Silver And Black Pride
A healthy Brock Bowers is a big problem.
The Jacksonville Jaguars saw exactly how much of a nightmare the Las Vegas Raiders tight end is this past Sunday as Bowers was the Silver & Black’s offense with a 12-catch, 127-yard, and three-touchdown afternoon in Week 9.
The 6-foot-4 and 235-pound 22-year-old is an absurd combination of tight end size with a wide receiver skillset that makes him a godsend for Raiders quarterback Geno Smith and a migraine for opposing defensive coordinators.
It’s no secret: Las Vegas’ most productive set on offense is 12 personnel — a formation of one running back, two tight ends, and two wide receivers on the field. With Bowers hobbled and missing snaps due to a knee injury, the Raiders offense looked vastly different. And with Bowers healthy — he showcased the acceleration and speed that made him the 13th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft this past Sunday — and Michael Mayer and Ian Thomas good to go — expect 12 to be a staple again.
“Yeah, that’s where we started the season too. We were thinking that we were going to lead to that, because we like Mike (Michael Mayer) on the field the same time Brock’s out there and all of the flexibility that gives us,” Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said. “I don’t think it could be more obvious how valuable Brock was to us yesterday and how he was in the first game too. And then we hit the stretch where he was trying to recover and get back out there. So yeah, that’s something that’s best for us to mess in and out of the 12 personnel. Yeah.”
Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen noted his Jaguars defense mixed coverages up — zone and man — and ran a four-man pass rush and blitzed too, but no matter what they did, even marginally disrupting Bowers was near impossible.
“He’s got a full route tree. So, when they’re in 12-personnel, they’re really an 11. When they’re in 11-personnel, they’re really in 10. And he gives you the ability. He can run option routes, like Cooper Kupp, he can run the seams like Tony Gonzalez, I mean, he’s just multipurpose,” Coen said of Bowers. “I’ve obviously competed and coached against him when he was at Georgia multiple times. There’s not many players at that position that you can say are as talented as him. Knew coming off the bye they were going to want to feature him in a lot of ways, but it didn’t much matter. He was making plays all over the place.”
Then again, Jacksonville now has the 27th-ranked passing defense in terms of yards allowed (1,994) and 29th in touchdowns given up (19).
So while Bowers does in fact make the Raiders offense go, the Denver Broncos know it. And you can bet defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and his crew are eager to prove Denver’s sixth-ranked pass defense — in term of yards allowed (1,681) —...
