Oakland Raiders v. LA Chargers: Six Things That Must Happen
By Kevin Saito
Get The Ground Game Working
Coming off a season in which they had the league’s sixth-ranked ground attack, most took it for granted that the running game would again, be one of the strengths of this team. And that belief only grew when they added Marshawn Lynch to the backfield rotation.
But that belief has yet to really be justified and Oakland’s ground game is in much worse shape than it was last season.
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For the season, they’re averaging 90 yards a game on the ground. That gives them the twenty-fifth ranked rushing game in the league – which is obviously a far cry from having a top-ten ground attack.
Although they managed to ring up 108 rushing yards against Baltimore last week, in the two weeks prior – against Washington and Denver – Oakland rushed for 56 yards combined.
To this point in the season, Lynch – the prized offseason acquisition – has rushed for 194 yards on a less than stellar 3.4 yards per carry average. Jalen Richard, who has less than half the carries (24) has rung up 128 yards on the ground, and is the team’s second leading rusher.
Oakland’s offense, to start firing on all cylinders, really needs to get the ground game working. They need to put together some lengthy, time-consuming drives that allows the defense to catch a breather – and in what actually may be more ideal – keeps the opposing offense on the sidelines.
The running game will soften up the defense enough to allow the passing game to start getting back to where it used to be.
Oakland’s offense last year was so electric, it could have lit up the entire Bay Area. This year, it probably couldn’t light a candle. That needs to change and that change starts with a solid rushing attack.