The Raiders scored more than 24 points only three times last season, all against non-playoff teams, despite allocating a disproportionate amount of their salary-cap space on offensive players. Things are even more slanted toward the offensive side of the ball this year, even though the Raiders spent heavily on defensive players such as linebackers Cory
Raiders spending highest percentage of salary-cap space on offensive players, without desired returns
Great piece, Cork. Didn’t see the Off the Ball Sports rationale behind their ratings, but got to think that enough progress has been made, with new pieces in place, for this kind of jump. There have been and will continue to be a lot of distractions this year that will either help or hurt the team depending on how they are handled. Hoping we’ll see a big improvement in year three!
Thanks, Matt. The question is, how much will the additions help? Jason Witten, Henry Ruggs III, Bryan Edwards, Nelson Agholor and Lynn Bowden Jr. are the main offensive additions. Of those, only Ruggs III has a realistic shot at being a starter right away. So, the bulk of the production is going to come from returning players.
And Raiders have to do better in the 3rd quarter. I saw a stat the other day that showed they were among bottom 3 for scoring in the third quarter.
Red Zone and second half points have to improve. That’s on Gruden and Carr.
Correct on much of this being on Gruden and Carr. Off The Ball Sports rated both highly in their rankings, so the onus is upon Gruden and Carr to perform better in those areas, for sure.
I would say the pressure is more on Gruden. He has to show he can adjust the game plan as needed, especially in the second half. He simply hasn’t demonstrated that ability. Also, Gruden talks about making the deep strike in the passing game. It would help if he would only call those plays.
On DC, I would say he needs to play better to his skill set. He has the athleticism to make plays. This is where Gruden also needs to use DC better. Maybe use Mariota and DC in the backfield at the same time?? Who’s going to receive the snap?
And, please, Derek, don’t extend the ball out.
Off the ball sports have Denver rated higher than the Raiders 8th vs 9th. Carr gets a 13 out of 25 and whoever’s Denver’s QB is rated at 16 that’s better than Tommy Tuck. I think as the dropped passes goes down the Raiders will improve.