Oakland Raiders: Five Who Should Be Considered For OC Job In 2018
By Kevin Saito
Pep Hamilton
Currently under contract to Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines, Hamilton may not even be available to talk to, let alone hire away. However, college coaches routinely leave their schools if the NFL comes calling, so, maybe?
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Hamilton was interviewed for the head coaching vacancy in Oakland, before the team (meaning, Mark Davis) ultimately chose to go with Del Rio. Which would mean that Del Rio would have to “man up” as he’s been telling his team, to replace Downing with a guy who has experience and previously interviewed for his job.
Back when he was the OC in Indianapolis, Hamilton put together some decent offensive units. With Hamilton calling the plays and Andrew Luck executing them, the Colts went 30-18 over his tenure. In 2014, the Colts had the league’s top-ranked passing offense, third-ranked overall offense, and sixth-ranked scoring offense.
2015 saw the Colts’ offense head straight into the tank though, as an injured Luck played in just seven games on the year. Matt Hasselbeck and Josh Freeman, who combined to play the other nine games, weren’t able to duplicate the offensive success Luck had in Hamilton’s system.
If there’s a knock on Hamilton to be had, it’s that the running game seems like an afterthought to him. In his three seasons calling the shots in Indianapolis, the Colts running game ranked twentieth, twenty-second, and twenty-ninth.
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While he’s obviously comfortable throwing the ball and even taking some deep shots – something Downing seems reluctant to do – he doesn’t pay much attention to the run game. Which, as has been discussed already, is the engine that makes Oakland’s offense go.
Maybe Hamilton’s poor run game rankings is simply a product of having the likes of Trent Richardson, Donald Brown, and Dan Herron carrying the ball, but for the Raiders to give serious thought to hiring Hamilton, he’d have to understand its importance to Oakland’s offense and commit to running the ball a bit more.