Raiders Offensive Woes Fuel Fan Frustrations.

The Oakland Raiders had a dismal performance against the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday. The defense shot itself in the foot time and again in the first half, which allowed the Vikings to hang 21 points on the Raiders in the first 19 minutes of the game. While that performance certainly disappointed fans, it was the lackluster performance of the offense that took center stage.

When the Vikings converted the extra point to make the game 21-0 they actually had as many points as the Raiders offense had in total yards. The biggest point of contention though was the passing game and the performance of Derek Carr. All one has to do is look at the box score play-by-play to see why fans are fuming. Short pass, short pass, short pass. In fact there are 30 plays that were listed as short passing plays, which has fueled fans frustrations with Carr, Coach Jon Gruden, and the play calling itself. AP writer Josh Dubow summed it up with one tweet.

#Raiders last 17 drives:
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
End of half
INT
INT
Punt
Punt
Punt
Punt
INT
TD
Punt
Punt
Downs
Missed FG

— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) September 22, 2019

To be perfectly fair, the Raiders did score on the final drive, which certainly did not improve their chance of winning, but could be something to build on for next week.

So Who is to Blame for the Offensive Woes?

This question was posed to our very own Senior Analyst Chris Reed. “It’s a little more nuanced than that. There were some plays that were well defended so a different play call would be better. Some throws that could have been more accurate or to a different receiver. Some open receivers Carr saw but didn’t get time in the pocket,” said Reed.

And Reed is absolutely correct.

Carr ended the game 27 of 34 passing with 242 yards for two touchdowns and one interception. That stat line should suggest the Raiders offense was humming away, with it’s front man completing just about 80% of his passes. Unfortunately most of those yards came in the last part of the second and forth quarters – and did result in two touchdowns, but also a punt and missed field goal attempt.

Which leads us to the play calling and game management. At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Raiders had a six and a half minute drive that ended with a sack and a 51-yard field goal attempt on 4th and 18. I am sure the probability of making the field goal (which hit the upright) versus having to make 18 yards made this decision easy for Gruden. However, the Raiders were down 31-7 at that point with only eight minutes or so left on the clock. To fans it appeared that the Raiders pretty much tossed in the towel at that point. One last thing about the play calling, former Raiders quarterback, Rich Gannon, had far and away his best year one year removed from Gruden, and Derek Carr had his best two seasons with former Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.

Something has to give. Hopefully this is but a stumbling block and the offense begins clicking sooner than later. But at the end of the day, if the offensive woes continue, there will be hard questions to answer at the end of the season for both Carr and Gruden.

twitter: @raidersbeat