3 takeaways from Raiders’ loss at Indianapolis
Three takeaways from the Raiders’ 23-20 loss to the Colts on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis:
1. It’s over
The Raiders made a strong late-season run after replacing Josh McDaniels with interim coach Antonio Pierce, winning enough to stay relevant in the AFC wild-card race. But the Colts eliminated the Raiders from contention on New Year’s Eve.
A defense that had been dominating games allowed too many big plays early, and a Raiders team that had showed tremendous discipline was called for seven penalties, several in key moments.
The offense didn’t do nearly enough to overcome the mistakes.
Rookie Aidan O’Connell manufactured a late touchdown drive in desperation mode, but the offense was again guilty of long stretches of inconsistency.
O’Connell’s final numbers looked fine. He completed 30 of 47 for 299 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, but the Raiders were 5-for-15 on third down and couldn’t make plays when they were needed.
Davante Adams was the Raiders’ best player, finishing with 13 catches on 21 targets for 126 yards and two touchdowns.
The Raiders will finish the season next weekend against the Broncos at Allegiant Stadium. Then it will be time to start assessing the coaching staff, front office and the future of several players.
2. White shines again
The Raiders’ search for a quarterback of the future is likely to begin as soon as the season is over with O’Connell continuing to battle inconsistency. But they are probably feeling much better about their running back situation with Zamir White.
Stalwart Josh Jacobs is likely to test the market after the season. He hoped to explore free agency last offseason before the Raiders put the franchise tag on him before agreeing to a one-year deal.
His absence in the past three games allowed the Raiders to see what their future might look like without him.
It wasn’t bad at all.
White followed up a massive role in the win over the Chiefs with another solid effort Sunday, rushing for hard-earned yards against a stout defensive line. He finished with 71 yards on 20 carries.
Perhaps the biggest development is that White showed he can be an effective receiver at the NFL level. He had just nine catches this season before hauling in five of six targets for 35 yards Sunday.
Most of those came in the first half and helped provide the Raiders much of their offense.
3. Special teams ups and downs
The Raiders were in the game deep into the fourth quarter despite their offensive struggles, in part because punter AJ Cole allowed them to dominate field position for much of the time.
Cole pinned the Colts inside their 10-yard line with four straight punts.
The directional kicks wreaked havoc on his net average for the season but helped keep the defense in advantageous situations.
That streak was only broken because Cole drew a roughing-the-punter penalty on the fifth attempt, which allowed the Raiders to set up a touchdown.
Cole did shank one in the fourth quarter when he was trying to pin the Colts deep that helped lead to an Indianapolis field goal.
Daniel Carlson made all four of his kicks and gave the Raiders a chance to recover a creative onside kick in the closing seconds, but the Colts recovered the ball and ran out the clock.
Jack Jones was called for being offside on a field-goal attempt that the Colts missed with 3:20 remaining.
The Raiders would have been down seven points and getting the ball back. Instead, the Colts got another chance and converted to take a 10-point lead.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
