Raiders WR Seth Roberts comes through in the clutch against the Titans once again

When referring to his Oakland Raiders players I can still hear Al Davis say “He was a great clutch player.”

I think Al would apply that same maxim to wide receiver Seth Roberts. Especially when Roberts is facing the Houston Oilers…..ehhhh….sorry I meant the Tennessee Titans.

Early in the fourth quarter the Raiders were leading the Titans 16-13 when the Seth Roberts/Derek Carr combo broke the backs of the Tennessee Titans again. Oakland mounted a 7 play drive from their own 30 which was capped off by a laser-like pass from Derek Carr to Seth Roberts for six points.

The touchdown was the only time that Derek Carr targeted one of his best clutch receivers but it was enough. The extra point gave Oakland a 23-13 advantage and even though Tennessee had the reminder of the fourth quarter to retake the lead they could not overcome the two score deficit that Roberts helped establish.

The Raiders are now 10-0 in games that witness a Seth Roberts touchdown. Three of those victories have come at the expense of the Tennessee Titans.

In 2015, Roberts torched the Titans secondary for 113 yards on six receptions. He also scored two second half touchdowns helping lift Oakland to a 24-21 victory.

One year later, the Raiders and Titans were locked in another close game when Roberts made more big plays. The most important play was a 19 yard touchdown pass which gave Oakland a 17-3 advantage. The game later turned into a defensive struggle but the touchdown to Roberts was enough to lift the Raiders to a 17-10 win.

In three games against Tennessee Seth Roberts has caught 9 passes for 159 yards. More importantly, four of those nine receptions have resulted in Raiders touchdowns and all three games were close victories in which Oakland won by 10 points or less.

That makes every point vital and Roberts has provided Oakland 24 of the Raiders 67 points versus Tennessee.

Clutch touchdown passes to Seth Roberts like the one we saw on Sunday should come as no surprise because he has come through for the Raiders so many times already.

Sure I question his route running at times and his issues with dropped passes is well documented. However, when Derek Carr needs someone to make a game changing touchdown he looks for Seth Roberts. That alone makes him a key part of this offense and it backs up the reasoning behind the new contract that he signed a couple of weeks ago.

Although he needs to improve his game, Seth Roberts has come up big so many times for the Oakland Raiders that you cannot ignore the fact that he deserves a roster spot and an opportunity to do it again.

I hope he does the same thing for the next 15 regular season games. Stick the stake in the heart of the opponent and “Just Win Baby”.