Last week was one of the most difficult weeks the Raiders have endured as an organization in a long time. There are still a lot of questions to be answered since the resignation of Jon Gruden, but some of the real short-term curiosities about the team’s post-Gruden offense were answered on Sunday afternoon.
For the most part, the offense still looked like a Gruden offense. Mainly because it still is Gruden’s offense. But there were three non-so-subtle differences with offensive coordinator Greg Olson calling the plays.
The Raiders called more play-action passes
“The Raiders used play action on seven of their 29 dropbacks, or 24.1 percent of the time, according to TruMedia. That’s after entering the week having used play action a league-low 25 times on 225 dropbacks, or 11.5 percent. Carr completed 4-of-6 passes (he was also sacked once) for 51 yards using play action.”
Another stat source had the Raiders using play action passes on 27 percent of pass plays on Sunday afternoon.
Even going back to his days before Gruden, Derek Carr didn’t use play action a lot. There were reports in that past that said he didn’t feel as comfortable with play-action passes, but there is no question that play-action passes were a big part of the offensive gameplan on Sunday. The Raiders may not have had huge success using play action, but it’s fair to wonder if those calls may have opened things up for the running game a little more.
The screen pass is back, baby!
Gruden almost never called screen passes so it was no surprise on Sunday that the Broncos were gouged by the Raiders’ on a well-executed screen in the third quarter.
Jacobs’ 29-yard screen pass led to a touchdown two plays later that put the Raiders ahead by three scores with 11:33 to play in the third quarter. The last time the Raiders led any team by three scores in the third quarter was week 16 of the 2018 season when they led Case Keenum and the Broncos 17-0.
For what it’s worth, the Raiders have beaten the Broncos in 5 of their last 6 games.
The running game is back… at least for one week
With Gruden no longer plays, who thought the Raiders would run the ball more?
The Raiders offense was balanced in their first two drives (7 runs, 7 passes) before leaning more on Carr’s arm later in the game. Jacobs and Kenyan Drake combined for 87 yards on 20 carries, which was much more effective that what they had been through the first five games.
The Raiders’ offensive line seemed to get more push than in previous weeks and it will be interesting to see if that trend can continue. It is worth noting, however, that the Broncos have the no. 5 run defense in the NFL, giving up an average of only 85.5 rushing yards per game – albeit against some of the worst teams in the NFL.
And one final observation for the week…
The Broncos are really bad.
twitter: @raidersbeat