The Raiders made their long-awaited return to the NFL playoffs after a 14-year absence. It was not cause for a celebration.
With their All-Pro quarterback Derek Carr back in California with a broken fibula, the Raiders arrived in Houston as wounded prey, in no shape really to contend with the AFC South champion Texans at NRG Stadium.
The final, 27-14 Texans, wasn’t as close as the score might indicate, as the wild-card Raiders really had no chance behind rookie quarterback Connor Cook, who was starting his first NFL game.
Cook completed 18-of-45 passes for 161 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. His quarterback rating was 30, up from 9.8 at halftime. The Raiders were 0-for-11 before converting their first third down.
Cook, the fourth-round draft pick from Michigan State, was easy pickings for Romeo Crennel, the Texans’ veteran defensive coordinator who worked under Bill Parcells with the Giants and Bill Belichick at New England. With a secondary able to cover the Raiders receivers one-on-one, Crennel turned loose his top-rated defense to keep constant heat on Cook.
The wreckage began early in the game, when Texans defensive lineman Jadeveon Clowney batted what was supposed to be a screen pass up the air and caught it for the interception. Texans running back Lamar Miller then ran in from 5 yards out to put the Texas up 7-0.
That was just the beginning of a miserable afternoon for Cook and the Raiders. They managed just 203 yards of total offense and converted just 2-of-16 third-down situations for the game. Cook’s accuracy was off for most of his throws, but when he was on target, the Raiders had trouble making the catch.
At least four of Cook’s passes were dropped, including a deep throw to Amari Cooper that could have gotten the Raiders within one score in the second half. And when they weren’t dropping passes, the Raiders were committing penalties, including a pair of offensive interference calls that only added to their aggravation.
It was a horrendous ending to what had been such a promising season. The Raiders, who finished 12-5 with the wild-card loss, were realistic Super Bowl contenders, a revived franchise looking forward to doing damage in the playoffs. But then Carr, a legitimate MVP candidate, broke his fibula on Christmas Eve and the season-ending injury sucked the life out of the team.
They were a no-show at Denver in the regular-season finale, where they lost a chance to win the AFC West and earn a bye in the first round. Instead, they went to Houston, hoping to play well enough to hide Cook’s inexperience.
But Carr wasn’t the only Pro Bowl player the Raiders were without. Left tackle Donald Penn missed the his first game of the season with a bad knee, and by halftime, Pro Bowl center Rodney Hudson was out of the game with an ankle injury.
It left the Raiders offense toothless, unable to pass the ball because of Cook’s inexperience and his butter-fingered receivers and unable to run the ball behind a patch-work offensive line.
Cook did his best and the Raiders still were in the game after an 8-yard touchdown pass to Andre Holmes with 8:10 left in the fourth quarter. But that’s as close as the Raiders got.
The Raiders came into the game thinking they might have a chance with the problems at quarterback the Texans were having. But Brock Osweiler played more like the player the Texans signed for $72 million in the offseason from Denver. He completed 14-of-25 for 168 yards and one touchdown. Most importantly, he didn’t commit a turnover.
He all but sealed off the win with a 1-yard TD run on a bootleg with 12:28 to go in the game. It put the Texans up 27-7, a lead that was insurmountable with all the struggles the Raiders offense was having.
Fourteen years was a long wait for the Raiders. One more year won’t hurt.