Three Crucial Plays: A review of the Raiders’ 2023 season’s most significant plays

Selecting just three plays to sum up a season is difficult.

Throughout the 2023 season, there were highs and clutch victories for the Las Vegas Raiders. The Silver and Black had a few memorable games, including beating the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs on the road the next week and scoring a franchise-high 63 points at home against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Throughout the season, they had some incredible plays that helped to define them in addition to crucial victories. The season’s most important offensive, defensive, and special teams moments are analyzed in the next three plays. I should emphasize that this is all subjective.

Week 16 offensive play against the Kansas City Chiefs: Zamir White’s 43-yard dash

Fourth quarter, 2:35 LV at the LV 31 for 2nd and 4th
Unquestionably, Zamir White’s coming out party took place in Week 16.

Entering the second half, the Raiders were comfortably ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs. This resulted in two defensive touchdowns in the second quarter in a span of seven seconds. The offense was struggling to find its rhythm, while the defense was dominating throughout the contest against players like Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. Only three additional points had been scored by the Raiders in the second half, and quarterback Aidan O’Connell had not completed a throw since the opening frame.

White took matters into his own hands after starting in his second NFL game in lieu of an injured Josh Jacobs. With the offensive play of the game coming late in the fourth quarter to preserve the 20-14 victory, he finished with a career-high 145 rushing yards. After linebacker Willie Gay was tackled broken, he found an opening between Jermaine Eluemunor and Austin Hooper on the right side and ran for a first down and some change.

Along with the running back, the Raiders offensive line—which Pro Football Focus ranked as one of the league’s best 10 units—also put up a fantastic play on the rush.

This play’s significance stems from its metaphorical “slamming of the door.”

Protection
Week 15: Jack Jones’ interception against the Los Angeles Chargers is returned 16 yards for a score.

Fourth quarter, at the LAC 22 at 14:31 LAC 2nd and 13
When I watched this play live, it seemed as though Jack Jones was in midair and the entire game had stopped.

The play was designed especially for Jones by defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who anticipated that the Chargers would adopt a four-by-one formation. Easton Stick, the quarterback for the Chargers, hit Austin Ekeler with a screen, as expected. The Raiders cornerback timed the pass perfectly to intercept it and take it inside the house.

Jones’s instinctiveness was great, but what really stood out was how he made the interception. He twisted his body like an acrobat, catching the ball with one hand.

[H]e’s an instinctual football player and we try to encourage that as much as possible,” Graham stated. “And now, that one-handed grab that resembled Michael Jordan’s rim-kissing dunk? That’s what I saw. I couldn’t help but think of the way he caught it when I continued winding it back. It resembled Michael Jackson’s kiss-the-rim dunk.”

The next week, Jones again produced a pick-six against the Chiefs that easily could have taken the top spot in my rankings. But I