John Munson / Associated Press
New York Giants’ Julian Love (20) tackles Las Vegas Raiders’ Darren Waller (83) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021, in East Rutherford, N.J. The Giants won 23-16.
Published Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Updated Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 | 12:58 p.m.
East Rutherford, N.J. —
Three turnovers by Derek Carr led to the dissolve of the Raiders’ two-game win streak Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants beat the Raiders 23-16, with a 40-yard interception return from New York safety Xavier McKinney at the start of the third quarter the key play. The Giants went ahead 17-13 on the pick six and never trailed again.
McKinney had to outmuscle Raiders receiver Hunter Renfrow for his first interception, but did much less on a second in the fourth quarter as Carr had a misthrow in his direction. The Raiders’ veteran quarterback followed up one of his best games last time out, where he had the second-best completion percentage of all-time for a passer with more than 30 attempts, with one of his worst.
Carr finished with 296 yards on 30-for-46 passing. New York counterpart Daniel Jones was far from outstanding, but his 110 yards and a touchdown on 15-for-20 passing proved enough to outduel Carr.
Devontae Booker, who played for the Raiders last season, paced the Giants with 99 yards on 21 carries before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a hip injury.
Giants kicker Graham Gano kicked his third field goal of the game after Carr’s second interception to put the home team up a touchdown. The Raiders drove inside the red zone in the final minute, but Quincy Roche had a strip sack with 37 seconds remaining that Leonard Williams recovers.
The Raiders, now 5-3 on the season, come home for their next two games, against the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Check back to lasvegasssun.com later for more coverage and read below for live updates from throughout the game.
The Raiders are likely going to need their third overtime game of the year if they escape MetLife Stadium with a victory.
Graham Gano just kicked his third field goal for the Giants, a 38-yarder, to put the Raiders in a 23-16 hole with about three minutes to play. The score was set up by quarterback Derek Carr’s second interception of the day to Giants safety Xavier McKinney.
The Raiders will now need to go 75 yards to tie the game.
Giants extend lead to four points
The Giants have a four-point lead to start the fourth quarter.
Graham Gano just made his second field goal, a 32-yarder, to put the Giants ahead of the Raiders 20-16. Former Raider Devontae Booker continues to power the home team, as he’s now compiled 99 rushing yards on 19 carries.
The Raiders hold a 254-200 total yardage, and 5.4 to 5 yard per play, edge but the Giants have settled for one less field goal and scored on a pick-six to hold the lead on the scoreboard.
Raiders kick through another field goal
Another trip to the red zone, another stalled drive for the Raiders.
Daniel Carlson made a 25-yard field goal, his third of the day, to cut the Giants’ lead to 17-16. The scoring drive went 15 plays and 85 yards over 8:08 of game time. Derek Carr twice overthrew receivers in the end zone, including Darren Waller in the corner on a third-down play before the field goal.
Marcus Mariota checked in for one play, a fourth-and-1 from the 35-yard line, where he ran an option play and picked up the yardage for a first down.
Pick six for the Giants
Las Vegas’ lead didn’t last long, less than two minutes of game time before a horrible error cost the Raiders seven points.
Derek Carr threw a pass intended for Hunter Renfrow a little soft and short, and Giants safety Xavier McKinney was able to come up for an easy interception and touchdown return. McKinney went 41 yards for a touchdown to put New York up 17-13 on Las Vegas a minute-and-a-half into the second half.
The interception came on a third down play after the Raiders gained only three yards on their first two plays.
Raiders take the lead right before halftime
The Raiders are on top of the Giants, 13-10, after a tightly-contested first half at MetLife Stadium.
Las Vegas’ offense came alive on its final drive, going 61 yards in about three minutes but couldn’t finish the possession off with a touchdown. Daniel Carlson made his second field goal of the day, a 32-yarder, to give the Raiders a lead going into the locker room.
Derek Carr missed a wide-open Darren Waller in the end zone on the play before to force the field-goal attempt.
Graham Gano answers Daniel Carlson’s field goal
They traded touchdowns to start the game, and now they’ve traded field goals in the second quarter.
Neither the Raiders nor the Giants have been able to pull away from each other so far at MetLife Stadium, where the score is locked at 10-10. Former Las Vegas Locomotive Graham Gano just made a 35-yard field goal for the Giants to answer Daniel Carlson’s 25-yarder from earlier in the quarter.
Former Raider Devontae Booker has been the focal point of the Giants’ offense so far as he’s racked up 78 yards on 13 carries.
Raiders go up 10-7
Yannick Ngakoue put the Raiders’ offense in prime position to add more points, but they could only come away with three.
Daniel Carlson made a 25-yard field goal to start the second quarter to put the Raiders ahead of the Giants 10-7. Las Vegas only advanced the ball with one first down after Ngakoue strip-sacked Jones to start the Giants’ third possession at the 30-yard line.
Ngakoue’s forced fumble, recovered by Darius Philon, was the Raiders’ first sack, or even quarterback hit, in the game.
Hunter Renfrow answers for Raiders
Through two drives, it’s looking like a shootout at MetLife Stadium.
The Raiders answered the Giants’ game-opening touchdown drive with a score of their own, a 2-yard touchdown pass from Derek Carr to Hunter Renfrow to make the score 7-7. It took Las Vegas 10 plays for its 73-yard scoring drive.
Renfrow was one of the standouts as he also hauled in a nice third-down conversion catch before the touchdown. Running back Josh Jacobs also had four carries for 33 yards.
Evan Engram scores game’s first touchdown for Giants
The Raiders’ defense has gotten off to a rough start at MetLife Stadium.
The Giants scored on their opening drive, going 75 yards on seven plays in 4:14 to lead 7-0. Daniel Jones found Evan Engram for a 30-yard touchdown pass down the sideline for the score.
Devontae Booker almost scored earlier on the drive, but Tre’von Moehrig tripped him up in the open field after 16 yards to give the Raiders a chance at another stop. They didn’t manage to do so, as Engram’s touchdown came three plays later.
Giants down three starters
The Giants’ inactive list looks more debilitating than the Raiders’ going into the teams’ 10 a.m. game this morning.
Running back Saquon Barkley, wide receiver Sterling Shepard and linebacker Lorenzo Carter are all out for the home team at MetLife Stadium. Las Vegas, on the other hand, won’t be missing any starters.
The Raiders had no surprise inactives with cornerback Amik Robertson, running back Peyton Barber, defensive Malcolm Koonce, tackle Jackson Barton and defensive tackle Damion Square listed. This is as healthy as Las Vegas has been all year, and it’s almost time to see if it takes advantage.
Pregame
• Who: Raiders (5-2) at Giants (2-6)
• When: 10:00 a.m.
• Where: MetLife Stadium
• TV: Channel 8, CBS
• Radio: Raider Nation Radio 920 AM, KOMP 92.3
• Betting line: Raiders -3, over/under 46.5
“Compartmentalize” is the word quarterback Derek Carr used to describe how the Raiders would handle returning to the field for the first time since the tragic events that killed an innocent woman less than a week ago. Carr himself described football as “secondary” in the aftermath of the Raiders’ since-released leading receiver, Henry Ruggs III, being arrested for DUI and reckless driving after allegedly reaching speeds of 156 mph and crashing into the victim’s car. But Carr has also preached professionalism and reminded his teammates that there’s still work to be done. The middle part of the season is where the Raiders have slipped the past two years, ruining a 6-3 start last season and a 6-4 standing in 2019. They should be physically refreshed after 14 days in between games, but the Raiders have lost their first game out of a bye week in each of the past four years. They’re emphasizing not repeating the same mistakes to avoid another decline this time around.
Favorable matchup: Raiders’ pass rush vs. Giants’ offensive line
New York controversially decided to mostly keep intact last year’s struggling offensive line this offseason with hopes that a pair of Las Vegas natives — Bishop Gorman High graduate Nick Gates and Chaparral High grad Will Hernandez — could help spur a turnaround. It hasn’t gone according to plan. Gates, a team captain at center, broke his leg early in a Week 2 loss to the Washington Football Team and will miss the rest of the season. Hernandez, a guard, has graded out poorly, though partly because injuries have forced him to bounce between positions. The Giants’ offensive line is still not settled going into Week 9, which could be a big problem against a Raiders defensive front that’s been among the NFL’s best in generating pressure this season. Las Vegas edge rushers Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue have given offensive linemen fits all year and rushed passers into bad decisions with nine combined sacks and 29 quarterback hits.
“Zay has made a lot of plays in the games that we’ve played in. People don’t even notice what he’s done out there playing flyer on the punt team and he’s on kickoff return. … So we have high expectations for what Zay can bring us just like what he’s brought us to this point.” – Coach Rich Bisaccia on Jones’ increased responsibilities
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“We know that this was the time of year where we hit a lull a couple times and we can’t let that happen again no matter what’s going on. Me and (Yannick Ngakoue) say it to each other every day: ‘Nobody cares.’ What you’re going through, how your body feels; nobody cares. We have to do our job.” Quarterback Derek Carr on the Raiders’ mindset going into the first game out of their bye week
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“We’re trying to be a dynamic duo; we’re trying to be like the greats — like (the 2014-16 Broncos’) Von (Miller) and (DeMarcus) Ware combination and guys like that. We push each other each and every day.” – Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue on his relationship with Maxx Crosby after the two traded multiple-sack games in back-to-back contests before the bye week
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“We’ve said, ‘Hey you’ve got to be ready, anybody can show up,’ but this is the NFL, and we know we’re going to see really good players as they’ve shown. They had injuries the Carolina week and they won 25-3.” -Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley on preparing for the Giants without knowing which of their skill players will be cleared to play out of injuries and COVID protocols
Problematic matchup: Giants’ cornerbacks vs. Raiders’ receivers
The strength of the Giants’ team is on the outside of its defense, where the coverage skills of veteran cornerbacks James Bradberry and Adoree’ Jackson have largely kept them in games. Bradberry made his first Pro Bowl in his first season with the Giants last year, and the organization appears to have coaxed a similarly resurgent performance out of Jackson after signing the former Panthers first-round pick this offseason. The Raiders may be ill-equipped to attack the duo considering they’re down to three receivers who have played for them this season — Zay Jones, Byran Edwards and Hunter Renfrow. Renfrow lines up almost exclusively in the slot, and while both Jones and Edwards have played well for the most part this season, there are questions surrounding each of them. Edwards has been inconsistent with a recurring dropped-pass problem while Jones hasn’t been asked to carry a starter’s workload since his second NFL season, in 2018 with the Buffalo Bills.
Gamebreaker: Wide receiver Zay Jones
With the way offensive captains Carr and tight end Darren Waller have talked about Jones for the past two years, you’d think he was one of the best receivers in the league. The company line among the coaching staff is that Jones’ relatively modest production since coming to the Raiders via trade with the Bills in 2019 has more to do with lack of opportunity than absence of ability. There’s some evidence that they’re speaking truthfully, namely that he’s regularly made big plays in practice and even snagged the game-winning 31-yard touchdown reception in overtime of Week 1 against the Ravens. Still the all-time leader in receptions (with 399) in the Football Bowl Subdivision college record book from his time at East Carolina, the 26-year-old Jones needs to move past hinting at or letting teammates describe his status as a difference-maker. Las Vegas needs him to start showing it against the Giants.
Big Number: 0
That’s the number of absences among available players at the Raiders’ two full-scale practices Wednesday and Thursday, a highly unusual “clean” report, in interim coach Rich Bisaccia’s words. Las Vegas still has a few players on injured reserve it hopes to soon get back — including guard Richie Incognito and cornerback Trayvon Mullen — but the team will be as healthy as it’s been all season for its game at the Meadowlands. Importantly, neither Waller, who sat out the Raiders’ last game with an ankle injury, nor running back Josh Jacobs, who left the game with a chest contusion, has shown any lingering effects. There were only two players on the injury list all week — defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins (neck) and guard John Simpson (knee) — but both were full practice participants and are expected to play. The Giants’ report was much lengthier and a rash of positive COVID tests, including to star running back Saquon Barkley, who’s already nursing an injured ankle, further interrupted their practice plans.
Best Bet (4-3): Hunter Renfrow over 55.5 receiving yards
Renfrow has gone over this total in five of seven games this season despite only playing about 57% of the Raiders’ offensive snaps. He’s highly likely to be on the field more at MetLife Stadium, not only because of the Raiders’ lack of receiver depth but also because of the Giants’ season-long troubles defending short routes. New York will surely scheme to cut off Carr’s passing windows in the middle of the field, but its focus figures to be on Waller more than any other Las Vegas receiver. Renfrow has repeatedly taken advantage of the attention Waller commands in the past and could do so again here. The third-year slot receiver is on pace for the best year of his career through seven weeks, and there’s no reason to think he’ll slow down now.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or
