Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock made a slew of moves the past two offseasons in hopes of checking off those boxes for seasons to come. Instead, many of those changes haven’t panned out and need to be addressed once again. Hence, Gruden and Mayock have a to-do list that is
Raiders’ offseason to-do list longer than expected for Jon Gruden, Mike Mayock
Too much focus on the offensive side of the ball. Mayock and Gruden need to get defensive playmakers and/or coaches who can turn some of the current talent into playmakers.
I am really sick of hearing that the offense needs (another) wide receiver. The team doesn’t use the WRs that it has right now correctly. Ruggs should be getting more touches, Edwards and Renfrow should be third down stalwarts, Waller should be the main target, Agholor can keep doing what he does, etc.
Focus on getting this defense to at least the middle of the pack and keep Mariota for red zone offense plays.
Michelle steps off of her soapbox now . . .
Absolutely correct. Gruden isn’t using Ruggs (12th overall pick) enough. Yes, Waller and Agholor are your top performers, but Ruggs has been targeted only 5 times twice all season! CD Lamb has only been targeted less than 5 times in only 1 game. You don’t draft a WR in the 1st round just to spread the defense…you draft him to call passes.
With Jacobs, when he’s not having success pounding up the middle, Gruden needs to try to get him the ball in open space on screens, or at least mix it up. He’s been banged up, but he only has two games over 100 yards.
And our Red Zone and third down offense has gone down hill since mid season.
I just hope they can make the tweeks on offense, and fill the huge gaps on defense, so when I fly into Vegas to watch next season’s games, I’ll leave with a smile on my face. I would have suffered through a 2-6 home record this season.
If Allen Robinson is available, its enticing to think what Raiders offense could do with a true #1 WR (isn’t drafting a WR like Ruggs at pick 12 overall derive you a #1 WR? I digress. Yet that money really should be used for the defense. Defense needs significant upgrades.
I’m torn on keeping Trent Brown. A cheaper more reliable RT could be had. However, I’d keep him.
“There isn’t much Gruden and Mayock can do with Ruggs III and Edwards besides hoping they take a huge leap next season and go from seldom-targeted receivers to reliable targets for Carr.”
Wow! So apparently they are to be blamed for being ‘seldom-targeted’ and not ‘reliable targets’?!
Those of you with cable TV that facilitates replaying the NFL channel broadcasts, can check the accuracy of such characterization by looking at the replay of the Miami game.
At the beginning of Q2, on 3rd-and-8 to go at 13:42 to go in Q2, Carr hesitated to pull the trigger (as he does so often), and got sacked. After the play, they ran a replay from the camera angle behind Carr showing Ruggs running a go route downfield, wide open, step ahead of the CB who had no safety help. Carr ignored him, held the ball and got sacked. So much for the supposed ‘lack of separation’ by Ruggs.
On the following 3rd-and-8 play, Carr failed to throw to wide open Edwards running an out route 10 yards downfield, even thou he was looking in his direction and had time to throw. Instead, he choose to to step up, straight into a sack. So much for ‘lack of separation’ by Edwards.
Two successive failures to throw to either of those receivers when wide open – is that what receivers should be blamed for?
If you’ve had a chance to look regularly throughout the season at the coaches tape (for example, on NFL Gamepass), you would’ve seen that both Ruggs and Edwards have been open numerous times and Carr never threw it their way. So, those examples above are just the most recent illustrations of the season-long pattern – Carr/Gruden do not target them more than 2-3 times per game, with plenty of missed opportunities when they were wide open. Whether it’s because Gruden did not call their names or Carr was scared sh**tless to throw an incompletion to guys ‘he’s just not comfortable with’, it doesn’t matter – blame ought to be shared by those two, not the receivers.
Next, let’s look at the two situations in the Q4 when Gruden finally decided to call Ruggs name.
With 13:47 to go in Q4, on 3rd-and-3 at Miamai 48, Ruggs was running a crossing rout 12 yards deep, had a step on the CB, but instead of leading him across with the throw, Carr threw the ball just behind him, enough for Howard to break the pass. Was Ruggs to be blamed for that as well?
Then, with 10:40 to go in Q4, on 2nd-and-8 at Miami 43, Ruggs was running a deep route. After he made his cut to the post at about the 25-yard line, Ruggs separated from X. Howard running at full speed two steps ahead, but the ball was thrown late, underthrown and behind. Adjusting, Ruggs had to slow down and jump while twisting backwards, enough for Howard to catch up with him and easily break the pass. And Carr was under no pressure, had all the time in the world (as Warner pointed in live TV coverage). We’ve seen Ruggs being overthrown or underthrown a few more times this season on those rare occasions when Carr tried throwing it deep to him. Is that what makes him not quite a ‘reliable target’?
I’d agree with Michelle, the last thing this team needs are new receivers – it’s not properly using the ones it has, and that ought to be fixed in the off-season.
Gruden can do plenty more than just ‘hope’ – how about designing/calling plays that take advantage of
– Ruggs’ exceptional speed, good hands and run-after-catch abilities he raved so much about after the Draft, and
– Edwards’ route running, size, catch radius, great hands and contested catch ability, particularly in the red zone.
There’s just not enough evidence to judge these two talented receivers, particularly for not being properly and sufficiently used.
Can’t wait to read the upcoming article on the Defense – that may provoke some comment!
On the offense, the biggest need for me is to improve the coaching – the comment above beautifully sets out the issues about mining what we have at WR. The only thing I’d add is a question re Agholor who had such a great season: does Gruden focus on him because he is one of the guys he has known for a long time? Does the “my buddy” approach on the coaching side of things also run to the play calls? If so, Ruggs and Edwards might be best served by inviting Coach over for a few barbecues to get their targets up!
Anyway, on the OL questions. At Guard, I assumed we picked John Simpson to take over from Incognito, which maybe happens a season earlier after Richie’ s injury. I think we can either move Gabe back to the left side or slot Simpson in on the left and leave Gabe to help bed in a new RT.
I think we have to move on from Brown – too much money for a player who is often unavailable. We need a cheaper option promoted from the squad or through the draft if we can’t get a cheaper FA signing.
Use the money saved on the D… where we really need it to support our new defensive coordinator: where are you Wade Phillips?
With some fine tuning and improved play calling in the red zone, the offense can be playoff caliber and will be fine. All the tools are there.
The critical off-season moves will be with the defense…first and foremost being the DC hire. Gruden and Mayock MUST get this one right. Everything else will flow from this decision, including use of current players, draft picks, scheme, effort and intensity. Just getting to average on defense can put us into the playoffs, and deep into the playoffs if we can manage to be above average. Agree on Wade Phillips as a great option.