Now, you could blame the Raiders defense for some of this. Rightfully so. At times, the defensive backs and linebackers were spectators rather than participants. But there is a way to overcome four receiving touchdowns by an opponent. And that's by scoring five touchdowns with your own team's receivers. The Lions' secondary was full of injuries -- defensive backs Chris Houston and Chris Harris were playing hurt -- and vulnerable.
So where were the Raiders wideouts at crunchtime?
It is entirely fair to compare the Lions' Johnson, a first-round pick in 2007, with the Raiders' Heyward-Bey, a first-round pick in 2009. For more than two years, followers of the Silver and Black have waited for Heyward-Bey to blossom. And he has, in a sense. Last week against the Packers, he had five catches for 78 yards. Sunday, he had eight receptions for 155 yards and a touchdown.
What he hasn't done, however, is learn to seize the moment. Heyward-Bey is the anti-situational player, if there is such a term. Against the Packers in the first half when the game was relatively close, Heyward-Bey dropped three passes. And on Sunday against the Lions, there was the crucial fumble. A reporter asked what happened on that play.
Best receivers so far from 2009 draft
1 Jeremy Maclin
2. Percy Harvin
3. Hakeem Nicks
4. Mike Wallace
.
.
.
9. Louis Murphy
.
.
41. Darrius Heyward-Bey
In two seasons, Heyward-Bey caught only 35 passes with nine drops. The fastest receiver in the draft was left in the dust by every other wide receiver selected in the first round.
Making it worse was the fact he was targeted 105 times with a reception rate of just 33.3 percent. It was that stat that prompted statistical analysis website Football Outsiders to pronounce Heyward-Bey one of the least valuable players in the entire NFL.
Through it all, former coach Tom Cable and Hue Jackson, first as offensive coordinator and then head coach, insisted Heyward-Bey was working hard at his craft. Results would follow, they promised.
In Year 3, while there is a ways to go for Heyward-Bey to be considered among the NFL's elite receivers, he is at least competitive with the rest of his draft class and has put up respectable numbers.
With 51 receptions
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for 775 yards and three touchdowns, Heyward-Bey will become the first wide receiver to lead the Raiders in receptions and yardage since Ronald Curry (55 receptions, 717 yards) in 2007. His rate of receptions per target is up to 56.9 percent, and while still plagued by the occasional dropped pass, they are becoming more infrequent, with five in 14 games.
If Heyward-Bey was ever bothered by the pressure of being the first receiver taken in his draft class -- and then struggling for two years -- he never let on.
Heyward-Bey, Boss benched coming out of bye week
Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 7, 2011, 7:42 PM EST
Reuters Raiders coach Hue Jackson insists wide receiver
Darrius Heyward-Bey and tight end
Kevin Boss weren’t benched on Sunday against the Broncos.
They just didn’t play a lot of football.
Heyward-Bey, who had been starting for Oakland, played only 12 snaps. He saw one target come his way, and played behind
Jacoby Ford,
Denarius Moore, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and
Chaz Schilens. Ford enjoyed a terrific game.
Jackson said Heyward-Bey’s offensive packages just didn’t factor in to Sunday’s gameplan. The
same was true for tight end Kevin Boss, who didn’t get on the field except for on special teams.
“I was surprised,’’ Boss said Monday via the
Oakland Tribune. “Coach’s decision.’’
Good or bad, there have been a lot of in-season changes to the Raiders offense. They haven’t been working lately and it has some in Oakland wondering if Jackson
knows what he’s doing.
http://www.raiderfans.net/forum/oakland-raiders-forum-message-board/175745-heyward-bey-poll.html
he is improving but shouldnt be put ahead of anyone imo
