Silver And Black Pride
It’s back-to-back primetime games for the Las Vegas Raiders as Week 11 pits them against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. As a reminder, with the Raiders sitting at 2-7 and three games back from a Wild Card spot entering the weekend, the focus for key matchups will be on young players who have a future with the organization.
On that note, Raider Nation will likely get to watch a rookie whom the fanbase has been asking to see hit the field for several weeks now, guard Caleb Rogers.
As mentioned above, it’s looking like fans will get their wish since Jackson Powers-Johnson was placed on injured reserve and Dylan Parham is also banged up, creating a pathway for Rogers to get playing time. Also, the rookie told Silver & Black Sports Network’s Jesse Merrick that this will be “week one as a starter” for him, and he’s looking forward to the opportunity to go against Williams.
Meanwhile, the defensive tackle will also be making his first start for his new team after getting traded from the New York Jets to the Cowboys ahead of last week’s NFL trade deadline, which was also Dallas’ bye week. That being said, these two have dramatically different resumes in the league.
The three-time Pro Bowler (2022-2024) and 2022 first-team All-Pro is a top-tier player at his position, especially against the run. According to Pro Football Focus, he leads interior defenders with 22 defensive stops as a run defender and an elite 90.8 grade in that department.
While Williams is having a down year as a pass-rusher, currently totaling just one sack and 19 pressures, he finished the 2024 regular season with six and tied for the seventh-most pressures (54) among defensive tackles. And the latter was down from the year before, where he had 70 pressures and ranked third at his position. In other words, he’s a threat in the passing game, too, and could be a problem now that he’s on a new team.
On the other side, this will be just the second game Rogers has been active for and the first time he’s gotten action in the regular season, assuming he is indeed starting. The third-round pick got some run in the preseason, allowing four pressures (no sacks, one QB hit) on 71 opportunities while logging a 54.3 run-blocking grade, according to PFF.
So, this will certainly be a trial by fire for the rookie, but he has the right mindset and seems to be up for the challenge.
It’s a bit of a mystery who the Raiders are going to start at cornerback between Kelly and Porter. While the latter has gotten the nod in the last two weeks, he gave up five completions on six targets for 65 yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars, per PFF, and had a few coverage busts (though he wasn’t targeted on them) versus the Denver Broncos.
Meanwhile, despite...
