Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly from week five loss to Chargers

Bad: Running Game

It’s kinda hard to actually say the Oakland running game was bad against the Chargers, per se, but it certainly wasn’t good.

On the day, the Raiders had a measly 14 rushing attempts that resulted in a meager 41 yards. Marshawn Lynch had a whopping nine carries for 31 yards – though notably, not that less than one-yard attempted late in the third that could have put them back in the ballgame. Jalen Richard had one carry for four yards, and Doug Martin “chipped in” a yard on his two carries. Carr rounded out the running game with one five-yard scramble.

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And that was it, in terms of Oakland’s ground attack.

Now, to be completely fair, it’s probably because the Raiders fell so far behind so early – down two touchdowns at the half, and lucky it wasn’t more thanks to Bruce Irvin – they felt they had to try and throw themselves back into the game. They probably didn’t, but they probably felt that way.

But, despite being down just 14 points at halftime, the Raiders rushed the ball just four times in the second half. Four.

Now, you could make the case that the Chargers were bottling up Oakland’s ground game, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But, we’ve also seen Lynch grow stronger as the game goes one, and wear down a defense with his physical, punishing style. Had they kept trying to feed him, who knows what could have happened – perhaps, the game would have unfolded much differently.

We’ll never know though, as Gruden opted to steer away from the running game almost entirely over the second half of the game, when some lengthy drives that resulted in touchdowns could have swung momentum back to the Raiders.

So yes, the running game was bad, but it was a situation exacerbated by even worse coaching.