Raiders overcome recent history, win bad weather game

CLEVELAND

Derek Carr has seen the look in the eyes of teammates when it gets a little rainy, a little windy, a little nasty. He has seen them beaten by the elements before a coin is tossed.

“Just being honest, I’ve been in some locker rooms before where that (happened),” Carr said. “But today, I felt in pregame and the locker room and once we took the field, nothing was stopping us.”

Are you sitting down, Raiders fans?

Not even bad weather.

Las Vegas disregarded its history of cowering to challenging climates in beating Cleveland 16-6 on Sunday before 10,972 at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Bigger than most

This was more important than simply earning a road win. Bigger than grabbing a head-to-head edge against the Browns should a playoff tiebreaker call for it.

Sometimes, when you’re trying to prove to others you’re a team capable of contending for the postseason, you must first prove it to yourself. This was a major step.

The Raiders had lost 11 straight games when contested below 50 degrees. It was 49 degrees at kickoff Sunday and dipped to 40 by game’s end. The wind-chill factor was 26. Winds blew at 35 miles-per-hour.

There was rain and snow and hail and gusts that made a downed football roll across the field. Stuff of folly, really. Comical.

“The worst weather I have ever played in,” said Carr, the Raiders’ quarterback who is now 3-9 as a starter in those below-50 degree games.

“It seemed like a hurricane,” wide receiver Hunter Renfrow added.

It was also a masterful job of coaching and motivating by Jon Gruden.

I can’t imagine how much he loved this. Old-school ball, man. Line up and see who is toughest. His team was. It rushed for 208 yards, the most in a game since 2016.

It once again offered an offensive line void of two starters and still dominated up front. Las Vegas played as the weather demanded and triumphed doing so.

But also credit Gruden for this: While it’s customary for coaches not to talk about bad weather, to steer their team away from such thoughts as it prepares to compete, he embraced it. Went all-in. Pushed the entire stack of ice chips toward the dealer.

“We actually made a big deal out of the weather,” Gruden said. “We knew the weather was going to be really harsh. We kept talking about how we struggled on the road in bad weather last season against the Jets and Chiefs.

“We kind of enjoyed it. I think our guys looked forward to the challenge of the weather more than anything. You can’t imagine it. I can’t even explain the wind. It was against everybody today.”

Winning at Kansas City is the best of four wins against three losses thus far. It’s difficult to top beating the defending Super Bowl champions on their own turf. But this was overly impressive in a different way.

They didn’t blink

The Raiders came east with a hapless defense and a struggling running back in Josh Jacobs. In 60 minutes and amid terrible conditions, each played a major role in the win. Jacobs ran incredibly hard to gain 128 yards on 31 carries. He ran with fire and purpose. Ran like he had something to prove.

It wasn’t a perfect defensive effort, but given how poorly the Raiders have been on that side this season, leaving town having allowed just six points is plenty good.

Check another box for the Raiders, then. Carr has shown in earlier games a willingness to throw deep this season. Check. Las Vegas went to Arrowhead Stadium, where it had lost in seven previous trips and snapped Kansas City’s 13-game win streak. Check.

Now, the Raiders traveled into the sort of weather that has for so long guaranteed them a loss and long plane ride home and instead walked away a winner. Check, is right.

“In Las Vegas, we haven’t seen a drop of rain in 193 days,” Gruden said. “We’ll take a win any way we can get it.”

Through rain and snow and hail and wind, they wouldn’t be denied.

For the first time in a long time, the Raiders stared bad weather in the face and didn’t blink.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.