Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly from week two loss to Denver

Ugly: Third Down Conversions

Being able to extend drives by converting your third down opportunities is essential. Not only will it keep your defense fresher by giving them time to catch their breath, it wears out the opposing defense as well.

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And on a day as hot as it was in Denver on Sunday, Oakland’s defense could have used as much time off the field, catching their breath, as humanly possible. If there’s one word you can use to describe the Raiders defense, especially near the end of the game, it’s “fatigued.”

For the day, Oakland was fairly atrocious on third down conversion attempts, making just three out of 10 chances – a 30 percent success rate. Denver, on the other hand, hit on 50 percent of their third-down attempts (8/16).

It’s a small sample size, to be sure, but so far this season, the Raiders are hitting on just 38 percent of their third-down conversions (eight-of-21) – which is down from the meager 40 percent they posted last season.

Conversely, they’re allowing opposing offenses to convert 44 percent of their third-down chances (12/27) – which is up from the 41 percent they allowed in 2017.

Again, the sample size is very limited, but so far in this young season, Oakland’s offensive third-down success rate in 2018 puts them in the lower half of the league, while their defensive third-down conversion rate puts them near the bottom – seventeenth, and twenty-sixth overall respectively, if you’re scoring at home.

To have any sort of success, they’re going to have to learn to extend their own drives, while limiting the success of the other team. That all starts and ends with improving the numbers on third-down, both offensively, and defensively.