Assessing Las Vegas Weapons Ahead of Cardinals Matchup
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For the most part, the Kansas City Chiefs were able to have their way against the Arizona Cardinals defense in the opening week of the 2022 season.
Despite being in Glendale, AZ, Kansas City showed very little struggle to move the ball and score points at will. Arizona, meanwhile, was left with a lot more questions than answers on the defensive side of the ball.
We can't continue to live in the past, however, so we need to put Week 1 behind and move forward to Week 2. The Cardinals will be traveling just a few short hours north to take on the Las Vegas Raiders in Vegas this weekend.
While quarterback Derek Carr wasn't as sharp as the Raiders needed him to be in Week 1 after throwing three interceptions, no one can deny how deep and deadly Las Vegas' offensive firepower is.
Heading into the week, Vance Joesph was able to talk to the media about the upcoming matchup against a dynamic Raiders offense:
"They've got three really good, skilled catchers and I gotta go back. And the quarterback's experienced, he's been to the Pro Bowl. So it's NFL football every week, it is a challenge, and I think we're up for it. But we have to play better. If we don't, it won't get better. But we have to coach, we have to play better this week."
The three skill position guys he is referring to are wide receivers Davante Adams and Hunter Renfrow and tight end Darren Waller. All three have been to at least one Pro Bowl, but the former of all of them, Adams, is a different breed of receiver:
"He is probably the best route-runner in the league. And outside of [Stefon] Diggs in Buffalo, I mean he is a special player. Those kinds of guys win when you're one-on-one. So, if you one-on-one for ten plays he'll probably win seven," said Joseph.
"So having a plan to get him stopped and get him doubled from time to time is going to be critical. He had 17 targets last week and caught ten [passes] for 141. That's a lot of balls. So, it's going to be a tough task to get him contained. And I say contained, not stopped, because you don't stop those guys, you contain them. So hopefully we can."
In his first nine seasons in the league, including last week's performance, Adams has hauled in a whopping 679 receptions for 8,262 yards and 74 touchdowns. He played his first eight seasons in Green Bay with future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Now in his first season with Las Vegas, Adams returns to play for his college quarterback, Derek Carr.
It won't be enough to focus solely on stopping Adams, however. The Raiders have two more dynamic guys for this passing attack in Renfrow and Waller:
"They got skill guys. I mean, the tight end is a big-time guy, he can really run. He's got a huge catch radius. I mean, Renfrow in a slot one-on-one, it's almost uncoverable," said Joseph.
Renfrow is coming off his first Pro Bowl season after recording 103 receptions for 1,038 yards and nine touchdowns a year ago. While Waller is coming off an injury-riddled season in which he posted 55 receptions for 665 yards and two touchdowns, his two seasons prior saw him record 90+ receptions and over 1,100 yards each.
A healthy Waller is as deadly a tight end in football as you'll find.
While those three deserve the most attention, Joseph didn't forget about Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs, either:
"The back is a really good back, Jacobs, you know, we can't discount him. I mean, he averaged, what, 5.7 yards per carry last week, you know, on very few touches, but I think Josh is going to hand the ball off more often this week, and also use play action to free up Davante and those guys so it's gonna be a tough out."
With so many weapons, how on earth will the Cardinals be able to stop this Raiders offense?
The best, and perhaps the only, way to do this will be to apply lots of pressure and keep Carr off a rhythm. The problem is this was the game plan last week against Patrick Mahomes, who proceeded to carve up Arizona's defense for 360 yards and five touchdowns.
While Mahomes' performance was widely expected, Carr's shouldn't be (hopefully) nearly as flashy. Mahomes and Carr are far different quarterbacks from each other in more ways than one, and the Raiders offensive line is much worse than the Chiefs' is.
Arizona will also need to force turnovers. The team recorded three forced fumbles a week ago but only recovered one. If the Cardinals can create more disruption like they did last week but find a way to recover more of their opportunities, this could swing in the team's favor.
The bottom line here is that the Raiders offense has just as much deadly potential as the Chiefs had last week, meaning this is a unit that can't be taken lightly. If Arizona has found a way to learn from last week's shortcomings, however, there will be more hope for this game to rebound and get into the win column for the first time this year.
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