Oakland Raiders: A few keys to victory over the Cleveland Browns

Make Explosive Plays On Offense

On the flip side of that, of course, is being able to have explosive plays offensively – something that’s been sorely lacking from this offense.

Each game they’ve played so far has featured some explosive plays, but not nearly enough. And maddeningly, in a few cases, explosive plays were nullified by a stupid penalty.

Going back to the Miami game to use as an example, the Raiders had just two explosive plays – explosive being defined as a pass over 20 yards, or a run over 10 yards.

Think about that – the Raiders had just two plays – the 61-yard catch-and-run, and the 66-yard catch-and-run – both to Jordy Nelson, and both in the first quarter. And neither of those plays resulted in a touchdown.

Miami, who had a few explosive plays of their own – two of them resulted in 14 points, and a third, an 18-yard touchdown toss to Jakeem Grant, probably could have gone for more.

Carr had a number of passes that were in the teens, but other than the two long balls to Nelson, Oakland’s offense lacked any sort of explosiveness. The run game was effective in stretches, but it’s a little disturbing that they couldn’t break off a single run of 10 yards. Not one.

This team needs to be more explosive on the offensive side of the ball. Long plays aren’t the end all, be all, of course. But, they can certainly help keep a defense back on their heels.