Key
excelled in the preseason but has looked overmatched at times now that the
regular season has started.Hurst had the team's only sack Sunday and Hall played
on an injured ankle for much of the opener before missing the game against the
Broncos and likely a little more time.The lack of a pass rush has played a role
in Oakland struggling in the second half the first two weeks. The Raiders led
both games at halftime but have been outscored 43-7 in the final two quarters
for the worst second-half scoring margin in the league.They had chances to close
out the Broncos even before the defense allowed the game-winning drive. Early in
the fourth quarter, fullback Keith Smith dropped a pass from Derek Carr on
fourth-and-1 from the Denver 33.Instead of the Raiders going in for another
score to extend a 19-10 lead, the Broncos took over and drove for a
touchdown.Oakland got the ball back with less than six minutes to go and a
chance to ice the game. The Raiders got two first downs but a double pass
interference call against Denver's Bradley Roby and Oakland's Amari Cooper wiped
out a 29-yard gain to Cooper.Then a false start on second-and-4 by tight end
Jared Cook helped stall the drive and led to a punt that set up Denver's winning
drive."This is the National Football League. You have to be able to finish the
game," Raiders cornerback Rashaan Melvin said. "That's something we haven't done
as a team and we really need to focus on doing." Bears head coach Matt Nagy said
on Wednesday that the team will be cautious with linebacker Khalil Mack‘s
practice workload this week after he hurt his ankle against the Dolphins last
Sunday.That cautious approach led the Bears to keep Mack out of practice on
Wednesday and they did so again on Thursday. They’ll practice again on Friday
and release injury designations later in the day.It would seem to be a good bet
that Mack will be listed as questionable
White Eddie Jackson Jerseys , but there’s been no indication to this point that he’s in serious risk of missing Sunday’s game against the Patriots. Mack left
the loss to Miami briefly, but wound up playing 62 snaps and has never missed a
game over the course of his NFL career.It’s less clear what the outlook might be
for wide receiver Allen Robinson. Robinson went from being limited on Wednesday
due to a groin injury to sitting out the session altogether. That may also be a
sign of caution from the team, but mid-week downgrades can also portend an
absence come Sunday.
