The Las Vegas Raiders got a long look at former Cal quarterback Chase Garbers, who played the entire second half in the Raiders’ 15-13 win over the Miami Dolphins in a preseason game on Saturday.
Former Cal outside linebacker Cameron Goode had a strong game for the Dolphins in his bid to enter Miami’s regular season as a rookie, but we’ll focus on Garbers first.
Garbers’ numbers in his third NFL preseason game were decent — 6-for-9, 54 yards passing, no touchdowns, no interceptions, 82.6 passer rating, 44 rushing yards, two sacks. But the fact that the Raiders have given him so much playing time suggests they like what they’ve seen in Garbers so far and want to make a decision on what they want to do with him. Unfortunately, Garbers didn’t make a positive impression on the final pass play that was announced, which we’ll cover later.
In his three preseason games, Garbers is 12-for-18 for 108 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.
He’s listed as the Raiders’ No. 4 quarterback, and with Derek Carr the undisputed starter and Jarrett Stidham his presumed backup, Garbers will have to beat out Nick Mullens for the No. 3 quarterback spot, and that suggests Las Vegas will keep three quarterbacks instead of two. The fact that the Raiders signed Garbers as an undrafted free agent doesn’t help his cause.
Mullens made 17 starts in the NFL regular season and was 6-for-9 for 39 yards, no TDs or picks and a 75.7 passer rating entering Saturday.
Teams must reduce their rosters to 80 players by Tuesday, and Garbers hopes he can stay for the final preseason game next weekend. On August 30, two days after the final exhibition game, teams must arrive at the 53-man roster for the regular season.
Garbers entered the game on the Raiders’ first offensive possession of the second half and played the rest of the game. His most impressive contribution was his ability to fight. At Cal, he set a school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback and had two long tackles Saturday.
He was 3-for-4 for 11 yards on his first drive, which ended with a field goal. He scrambled for 18 yards on the fifth play of that drive and had another 7-yard run negated by an offensive line penalty. He also had a fumble on that possession erased by a defensive penalty.
Garbers threw his best pass of the day on the second possession, a 24-yard shoulder completion to Jesper Horstedt.
“That’s a really nice throw,” Raiders TV analyst Matt Millen said.
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The Raiders didn’t score on that possession, but got a field goal on the next, a 9-play, 62-yard drive directed by Garbers that ended with what became the game-winning field goal.
Garbers set up the field goal with a 28-yarder on the first play of that drive. But he had a chance to make a big impression when the Raiders faced third-and-goal from the Dolphins’ 4-yard line. But Garbers couldn’t find a receiver on that play, waited too long and was sacked.
As TV pundits note, “the ball has to come out.”
When the Dolphins subsequently missed a field goal that would have put them ahead with 1:34 left, the Raiders simply ran out the clock on Garbers’ final possession.
It was on that final Raiders possession that Goode derailed what had been a strong performance. On the first play of that drive in Las Vegas, Raiders running back Britt Brown broke away from Good, who failed to set the advantage, and scampered 36 yards. It won’t look good on tape, but the rest of Goode’s performance was impressive as he also played the entire second half.
Goode made a big play on the Raiders’ first drive of the second half, stopping Brown for a 1-yard loss after Brown caught a pass from Garbers on a second-and-13 play from the Miami 14-yard line. That was key because there were questions about whether Good would be able to cover running backs as receivers in space. Goode also made two stops for gains of 2 yards each on runs by running backs in that possession.
He finished the game with five tackles, including three solo stops and one tackle for loss. That’s in addition to his impressive numbers in his previous preseason game of six tackles, including five solo stops, a pass defense and a fumble recovery.
Goode, a seventh-round pick of the Dolphins last spring, is listed as Miami’s third weakside outside linebacker, so he has to do something special.
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