Oakland Raiders: 3 Reasons To Be Excited, 3 Reasons To Be Worried

Dec 21, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray (29) carries the ball against the Buffalo Bills at O.co Coliseum. The Raiders defeated the Bills 26-24. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Reason To Be Concerned #1 – The Running Game

Though Latavius Murray really came on strong in the latter part of the 2014 season, and posted some huge numbers, he is still something of an unknown quantity. We have yet to see him perform for a whole sixteen game schedule, and there are some questions about his durability, given his injury history over the start of his young career.

Part of the reason there are still questions about Murray, of course, have a lot to do with the fact that the previous coaching regime, for whatever reason, never really gave him an opportunity to play. Not even when former Raiders’ backs Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew were not producing for the team.

Now that Murray has the opportunity to be the bell cow for this Oakland offense, it will be interesting to see if he is able to take advantage of it.

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Trent Richardson is – well – we don’t know just yet. At Alabama, he was electrifying. He was dominant. So far in his NFL career, he’s been the exact opposite of those things. Maybe Richardson is right. Maybe he was just a bad schematic fit in both Cleveland and Indianapolis. Perhaps being in OC Bill Musgrave‘s system – a system Richardson says he’s very comfortable in because some of it is familiar from his college days – actually will pay dividends and he can return to the electric form he had at Alabama.

Roy Helu is going to be a change of pace back, and more of a threat catching balls out of the backfield. We know what we’re getting with Helu, and while it adds a potentially lethal dimension to the Oakland rushing attack and passing game, he’s not going to be an every down, bell cow sort of back. And that’s fine. His game is what it is, and it’s a more complementary style than an every down, between the tackles runner.

Oakland could potentially have a very strong, very powerful running game. If Murray can prove that he’s durable enough to be an every down back. If Richardson can somehow regain his college form. If the both of them can manage to share a backfield together.

At present, there are so many “if’s” surrounding Oakland’s running game that it can and should be a concern as we rumble on toward training camp and the beginning of the season.

Next: Reason to Be Excited #1