Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, after re-watching every offensive snap of the Raiders’ week 3 game versus the Patriots using NFL.com’s Game Rewind coaches film feature:
-Darren McFadden continues to show poor vision. He struggled in the zone scheme (twice) because he was not able to see where holes would open up by anticipating how the movements of offensive linemen would affect the holes. Instead, he runs towards holes that he can see open as he approaches.
The problem with him running this way is that frequently those holes are filled with a linebacker by the time he gets there. There were multiple examples of McFadden leaving yards on the field due to poor vision. If he had timing and anticipation to go along with his re-discovered hard running style, he could dramatically improve the paltry 3.3 yards per carry that he currently averages. Through 3 games, McFadden is only 38th in yards per carry among qualifying running backs.
-The offensive line had a very good game against the Patriots, as a group – especially the two tackles. Both Penn and Barnes were beat a few times during the game but neither gave up pressure that was too terrible and both handled defensive guru Bill Belichek’s defensive scheme wrinkles well.
Stefan Wisniewski also continued his strong season, making good line adjustments, and holding up well against Vince Wilfork, who he frequently played against one-on-one. Gabe Jackson looked very good, as well, and continues to get better every week.
Right guard Austin Howard had some good plays and some bad but he looked improved over the first two weeks and he’s still head and shoulders above Lucas Nix. All-in-all, the Raiders offensive line should give fans encouragement. Carr is getting pressured less and less every week as the offensive line improves coverage decisions and Carr gets more comfortable with them.
-Through 3 games, I think that Left tackle Donald Penn has been the best tackle that the Raiders have had in the time I’ve been covering Oakland – better than Jared Veldheer who always had promise but was not dominant. Penn has been pretty close to perfect, walling off opponents in the passing game with a strong anchored base and good footwork.
Penn’s solid play makes me wonder what the team would have done had he not been a late release from the Buccaneers. The Rodger Saffold debacle was a bad look for the Raiders but they lucked into Penn’s release – especially with Penn coming from California – and, as they say, it’s better to be lucky than good.
-One big reason the offensive line looks better – aside from the fact that they have much more talent this year – is that Carr looks to be very good at hitting the determined setup spot. On each play, the quarterback should be taking a pre-determined number of steps on his dropback and then setup behind the line of scrimmage that number of yards.
Offensive tackles know where the setup spot should be and they play their man with that spot in mind. If the quarterback abandons the setup spot, the offensive tackles will not necessarily know this and will be blocking their man with a poor angle in relation to the quarterback’s location. Terrelle Pryor was bad at hitting the setup spot, last year. Derek Carr appears to be pretty good at it.
-As the offensive line continues to gel and Carr gets more comfortable with them, the team will hopefully have to use Darren McFadden as a blocker less. McFadden stayed back on a large number of snaps and many times he was not necessary as a blocker. In the future, should the team be able to continue blocking well, it would be better to have him out on a route so as to either provide Carr with a checkdown option or to cause the defense to have to account for him and therefore rush fewer defenders.
McFadden looks to be much improved as a blocker, however, an area in which he has struggled before – even this season. He took on defenders well and didn’t whiff on any pass blocks. It was a very promising game for the team’s pass protection overall.
-The wide receiver corps was struggling even before Rod Streater was injured during this game. With Streater, their most consistently dynamic receiver out for at least a good stretch of the season, the wide receiver position is really hurting.
One player the Raiders absolutely cannot count on stepping up is Denarius Moore, who had a terrible game with several drops including the final Raiders pass that glanced off his hands, deflected off a defender and went right into the hands of Vince Wilfork for a game-sealing interception. Moore also struggled at other points in the game and seems almost unable to win one-on-one jumpballs, which is a necessary skill for a receiver in today’s NFL.
James Jones looks to have lost a step but he had the best hands on the team even before Streater’s injury. The team will have to lean a little heavier on him, which I count as a good thing. He isn’t a threat to break for a long TD every time he touches the ball but he’s sure-handed and savvy and, freak fumbling plays aside, he’s consistently the best receiver on the team this season – especially now.
-Mychal Rivera has not had a very strong season thus far and partially it’s because he is getting pushed around as a blocker. He also is not very much in-sync with Carr, yet, although that will likely come in time.
One particularly noticeable play came during the Raiders’ long drive in the middle of the third quarter. Rivera was blocking against one of the Patriots’ linebackers, Rob Ninkovich, and was expected to block him out of the play. Ninkovich stepped into Rivera and literally threw Rivera to one side and then made the tackle on Darren McFadden. It is plays like this that keep Rivera off the field in favor of the not-great-but slightly-better-blocker Brian Leonhardt.
Even when he is on the field, Rivera doesn’t necessarily make the right decisions. As an example, late in the fourth quarter, the Raiders faced 3rd & 9. The Patriots made a late blitz and Carr rolled right out of the pocket to avoid the blitzers.
When Carr rolled, Rivera was running a route into the flat in the same direction. Had Rivera been savvy, he would have recognized that his best bet was to break off his route and move up the field, giving Carr a chance to lob over the coverage to him. Rivera did not recognize this until Carr motioned to him to do so and by the time he did, it was too late – the safety arrived from over top and was able to knock down the pass. Rivera and Carr will need to get on the same page for Rivera to truly be an impact player at this point.
-Final thought: Carr has looked better each week and seems to be hitting his stride a bit more and gaining confidence. The offense still hasn’t looked very vertical but that isn’t all Olson’s fault – Carr will frequently throw to Darren McFadden or Marcel Reece as outlet receivers instead of testing defenses deep.
Carr has made mistakes, sure, but has kept bad mistakes to a minimum. He is going with more safe passes and checkdowns instead of home-run attempts. This is both good and bad – the Raiders will eventually need him to be a more dynamic passer and he certainly has the arm to do so. On the other hand, I can see value in making sure that he is completing passes efficiently and moving the ball down the field, something he and the offense were finally able to do last Sunday.
Tomorrow, the team will face the 1-2 Miami Dolphins in London, England at 10am PT. The Raiders will look to build off their strong game against the Patriots and go for their first win of the season.
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