Oakland Raiders Lose To Tenn Titans 42-21, Gave Up 116 Points In 3 Games, Las Vegas Stadium Update
The Oakland Raiders losses have gotten worse each week from the defensive standpoint. Against the Tennessee Titans the Raiders of Oakland gave up 552 yards of total offense to the visitors.
Think about that. The Raiders Titans loss featured a 391 yard passing day from the quarterback and a 103 yard day from just one of the three running backs. The defense should not have bothered coming to the Oakland Coliseum.
The good news for the Oakland Raiders Defense is that many Oakland Raiders fans of the “I see QB play, therefore he must call his own plays” variety are completely obsessed with the idea that Derek Carr is the root of all evil explaining the Raiders 2019 season.
Earth calling Raiders Fans who are pissed with Carr: he doesn’t play on defense, OK?
The Oakland Raiders problems are fixable, but they come down to three words: attention to detail.
When I look at Raiders video, I constantly see a team that doesn’t seem to choreograph its offensive line blocking. So, all too often of late, one lineman will block one way and at complete opposite purposes to the other. Want proof? Look at the first play for the Raiders Offense against the New York Jets from the coaches view.
And when it’s not the sync issue, there’s the design problem. There are college offenses that have better and more innovative run blocking schemes and approaches than what the Raiders showed this season. Look, overall, the run game design was better than the 4-12 Raiders of 2018. But it wasn’t light years better.
Having a rookie NFL Draft 1st Round running back named Josh Jacobs did help, but I contend the Alabama Crimson Tide Star could be closer to 2,000 yards than the 1,061 yards he amassed before the shoulder injury that should have never happened to him. But it did because the Raiders insisted on making the space-eating running back take the inside pounding of a runner who’s larger. That was Raiders Head Coach John Gruden’s major mistake. I wish John would drop the toughness crap and replace it with an analytical approach; the late Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry would have never employed Jacobs the way Gruden did.
Josh Jacobs Should Be In A Swoosh Offensive System
Josh Jacobs would fare better if Jon Gruden would reintroduce the use of runs from split backs formations, but incorporate a quarterback bootleg. Coach Gruden had the right idea when he installed the counter-off-tackle play that Marshawn Lynch ran 60 yards to paydirt to open the 2018 NFL Preseason for the Silver and Black against the LA Rams. The overall ‘go one way, run the other, false point of attack is in vogue in the NFL in the form of the read-option. But many don’t seem to realize it’s possible to incorporate that run action in an offense where the quarterback’s not a runner.
That said, Derek Carr can run, and presenting him as a run threat on running plays for Josh Jacobs would have gained more yards for Jacobs, and kept him out of the hospital, too.
Paul Gunther May Be Gone But Jon Gruden Needs To Carefully Consider What Defense He Wants Before Changing Coaches
I’m not a fan of firing coaches without a plan for the next coach. In the NFL, that tends to be done way too much, and Carolina Panthers Owner David Tepper’s going to realize it’s easier to run a hedge fund firm than an NFL team with his “angels and devils on my shoulder” approach to personnel matters. Same with Jon Gruden if he fires his defensive coordinator.
The question should not be one of what coach, but what scheme. No more of this anti-intellectual, drinking-game-level talk about how to fix the Raiders Defense. It’s time for thinking caps. This is, after all, the 21st Century.
I’m firmly convince the spread offense must be destroyed, and before it makes otherwise sound defensive coordinators afraid to coach. The only way to achieve that objective is to smash and crush and pinch the offensive line. Right now, defenses are changing to meet the spread offense in its field by asking players to play back and off the line of scrimmage. In my view, that’s just asking for a pulling guard to knock out my linebackers and defensive backs.
No way that’s happening.
The right defense must be a controlled, pinched, threat to strike from anywhere. The best way to beat the spread is to get to the quarterback as fast as possible. I have a full plan, so stay tuned.