The Raiders’ offense improved dramatically from week 4 to week 6, when rookie QB Derek Carr threw for 4 TDs en route to a late game 31-28 loss at home to the San Diego Chargers.
There are a few reasons for Oakland’s improvement that were apparent in the game video, but none more important than the re-emergence of the run game.
Here are my thoughts on the Raiders’ offense in week 6:
-The Raiders run game was suddenly resurgent, with Darren McFadden gaining 80 yards on just 14 carries, for an average of 5.9 yards per carry. Coming into the game, McFadden was only averaging slightly over 3 yards per carry, so this was a substantial difference for this game.
Not only were the Raiders able to pick up much-needed yards on the ground but, more importantly, the play calling was able to open up dramatically because the San Diego defense had to respond to the threat of the running game more than other opponents have versus the Raiders.
Furthermore, the Raiders were able to put themselves in many more short yardage situations than in previous games, which allowed them to get creative with playcalling and affording more opportunities for Carr to throw the ball vertically when the defense wasn’t expecting it.
The Raiders run game looked much better for a number of reasons but, perhaps, none more important than the offensive line, who had a very good game up front against a San Diego defense that had, in the first 5 weeks, been one of the most stout in the NFL.
Whether it was McFadden in the backfield or Maurice Jones-Drew (who added 30 yards on just 4 carries, himself, for an average of 7.5 yards per carry), the Oakland offensive line opened up some good sized holes for the backs to be able to get to the second level before being hit.
McFadden and Jones-Drew also ran much better than in previous weeks and McFadden showed good patience and vision, for once. Instead of simply picking an area and running straight towards it, hoping the hole will open up, McFadden looked much more like he was paying attention to the offensive line’s blocking and was using anticipation to predict where the best place for him to run would be.
Take the clip below, for example. In this clip, the offensive line blocks left and McFadden takes the handoff left, too, to start. The offensive line does a good job of getting the San Diego line to move with them, however, and McFadden sees that right tackle Menelik Watson has dominated the defensive end.
McFadden plants his left foot and makes a nice cut to the right to go outside Watson and picks up a quick and easy 5 yards as he isn’t touched until he makes it to the second level:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vu5ys2ayo8&feature=youtu.be
McFadden looked much more explosive this week and also seemed to be cutting better. This may be, in part, due to increased confidence in the offensive line but whatever the reason, the Raiders need him to keep doing it.
-The offensive line also had a good day in pass protection, overall. The Chargers were, at times, able to get some pressure on Carr but came away without a sack. Carr has only been sacked a few times this year, in fact, a testament to the pass protection of Oakland’s revamped offensive line.
As an example, here is a screen capture of the pocket that Carr had when he threw his first TD of the day – a long pass on a slow-developing route by Andre Holmes that took Holmes up the seam and then over the middle of the field. Carr wouldn’t have had time to wait for Holmes to be open if he hadn’t had good protection from the line:
I was concerned about Menelik Watson in at right tackle because he had struggled mightily, there, in preseason but it turned out that I had nothing to fear. Watson held up very well in pass protection throughout the game and even excelled in an area in which he previously had struggled which was handling stunts.
During the preseason, Watson struggled to recognize and react to stunts – when two defenders change places during their pass rush – and would sometimes continue to block a defensive end when he should instead pass the end off to the right guard and step out to take on the defensive tackle who is coming around.
In this game, though, Watson handled the stunts like a pro. In one memorable exchange, he looked almost perfect with this process of passing the end to his left and going into his kickstep to keep his body between Carr and the defender.
Watson is still raw, technically, but he is quite an athlete. His change of direction is explosive and allows him to recover against a more experienced opponent.
It appears that Watson will likely continue to start at right tackle this week, with Khalif Barnes still limited in practice due to a quad injury. We will see if Watson’s improvement continues this week or if he regresses back closer to where he was at the end of the preseason.
-Carr was a big focus of the video review because he is, perhaps, the most important person on the Raiders’ roster at this point. Carr continues to look like a star in the making and week 6 was, by far, his best game.
Carr was able to get through his progressions quickly and found open targets most of the time. He had the occasional mis-fire with his throws but overall he was confident and on-target.
Carr’s second TD throw, for example, was a good read on James Jones, who was running an option route. For the play, Jones was one of 3 receivers on the right side of the formation. When the ball was snapped, the other two receivers split left and right and Jones hesitated for a moment, reading the defense.
The Chargers had a linebacker covering Jones and the linebacker was shading to the outside, trying to take out the corner route option for Jones. Jones saw this and optioned his route to a slant route, taking what he was being given by the defense – an inside path. There were defenders to the inside but none right at or before the goal line.
Carr made the correct read on the defense, too, and placed the ball where Jones could get it on the slant route. Carr also threw it low, where Jones could make a play on it but where it would be unlikely to be popped up or intercepted if anything went wrong.
Carr’s third TD pass was a combination of a good read by Carr, good ball placement to lead his man – second year receiver Brice Butler, and a well designed play.
Here is a picture of the routes. As you can see, the Chargers are mostly up on the line but are playing a cover 2 defense, with both safeties over the top to prevent a big gain deep. The Raiders are in a shotgun spread formation with three receivers to the left, one to the right and McFadden next to Carr in the shotgun
At the snap, three of the routes go vertically, which takes their respective cornerbacks away from the line of scrimmage and keeps the two safeties deep to cover over top. At the same time, McFadden runs out of the backfield and into the flat, drawing a linebacker with him.
Butler, who is operating out of the flex position, right off the left side of the line, runs what initially appears to be a dig route to cut across the field and the cornerback plays the route like this is what Butler is doing.
When Butler suddenly stops and reverses direction to go back outside, then, the cornerback is completely shaken from the play. Carr puts the ball in a great position to lead him (noted by the x in the diagram above) and Butler then races down the field, beating the remainder of the defenders for a long TD.
Here is a screen capture of the separation that Butler had right as the ball arrived to him. Carr gets it to him perfectly so that he can turn and run up field and Butler is fast enough that he was able to out-race the defenders.
Here is video of the play from the All-22 video I use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-VsMPqnTU4&feature=youtu.be
-Overall, there was a lot to like about the offensive game plan and execution against the Chargers. The Raiders simplified the playbook and that seemed to help the players know what their assignment was on each play and they could focus on executing that assignment well.
Once the Raiders began to have success both running and passing the ball, the Chargers were forced to defend both and that allowed the Raiders to run different kinds of plays out of the same formation to great effect.
The Raiders will look to continue this success against the Cardinals, tomorrow. Carr’s development is the main focus for this team for the rest of this season and he needs to continue to show improvement so the team knows what they have in him going into 2015.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
