The Indianapolis Golds managed a crucial win against the Raiders in Las Vegas to secure one of the AFC’s wild card positions. After the first half of a beautiful match, the Golds defense seemed to take a curve with Derek Carr, Everflus and defense, but do not break the approach, which forced the Golds Riders to settle for some short field goals. Of course that approach only works if it touches the crime marks, once they did.
In the first half, I got several flashbacks from last season’s game against the Raiders, mainly the pass-rush didn’t come home, while the car got all day to break the Golds defense. Halfway through, it was a completely different story to the defense as the Golds were able to keep the Riders out of the endzone, and Kenny Moore was forced to stumble over Hunter Renfro just in time.
I really liked how Crime played this game. The rivers were very precise, and the bone heads did not blow. Rookie Jonathan Taylor had a great game-led running back, had a very solid game, thanks to an excellent run-blocking work by both the attack line and the tight ends. TY Hilton is making progress because he had the best game of the season today, with 5 catches and two scores for 86 yards.
This game is very important because the Raiders were one of the best contenders for the WC spot. Now, the Golds have a 9-4 record, with matches against the Texans, Jaguars and Steelers. The Golds could easily go 2-1 and finish the season with an 11-5 record. Meanwhile, the Riders have an even tougher schedule as they face off against the Chargers, Dolphins and Francos.
Entering the game, it was clear that the losing team would have to climb an uphill to make the playoffs, while the winner would enjoy a much safer view from the inside, so the Golds were happy to come out and see what they did today.
Now some hot comments about some individual players: Bigger improvement than Rivers Precinct, Taylor is starting to look legit, Hilton still has something in the tank and needs to finish his career as Gold, after a hard start, Doyle has improved a lot in the last two games, Rock Ya-Chin Showed some flashes, but still looks green, Rodrigo is as reliable as coming in short kicks, I’m still not confident he’s hit 50+ yards, the Golds defense can not miss any games by Darius Leonard, and Anthony Walker has more of a responsibility in coverage.
Overall, this is a very definite win for the Golds and we should definitely enjoy it. The team went out in the playoff race away from Lucas Oil Stadium and dominated the tough opponent. Yes, the Raiders struggled late, but it was still a game to be won, and the Golds went out and did it.