Heading into the Oakland Raiders Week 15 showdown with the Green Bay Packers, Raiders.com highlighted three matchups that would be crucial in how the game played out.
Aaron Rodgers and the Packers handled the Raiders 30-20, dropping the Silver and Black's record to 6-8, so now let's look back and see how those three matchups played out.
Cornerback TJ Carrie vs. Wide Receiver James Jones
While Carrie did get a look at Jones, defensive coordinator Ken Norton, Jr., threw multiple players, including David Amerson and rookie Dexter McDonald, at the veteran to try and limit the former Raiders wide receiver.
Through a half, the Raiders had rendered Jones mostly ineffective, allowing him just 1 catch for 7 yards, but in the second half the savvy veteran went to work.
When the clock read 0:00, Jones had hauled in 6 catches and was the Packers leading receiver with 82 yards. He also added one touchdown, and would have had another, but he was called for offensive pass interference negating the score.
Quarterback Derek Carr vs. Packers Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers
Take away a four-minute stretch in the first quarter, and Carr delivered a quality performance against the Green Bay Packers.
Carr ended the day with 276 yards through the air and two touchdowns, but the second-year gunslinger also tossed a pair of interceptions in the aforementioned four-minute stretch that resulted in 14 points for the Packers.
"No matter how good it looks, how bad it looks I'm always going to keep fighting because I believe in what we do and who I am," said Carr postgame. "I wish that those things [the interceptions] didn't happen, especially again the way that they happened. I just sat there and went 'really?'. I was kind of upset after that, but you just come back out and compete your tail off, but yeah I would absolutely love for those things not to happen."
In addition to his productivity through the air, Carr also flashed his athletic ability on the ground, scrambling 4 times for 42 yards in Sunday's game against Green Bay.
Was it Carr's best game of the year? No, but after falling behind 14-0, he did engineer a comeback bid that gave the Silver and Black the lead in the second half of the game.
Linebacker Malcolm Smith vs. Tight End Richard Rodgers
Heading into Sunday's game at O.co Coliseum, Aaron Rodgers' desire to get his tight ends, particularly Richard Rodgers, involved in the offense was well documented.
However, Rodgers was not a factor offensively, as the Raiders defense held the versatile tight end to just 1 catch for 7 yards.
Smith, on the other hand, quietly delivered yet another solid performance, finishing the day with a team-leading 7 tackles, in addition to 2 tackles for loss.
