Henry Ruggs speed kills for Las Vegas

After Alabama’s Henry Ruggs speed kills 40-yard dash at the 2020 NFL Scouting Incorporate at 4.27 secs, the Las Vegas Raiders made the former Lee-Montgomery standout the first pass receiver selected in the 2020 NFL Draft.

The Raiders could have chosen his Alabama teammate, Jerry Jeudy, that has 58 functions for 928 lawns and 3 goals in his NFL profession. Or Oklahoma’s CeeDee Lamb, who has 89 functions for 1,120 backyards and 6 goals. Or LSU’s Justin Jefferson, who has 99 functions for 1,536 backyards and 8 touchdowns.

Ruggs has 33 functions for 611 yards and also three touchdowns for Las Vegas. While his stats do not match some of the wide receivers taken after Ruggs in the first round, Raiders coach Jon Gruden praised Ruggs in 3 Las Vegas’ triumphes, consisting of Sunday’s 26-17 success over the Pittsburgh Steelers, which featured a 61-yard goal catch by Ruggs.

” That is among the reasons we took Ruggs,” Gruden stated. “He blew the complete in Arrowhead as well as assisted us win that video game, and the Jets. And today, that was a huge play. Not many men can run that quick and track the round, and so without getting into any specifics, it was absolutely a big play.”

Last season, Ruggs caught a 72-yard touchdown pass that placed the Raiders in front for good in a 40-32 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs and also captured a 46-yard TD pass with 5 secs to play that lifted Las Vegas past the New York City Jets 31-28.

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Since Ruggs went into the NFL, he’s one of the four gamers with 3 goal receptions of a minimum of 45 yards, joining Nelson Agholor, former West Alabama standout Tyreek Hill and Tyler Lockett. Marquez Valdes-Scantling is the only gamer with four.

” It feels good simply to be a guy that can turn a game around at any moment,” Ruggs said, “as well as simply make a play like that to generally seal the video game. That’s the feeling I like.”

The Raiders had a two-point lead when quarterback Derek Carr supplied a deep toss to Ruggs on third-and-10 for a 61-yard touchdown as Las Vegas grabbed a 23-14 lead with 9:35 left in the video game.

” When you call plays, sometimes you hit the lotto, occasionally you do not,” Gruden stated. “Sometimes you do not get the protection you want, sometimes you do, as well as I think we got the individually that we looked for. We didn’t get the security as specifically like we intended to. We had actually hoped it would have been cleaner for Derek, but he hung in, made an excellent throw with an unblocked Steeler in his face to his right. However we got the protection we had actually expected, we got the match we had actually wanted, and also give Ruggs credit history, give Carr credit history– they made a hell of a play in a really purposeful circumstance.”

Carr said Ruggs’ speed made the play work.

” It feels so nice to have the guys to be able to do that,” Carr claimed. “I had a read, I had a progression and all that type of things just if had not been there that I can undergo and all that sort of stuff, but they offered us a great appearance. Nearly got house with a blitz, also. But Henry’s so quick. Speed eliminates, which is just one of the benefits of his rate showing up to where he can obtain open like that so fast and so quick that the blitz– I mean, it got there, yet I had time to toss it.”

Ruggs defeated cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, and previous Alabama All-American Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers’ free safety, could not fairly get to Ruggs after at first moving to help cover limited end Darren Waller.

” It was a moon round,” Ruggs claimed. “He simply threw it up, and also I just needed to run and obtained get it. Do whatever I needed to make the play. …

” The first thing is: Do not drop it. Honestly, when I saw that one, it was: Run. He threw it up, it was just like: Go get it. That’s all I could think of: Go get it and also don’t drop it.”

Ruggs ended up the game with five functions for 113 yards, the second 100-yard efficiency of his career.

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The Raiders beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh despite the fact that Josh Jacobs, their Pro Dish running back from Alabama, missed the video game, and also their beginning guards, Richie Incognito and Denzelle Good, really did not play either. Alex Leatherwood, Las Vegas’ first-round newbie from Alabama, left his area at right tackle about midway via the game with what Gruden called a “back stress” on Monday.

” It simply shows that this group can prepare under any type of conditions and also head out and do what needs to be done,” Ruggs said. “… We got people prepared to step up at any time. Everybody’s waiting on their possibility and their possibility just to make a play as well as assist the team out.”

The Raiders will certainly try to boost to 3-0 when they square off versus the Miami Dolphins at 3:05 p.m. CDT Sunday at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada.

Carr finished the game against Pittsburgh with an ankle joint injury, as well as Gruden claimed on Monday he had not been sure if the QB would prepare to play against Miami. The Dolphins also have an enigma at quarterback after previous Alabama All-American Tua Tagovailoa received a rib injury in Sunday’s video game versus the Buffalo Costs.

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