The talk of the last few days has been the big plays the Raiders defense allowed to the Dallas Cowboys. However, a bigger concern should be the offense's inability to generate their own big plays. Through eleven games, the Raiders have only been able to generate three plays of 50 or more yards.
(AP Photo/Erich Schlegel)
Through the offseason and into training camp, Tom Cable said that the Raiders would be looking to throw the ball deep this season. That may have been the plan, but in practice has turned out to be a miserable failure. The Raiders have had only three plays of over fifty yards over eleven games. There were five times this year that the Raiders passing offense could not crack one hundred yards.
The switch from Russell to Gradkowski has produced the third and fourth best total offensive outputs of the 20009 season. (Numbers one and two were the home and away games against the San Diego Chargers respectively.) However, the bigger total offense has not brought about the big plays that were being promised with the addition of Darrius Heyward-Bey and Darren McFadden in the past two years. In fact, so far this season those two have combined for exactly zero of the big plays. Louis Murphy and Zach Miller contributed 57 and 86 yard receptions, whilst Michael Bush added a 60 yard run.
The defense has taken heat, and deservedly so, for giving up big plays. However, the defense has been keeping them in the game more often than not. The bigger concern is the Raiders inability to get into the endzone. They have two games where they scored two touchdowns, but have not had more than two all season. They also had three games without crossing the goal line. The Raiders are averaging less than one td per game. This is not a recipe that will bring many wins.
They say that its defense that wins championships, but the offense still has to score points. To score points, an offense needs to be able to make the occasional big play. The Raiders offense is not doing much of either.
You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.
Comments
Its a waste of time, the problems are obvious, offensive line is average at best, linebackers can't stop the Run, the Man to man coverage is killing the team. NEED I WRITE MORE?
It's like I have been saying forever, your best talent has to be on the lines first. Al refuses to draft the lines with the highest draft picks and this is the reason the Raiders have been the laughing stock of the NFL since the era immediately leading to their last Superbowl. Al refuses to relinguish control of the team allowing the inmates to run the asylum and now Al has checked himself into a room. God help us Raider fans as Al will kill this team before he does the right thing.
Well Pat, it seems Howie and TonyT are on to something. It was evident, against the Cowboys, we need a center to not be a rag doll for the opposing defensive tackle (Radcliffe). Furthermore, having a legit run-stuffing defensive tackle and middle linebacker to shore up our defensive would be beautiful. On offense, say goodbye to Cornell Green, be patient with our receivers and get Mcfadden touches. Right now, Mcfadden is a scat back. I don't think he is strong enough to take the load of the carries right now. Use him like Ronnie Harmon was used in his heyday for now, until Mcfadden gets stronger in his lower legs.
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