Oakland Raiders: A few keys to beating Chargers in week five matchup
By Kevin Saito
Feed The Beast(Mode) Early And Often
With Marshawn Lynch sitting at 32 years old, it’s understandable that HC Jon Gruden would want to limit his touches, keep him fresh, and healthy. To that end, he brought in Bucs castoff Doug Martin this offseason, to help shoulder the load.
But, just as he does with everything, and everybody else, Lynch is proving that he can defy father time.
Against the Browns last week, Lynch was at his most powerful and punishing – looking a lot more like vintage BeastMode, than he has at any other point in his Raiders career. And perhaps, that’s because both Jack Del Rio, and now Gruden, have treated him like a Faberge egg, and kept him wrapped up in bubble wrap.
Maybe, Gruden will now start to rethink that decision.
Against Cleveland, Lynch got a season high 20 carries, and responded with 130 bruising and punishing yards. He was decisive, strong, powerful, and there is no doubt some of those Browns defenders were busted up and sore the next day.
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Lynch has been getting an increased workload each week this season. Against LA in the season opener, he had 11 carries. Against Denver, he had 18. Against Miami, he had 19. And then his 20 last week. And if there is one thing we saw throughout all four games so far this year, it’s that Lynch seems to get stronger, and better as the game progresses, and he has more touches.
In the Chargers, they’re getting a run defense that’s raned eighteenth, and is clearly not the same without Joey Bosa. It’s incumbent upon Gruden to get Lynch going early, to soften up that defense, to punish them, and then let Carr and the passing attack pick apart a pass defense that’s ranked twentieth in the league overall – and twenty-eighth in scoring defense