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Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly in preseason loss to the Rams

By Kevin Saito

LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 18: Head coach Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders coaches from the sideline during the first half of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - AUGUST 18: Head coach Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders coaches from the sideline during the first half of a preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Oakland Raiders
LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 18: Mike Thomas #88 of the Los Angeles Rams motions for a first down during the first half of a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on August 18, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Some Good/Some Bad: Third Down Efficiency

Third down efficiency is often underrated as a statistic by many. On offense, you want to be able to convert your third down chances, keep the chains moving, and give your defense a breather.

On the other side of the ball, as a defense, you want to shut down the opposing team, get off the field, give the ball back to your offense, and hope they can put up some points.

A bad showing on third downs – on either side of the ball – can really be detrimental to a team.

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    • Last season, the Raiders were around the middle of the pack, converting third downs on offense. They were okay, but not great, clocking in with a conversion rate that hovered around 40 percent.

    Defensively speaking, they were in the lower tier of the league – not surprising, given how porous and ineffective the defense was, for the most part. Though, to be fair, they did improve in this metric after Ken Norton Jr. was fired, and John Pagano took over defensive playcalling duties.

    So far this preseason, the Raiders have been horrible at converting third down chances on offense. Through two games, they are a four for 20 in converting third downs. That’s a conversion rate of 20 percent – which obviously, is not good.

    They converted just one of ten chances against the Rams.

    Defensively speaking, they’ve been pretty stellar on third downs, holding the Lions and Rams to a combined five of 28 conversions – a conversion rate of just 18 percent.

    Obviously, this is preseason, things are sloppy, and the metric is a bit skewed by having all of the backups in.

    But, if the Raiders are going to improve as a team, and do better than 6-10, they’re going to need to improve in this metric – on both sides of the ball.

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