Raiders special teams: AJ Cole shows off arm on fake punt; Daniel Carlson money

Las Vegas pulls trick out of its bag as unit overall shines in Week 12 defeat

AJ Cole III is normally showcasing his powerful and accurate leg gamedays for the Las Vegas Raiders.

But this past Sunday, the Silver & Black’s reliable punter got to show of his arm on a fake punt that gained 34-yards against the visiting Denver Broncos.

Cole sending the ball into orbit on fourth downs has become such a common occurrence that assistant special teams coach Derius Swinton II — filling in for special team’s boss Tom McMahon who didn’t coach in the loss to the Broncos — dug into the Raiders bag of trick and dialed up the fake punt. Denver was clearly expecting Cole to punt on the 4th-and-4 situation in the second quarter that linebacker Divine Deablo found himself wide open on a drag route across the middle for the nifty gain.

The drive culminated in a field goal to boost the Raiders lead to 10-6 and it was a nice fake, equally nice throw, and a quality gain for Las Vegas — even if it was in a 29-19 losing effort.

Cole did punt four times and put up his usual gawdy numbers — 190 yards with an average of 47.5 yards per boot. The longest punt of the afternoon was a 60-yarder and two of Cole’s blasts were downed inside Denver’s 20-yard line (gunner DJ Turner downed a third-quarter boot at the one-yard line, for example).

Yet, in head-to-head, Cole was outdone by Broncos punter Riley Dixon who had four punts for 192 yards (48.0 average per boot). His long was a 54-yarder and he had two punts downed inside Las Vegas’ 20-yard line.

Flawless Carlson

Accounting for 13 of the Raiders’ 19-point total, place kicker Daniel Carlson was money on his attempts going 4-for-4 when called in to hit a field goal. He sent kicks from 34 (2), 53, and 22 yards out through the uprights and nailed his lone extra point attempt against Denver.

Not only that, but Carlson was also 5-for-5 on touchbacks on kick offs negating the Broncos’ ability to return the ball.

That all said, like Cole, Carlson was overshadowed by his counterpart, Denver kicker Wil Lutz — who went 5-for-5 on field goals (a long of 54) and 2-for-2 on point after attempts. Lutz finished with 17 of Denver’s total of 29.

Where They Stand

Cole remains atop the NFL with a 52.8 yard average per punt. He’s ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ Logan Cooke (51.6) and the Detroit Lions’ Jack Fox (51.1) in that category. Flip it to net average (average per punt with return yards and touchback yards taken into account) and Cole is fourth overall at 44.3. Cooke (46.4) and Fox (45.5) lead that category.

Overall, Cole is 14th in total punts (41) and 13th in yards (2,165). The Cleveland Browns’ Corey Bojorquez is the league leader in both categories at 58 punts and 2,920 yards, respectively. Cole is ranked 11th amongst punters with 18 of his punts being down inside the opponent’s 20-yard line and he has the third most touchbacks on the season with five. The New England Patriots’ Bryce Baringer has the most with eight.

Carlson, meanwhile, is eight in the NFL in field goal attempts with 24. The Houston Texans’ Ka’imi Fairbairn tops the league with 34 attempts and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Chris Boswell is close behind with 33.

Carlson is sixth in field goals made at 22. Boswell and Fairbairn lead that category with 31 and 28 makes, respectively. Field goal percentage wise, Carlson sits at eighth with a 91.7 percent rate. The Detroit Lions’ Jake Bates is the lone kicker in the league who hasn’t missed (16-for-16).

Laube’s Splash

The return unit of Las Vegas’ special teams has been dormant for much of the 2024 campaign. But rookie running back Dylan Laube had a splash play returning a kick off 59 yards to set the team up with excellent field position towards the end of the first quarter.

The New Hampshire product darted up the field and to the right taking the ball to Denver’s 40-yard line to electrify the Allegiant Stadium crowd. Seven plays later, the Raiders scored a touchdown.

That kick return was the longest since Dwayne Harris’ 72-yarder back in the 2019 season.

Up Next: Friday’s matchup marks the 132nd time the Raiders and Chiefs tango. Kansas City leads the overall series 74-55-2 and the most recent outing between the two teams was a 27-20 by the Chiefs in Allegiant Stadium. In 11 career games against the Chiefs, Cole has punted 35 times for 1,662 yards for an average of 47.49 per boot. He’s dropped the ball inside the 20 12 times while having three touchbacks against Kansas City. Likewise, Carlson is equally effective as he’s 19 of 21 on field goal sand 21 of 24 on extra points in 13 career games against Kansas City. In the Week 8 loss, Carlson went 2-for-2 on both field goals and point after attempts. Suffice it to say, but expect Cole to get plenty of work with Carlson (hopefully) getting into the mix, too.

Extra Points: Linebackers Amari Burney and Tommy Eichenberg paced the Raiders special teams unit with 29 snaps (85 percent of the group’s total). Fellow linebacker Amari Gainer racked up 27 snaps (79 percent) while wide receiver DJ Turner netted 21 snaps (62 percent) and linebacker Kana’i Mauga had 20 (59 percent). Rookie cornerback Decamerion Richardson didn’t play a single snap on special teams — something he’s been doing — as he started on defense and fellow corner Sam Webb got 11 special teams snaps. Linebacker Divine Deablo only played five snaps on special teams but one of them was the fake punt catch.