Listening to Jon Gruden and his players over the past few weeks, it’s clear they believe the Raiders offense is close to being one of the better offenses in the league. Too many interceptions and not enough touchdowns in the red zone have led to an underwhelming 1-3 record, but despite their problems, the Raiders’ offense ranks second in the NFL in total yards (441 yards per game), trailing only the Rams.
Derek Carr is averaging 333 passing yards per game which ranks behind only Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jared Goff, and Ben Roethlisberger. Not bad for a new offense that has missed quite a few of opportunities over the first four weeks of the season. A number of costly mistakes have been made by Carr, but Gruden said others have been on him, so as quarterback and coach continue to grow in the offense, there’s plenty of reason for optimism.
One observation to this point is how much more comfortable Carr seems to be in shotgun and also how much better the Raiders are running the ball when Carr isn’t under center (more details coming on that later today).
Marshawn Lynch is averaging 9.4 yards per carry on shotgun runs this season. Best among all RBs. League average is 4.4 yards. #Raiders
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) October 1, 2018
Lynch has only taken 17 carries out of shotgun and there’s no question the offensive line has been blocking better in those situations. Overall, the Raiders rank 16th in the league in rushing yards per game with a 3.9 YPC average that ranks 21st in the NFL.
The offensive numbers got an obvious boost against the Browns this week, but it’s important to remember that the Browns had previously held the Saints, Steelers, and Jets to 21 points or less. Quarterbacks facing the Browns prior to the Raiders had a 72.4 rating and had thrown three touchdowns against five interceptions.
With a huge matchup against the Chargers this week, look for Gruden to open up the offense even more and hopefully inject fewer formations with the quarterback under center. Drawing up better plays in the red zone might be a nice idea, too.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Yeah. If we just had a an average defense, with SOME bit of pass rush, we could at least be .500, maybe better. They’re giving the opposing QB 5 full seconds to find a receiver or enough room to run for a 1st down. This team will do absolutely nothing until they get MUCH better on defense. A great free agency period and a monster draft need to happen this coming off-season because the personnel they’ve got just isn’t playoff worthy.
The offense is going to light it up for years to come, which is a positive at least….
Mike and I have been watching same games. Nice summation.
Need to pressure QBs. Collapse the pocket. Rush the passer.Get at the QB. Generate a pass rush. Letting Keenum and Mayfield sit back and sip Mai Tais until a reciever gets open is frustrating to watch. Even the Rams game was winnable but not without some pressure on the QBs.