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The Las Vegas Raiders saw the return of Brock Bowers, who looked like his old self in the 30-29 overtime loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on November 2 at Allegiant Stadium. Bowers hasn’t looked healthy since the Raiders’ Week 1 win over the New England Patriots. Despite playing through a knee injury, Las Vegas finally shut him down to fully heal from the setback to start the season. Moreover, that decision was right considering how Bowers played against the Jaguars. The Georgia product recorded 12 receptions for 127 receiving yards and three touchdowns. Although Bowers’s individual performance was fantastic, he didn’t hold back on how it felt to return to the field in a Raiders loss. “It’s not a great feeling,” Bowers said postgame (h/t Vegas Sports Today). “You want to come back in here and celebrate with the guys. It sucks. You can’t celebrate anything… I think we’re definitely still working on finding that identity, especially now that we’re getting everyone back to full strength. So I’m just excited to see what the rest of the year holds.” Raiders QB Geno Smith Talks Brock Bowers Return With Bowers back for Las Vegas, quarterback Geno Smith had a security blanket to go to in the middle of the field. Moreover, it seemed as though the veteran signal caller only had eyes for Bowers. Nonetheless, the young pass catcher did repay Smith for having so much trust in him. “He’s one of the best players on our team, one of the best players in the NFL,” Geno Smith said postgame (h/t Raiders.com). “He just makes my job so easy; he does everything so well. He made some phenomenal catches today. “A lot of those catches a lot of guys don’t make. You can just see his impact on the game when he’s out there. He’s such a dynamic player. At one point, they were double-teaming him, triple-teaming him trying to stop him and that just opens the field for the rest of the guys.” Now the Raiders have little time to regroup before their Week 10 road game against the Denver Broncos, with just three days to recover. At 2-6, their playoff hopes are gone, leaving them focused on finishing the season strong and playing spoiler down the stretch. Raiders Have Positive Takeaways Despite Loss to Jaguars Despite the overtime loss, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll pointed to several positives from the team’s performance as they look to build off the performance. Las Vegas will look to have a better showing on the road this time around after losing 31-0 to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7. “This was a really positive game in so many ways,” said Pete Carroll (h/t Raiders Wire). “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get off the field in the second half. Our numbers in the first half, we did great… It just pisses me off. The all-time longest field goal in the history of the game. “And a missed extra point. So, there’s a lot of positives. We played well, we did a lot of good things today. Our resolve about hanging tough and keep coming back and keep working to finish.”
