Ballers & Busters for Raiders preseason matchup in Miami

It was week two of the preseason for most teams. But the third preseason game for the Raiders because they played in the Hall of Fame game. More chances for some of these roster hopefuls to try and prove they belong.

Some did that (Ballers), while some did not (Busters). Let’s get right to it.

Ballers

DE Tashawn Bower

Bower showed up big time just when it was needed most. The Raiders are seeking some pass rush behind starters Maxx Crosby and Chandler Jones, and Bower stepped up and made the statement that he could be that guy.

The second play of the second quarter, the Dolphins lined up in third and one at the 19-yard-line. Bower was among those who made the stop to force a field goal and maintain the Raiders’ lead at 7-3.

The next drive, with the Dolphins backed up to their own eight-yard-line, Bower stopped a run at three yards. The following play resulted in a safety.

The drive after that, he blew up a screen play, tossing his blocker out of the way to stuff it for a three-yard loss.

Then he capped it all off in the third quarter with a sack on fourth down with the Dolphins at the Vegas 20-yard-line.

QB Jarrett Stidham

Probably Stidham’s best game of the preseason. And he only played two drives. The first drive he led the offense for a touchdown against mostly Dolphins starters.

Stidham’s first pass went for 16 yards to Tyron Johnson. A few plays later, on third and six, he found Johnson again for nine yards. This time taking a hit to the chops immediately after releasing the ball.

Three plays later, Stidham would line up in third and 18 thanks to getting sacked and pressured into an incompletion. He shook that off and completed consecutive passes for 14 and 15 yards on third and fourth down to put the Raiders in scoring range at the 26-yard-line. Then in third-and-four at the 20, he threw a strike to Keelan Cole on a slant that went for 18 yards to the two. The next play was run in for a touchdown.

The opening drive TD was the only one of the game for the Raiders. Did I mention that was against basically the Dolphins’ starting defense?

TE Jesper Horsted

Those two passes by Stidham on third and fourth down that went for 14 and 15 yards both went to Horsted. In the third quarter, he had a tremendous leaping grab over the top of a defender that went for 24 yards. Those three catches for 53 yards made him the Raiders leading receiver in this game.

RB Brittain Brown

The team’s leading rusher was Brown with 70 yards on nine carries (7.8 yards per carry). More than half of those yards came on one play. It was the game-ender, with Brown cutting back around the right side and breaking off 36 yards and allowing the Raiders to kneel out the clock and exit with a 15-13 preseason win.

In total, Brown had four plays go for eight yards or more and four of his nine runs went for first downs.

LB Curtis Bolton, LB Darien Butler

Butler got things started off right. Going against the Dolphins’ first team offense with Tua in at quarterback, he shot into the backfield on the first play to make the tackle for a four-yard loss. The drive would end on the next series with Butler in tight coverage to force an incompletion.

A couple drives laster, with the Dolphins at their own 11-yard-line, Teddy Bridgewater dropped back into his own end zone to pass. He tried breaking out right where Bolton was there to chase after him. Bolton was on top of him so quick, Bridgewater had no time to find an open receiver and was flagged for intentional grounding, leading to a safety. That meant two points and the ball back for the Raiders.

The next play for the Dolphins’ offense, there was that man again. Bridgewater tried dumping the ball off on a screen and Bolton was right there to stuff it for a loss of three.

The final possession of the first half for Miami would feature another forced incompletion from Butler and another run stuff by Bolton for one yard. Butler would add a run stop in the third quarter as well as a special teams tackle. Fine bit of linebacking by these two young men.

CB Isaiah Brown

Brown had two passes into his coverage. And he knocked down both of them. One was 20-yard pass into the end zone that he batted down. Can’t ask for anything more from a player than that.

Honorable Mention

DT Johnathan Hankins — Had a couple run stuffs in a row, reminding us he is back and what his specialty is.

S Johnathan Abram — Had a couple pressures on blitzes and laid a hard hit on tight end Mike Gesicki just as he caught the ball, knocking it free for an incompletion.

Busters

T Alex Leatherwood

With Brandon Parker and Thayer Munford both rehabbing injuries, Leatherwood got his second shot at starting at right tackle. His first shot was subpar. This one was downright awful.

He gave up at least two pressures on the opening drive that both led to incompletions. Then on consecutive plays in the second quarter, he was bull rushed into QB Nick Mullens, causing an incompletion, and then gave up the sack for a loss of six yards.

Leatherwood was taken out after that drive, only to return in the third quarter. A few plays into his first drive back, he gave up a pressure. Chase Garbers showed his elusiveness to escape the pressure and pick up the first down. There will have to be a lot of that when Leatherwood lines up at tackle.

RB Kenyan Drake

Once again, Drake was basically useless out there. Even before his statement today that he felt like he was never given a fair shot to win a job, it looked like Drake was mailing it in. He has six yards on three carries in this game and a total of 16 yards from scrimmage on six touches. This going against backups most of the game. So, either he’s lost a few steps or he just didn’t want to be out there and wasn’t going to put forth any effort because of it.

CB Sam Webb

Webb had a big time forced fumble and recovery in this that, had it been ruled properly on the field — would probably have been a long TD return. That’s great. Everything else Webb did in this game, however, was not great. Not by a stretch.

On the Dolphins’ second scoring drive, he gave up catches of 10 and 20 yards. The next drive, he gave up a 16-yard catch. That drive was in scoring range before he popped that ball out for the fumble.

The Dolphins got moving again in the third quarter when Webb gave up a 26-yard catch. the next play he missed the tackle on a 12-yard run. That drive too would have led to a field goal, but, since it’s the preseason, the Dolphins opted to go for it on fourth-and-seven and failed.

And one last time, the Dolphins moved into scoring range at the end. Webb gave up an 11-yard catch to put them in range of a late 46-yard go-ahead field goal and it was missed.

S Isaiah Pola-Mao

It was a missed tackle by Pola-Mao that allowed for the Dolphins’ only TD on a 19-yard catch and run. Then it was a 24-yard catch he gave up that put them in Raiders territory at the 36-yard-line for what would have been a field goal that put them ahead with 1:37 remaining.