The Las Vegas Raiders pulled off another close victory at home on Sunday night versus the New York Jets with a final score of 16-12. Nobody expected this game to be high scoring considering the level of defense played by the Jets and both offenses relying on young quarterbacks, but it was a game full of intensity and suspense that fans just couldn’t turn down.  If anything, both defenses shined this game and whoever scored a touchdown first would win the game. Luckily, the silver and black were the ones able to get a touchdown while the Jets had to settle for field goals.

The Raiders offense may not have scored a lot, but they played solid against arguably a super bowl winning defense. Even though he threw an interception, quarterback, Aidan O’Connell, played solid against the Jets defense. In fact, O’Connell’s QBR was higher than some of the league’s best quarterbacks who faced that Jets defense. The former leading rusher in the NFL, Josh Jacobs, showed signs of his 2022 version by cracking 100 yards for the first time this season. Superstar wide receiver, Davante Adams, showed out on primetime with some highlight worthy catches and finishing the game with 6 catches for 86 yards. It may be a light game in his standards, but it was one of his better games statistically this year. Rookie tight end, Michael Mayer, caught his first touchdown pass this season from O’Connell, which would later become the game winning touchdown.

On the other side, the raiders defense was able to keep the Jets defense to only field goals for points. Solid open field tackling, timely stops, and a game winning interception from the AFC Defensive Player of the Week, Linebacker, Robert Spillane, were all huge for the Raiders to be victorious Sunday night. Superstar defensive end, Maxx Crosby may not of had a big game statistically, but his energy and imprint was all over this defensive performance; it seemed like he was always around the ball and or the quarterback whether he got the credit statistically or not.

The Raiders are now 2-0 since interim head coach, Antonio Pierce, got promoted and they are at .500 with a 5-5 record. It seems the silver and black look completely different with coach Pierce compared to how they were with Mcdaniels. The team looks much more united, and it seems the players are the ones taking control and being themselves while Pierce and his coaching staff are just helping as their respective roles. This season is only going to get tougher, and there will be even tougher teams they have to face soon, not only will they be tough to defeat, but each team will test the silver and black’s unity within each other and their resilience. There’s no expectation of winning much this year for the silver and black, but Raider nation should be proud of how this team has come together these last few weeks despite all the controversy surrounding them.