HENDERSON, Nev. -- Super Bowl LVI presented a unique learning opportunity for the Las Vegas Raiders.
In the champion Los Angeles Rams, the Raiders watched the first team they faced in a competitive situation this past season in their fight-marred joint practices in Southern California. It was the only time their starters took the field against other first-stringers in the preseason. And in the Cincinnati Bengals, the Raiders witnessed the team that ended their season a mere four weeks earlier in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs.
What, exactly, might the Raiders have learned on Super Sunday, aside from realizing that 50 Cent can still rap while hanging upside down?
Glad you asked ...
Can Hunter Renfrow be the Raiders' answer to Cooper Kupp?
Intriguing, to say the least. But the 6-foot-2, 208-pound Kupp, the Super Bowl MVP, is four inches taller and 23 pounds heavier than Renfrow, so let's start here. Renfrow might be more of a Wes Welker/Julian Edelman-type, given how they were used by Raiders coach Josh McDaniels with the New England Patriots out of the slot and how much more similar they are in build. And while Welker and Edelman might have been faster, Renfrow might be quicker and craftier with his route running.
Thanks in part to tight end Darren Waller missing five games down the stretch with knee and back issues, Renfrow became Derek Carr's favorite target and finished with 103 catches for 1,038 yards and nine TDs. Kupp went for 145/1,947/16 in the regular season. Yeah, that's a high bar.
The most catches Edelman had in a season were the 105 he had in 2013, while the 1,117 receiving yards he had in 2019 were his career best. His best touchdown production in a season was six, which he did three times. Welker had his best output under McDaniels in 2012, when he caught 118 passes for 1,354 yards. His best TD season under McDaniels was in 2007, when he had eight scores.
The better comparison is Renfrow to Welker and Edelman then, especially with McDaniels calling the plays. Besides, Renfrow is his own dude, so to speak, or have you already forgotten about the show he put on against Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey on Day 1 of those joint practices? It launched a thousand memes.
What about on defense?
Yeah, this is the great mystery, what with a new defensive coordinator coming in who has a history of running a 3-4 scheme the Raiders last when Warren Sapp was on the team from 2004-07. But Patrick Graham has already told Pro Bowl defensive MVP Maxx Crosby to not read too much into alignments and such.
Still, the Rams provided a blueprint with how to deal with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and speedy receiver Ja'Marr Chase -- have Aaron Donald dominate the line of scrimmage. Of course, 31 other teams would like to have a Donald, yes? Yes. But the Raiders' interior linemen did do a solid enough job in former DC Gus Bradley's 4-3 base. Alas, five of the Raiders' 23 scheduled unrestricted free agents are DTs -- Johnathan Hankins, Quinton Jefferson, Solomon Thomas, Darius Philon and Gerald McCoy -- so some decisions must be made on the interior.
As McDaniels said, most base defenses are now a nickel, and the Raiders played a lot of that last season, too, with rookie Nate Hobbs in the slot. Still, it would seem as though Las Vegas is going to have to deal with the young Bengals for years to come, let alone the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in their own division. The lesson here then is obvious -- win the line of scrimmage to affect the passer and you control the flow of the game. Duh. Consider: Donald had a team-high seven pressures and two sacks on 40 pass rushes for a 17.5% pressure rate, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
And on offense?
Protect the asset. Yes, obvious. But Burrow was more than holding his own and in position for the upset before getting sacked for the 27th time by Donald and the Rams (actually, he was sacked seven times, it just felt like more) and spraining the MCL in his right knee.
Even as his average time to throw of 2.41 seconds was quicker than his regular season average of 2.69 seconds, per Next Gen Stats. His offensive line did him no favors with the multitude of hits he incurred, and he didn't help himself with how long he held onto the ball at times. Especially on the game-ending play. The fact that Cincinnati did not run a single screen pass to suck in an aggressive Rams front is mind-blowing. Ever heard of a draw play?
The Raiders ran one to near perfection against the Chargers in the season finale, a 23-yard run by Jalen Richard on (checks notes) third-and-23 near the end of the first half. So maybe Cincinnati could have learned something from the Raiders in this instance. A knock on Carr since he suffered a broken right ankle in the second-to-last game of the 2016 season is that he has shown a reluctance to extend plays and improvise.
Burrow and his Rams counterpart Matthew Stafford may not be the most mobile of quarterbacks, but they're not seen as Check Down Kings, either. The truth is somewhere in the middle and, as we saw from the Bengals perspective, if you can protect the QB and give him time, he can find his spots. Yes, even against the likes of Donald. So expect the Raiders to again address the offensive line in both free agency and the draft since right tackle Brandon Parker, who became a starter after first-rounder Alex Leatherwood was moved to right guard in Week 5, is a free agent.
It's now just a young man's (coaching) game, right?
Well, Sean McVay, at 36, became the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl. Zac Taylor is 38 and both are offensive-minded coaches. Let's hear it, then, for coaches born in the (checks notes again) 1970s! McDaniels was in their shoes way back in 2009 as the cocky, up-and-coming 33-year-old offensive mind who would take the league by storm as coach of the Denver Broncos.
Except it didn't happen.
McDaniels acknowledged his own folly by saying he thought he knew about football but not enough about dealing with people in his first go-around as a head coach. Now, at 45, McDaniels is, let's say, seasoned. He's still seen as an elite playcaller and oh yeah, he has six Super Bowl rings to flash around Las Vegas in general, the Raiders locker room in particular, in case anyone needs reminding. And from the Raiders' perspective, they just hope 45 is the new 36, ya dig?
OK, so what's the biggest lesson the Raiders should have learned?
Throw the ball to your biggest, most dependable target -- in the end zone -- with the game on the line.
Many are still trying to wrap their heads around the Raiders' final offensive possession and had shades of déjà vu watching the Rams set up inside the Bengals' 10-yard line for the game-winning score. The Raiders had first-and-goal at the 9-yard line and Carr spiked the ball rather than run a quick play, which interim coach Rich Bisaccia wanted.
The Rams had first-and-goal at the 8 and -- while the refs decided to finally start throwing flags, which helped L.A. -- Stafford eventually went to his guy Kupp for the win. Carr? On second down he threw an incompletion in the shallow middle of the end zone to Zay Jones that was nearly intercepted. Then, with time to survey the field and scramble a bit, he lofted a pass to Renfrow near the left pylon, but Renfrow fell.
Carr never targeted Waller, who, on fourth down, was on the outside right in single coverage against safety Vonn Bell. Waller enjoyed a seven-inch height advantage. Jump ball? Fade? Pump fake to the middle and then find a wide-open Waller in the right corner of the end zone? Nah, Carr threw a bullet to Jones, who was two yards shy of the end zone, and was picked off by linebacker Germaine Pratt. Ballgame. Season. New regime.
Indeed, while the Raiders were 26th in the NFL in terms of points-per-red-zone drive last season, McDaniels oversaw the league's 6th-best red zone offense in that category. The Patriots, with a rookie QB in Pro Bowler Mac Jones, were 11th in best TD percentage in red zone drives while the Raiders were 27th. Lesson learned, but can McDaniels and Carr apply it?