RUN. THE. BALL.

This crowd is basically splitting hairs over the decision to pass the ball on 2nd and 5 on our third drive of the game in the 2nd quarter. We possessed the ball 5 times in the first half and scored on 3 of them. We only had 9 possessions for the entire game including our last garbage time possession when the game was iced.

1st drive - heavy ground game, resulting in FG.
2nd drive- heavy ground game, resulting in TD.
3rd drive- run on 1st down, 5 yard gain -- 2nd down wide open Deonte Harris drops the ball, taking us off of schedule. 3rd and 5 incomplete, punt.
4th drive- pass heavy drive, resulting in TD.
5th drive- obvious passing drive, 2 minute drill -- interception.

If Deonte Harris catches that ball and we score on that drive, either bringing us to 17-0 or 13-0, this is a different ballgame.

I don't even want to talk about the 2nd half, because it makes me sick. We only possessed the ball 4 times, and only once in the 3rd quarter.

1st drive- 2 pass plays for 36 yards. 1st and 10 from our 39, we run it -- both a Kamara fumble and a holding call. 1st and 20, 4 yard pass. 2nd and 16 is a 12 yard pass setting us up for a manageable 3rd and 4.. wait, Ramzcyk gets beat, holding. 2nd and 26... 15 yard gain on 2nd and 26, but we get a very questionable blindside block call. I really don't know what running more on this drive would have accomplished, especially from the 1st and 20 point. We were rolling on this drive until we hit a sequence of 4 plays that included 2 holds and a 15 yard blindside penalty.
2nd drive- This is a drive I could see us maybe strapping up and running more -- 1st and 10 Kamara runs for 5, 2nd and 5 we pass for 5. 1st and 10 Drew misses a wide open Josh Hill, 2nd and 10 we run for 3, 3rd down incomplete. But if Drew hits Josh on 1st and 10, we're not having this conversation.
3rd drive- Down 14, fast tempo, we score in 3 minutes.
4th drive- Garbage time.

I'm breaking this down to showcase that it's not just as simple as 'rah rah, run the ball' -- Oakland literally held the ball for the entire game after their 2nd drive. What we were calling on offense was working, both runs and passes, but at a certain point players have to execute. There can't be 4 wide open drops (Sander x2, Harris x1, Montgomery x1). There can't be a sequence of 3 penalties in 4 plays. Our quarterback can't miss wide open guys and throw a devastating interception before halftime. And the biggest culprit, our pass defense, needs to be held accountable for not being able to get off of the field on 3rd and 4th down. Beginning with Oaklands 3rd drive, they went 10-15 on 3rd down and 2-2 on 4th down. That's 12 conversions that our defense allowed. Can not happen. This team is usually fantastic with mid-game adjustments. We came out with the right gameplan, because Oakland was looking to push it down the field and we shut that down. But when they adjusted and went to a quick passing game, we literally were clueless.

I've criticized Sean for not sticking to the run before, so I'm not an apologist in that regard. But this isn't the game to call for his head for that. Penalties, drops, a deadly turnover before halftime, and last but not least an absolute terrible showing by our passing defense are the reasons we are leaving Vegas with the L.