Decimated by injuries and with a 2-4 record, the Los Angeles Rams have fallen far from being the Super Bowl favorites initially thought. Currently cellar-dwelling in the depths of the NFC West once again proving that “dream teams” are just a dream. All signs point to this being a very winnable game in Week 7 for the Las Vegas Raiders. Precisely why Raider Nation and head coach Klint Kubiak should be concerned.
Against the New England Patriots, missing four defensive backs and #1 wide receiver A.J. Brown, and with a host of banged-up players, the Raiders were soundly beaten 45-17. To be fair, they were also coming off a close, emotional loss with a comeback bid falling just short to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it? This week, after a 33-30 loss to Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, the Raiders have a chance to right the ship against a reeling Rams team and exorcise some demons.
The Rams team, without Myles Garrett, recently placed the following players on injured reserve: Davante Adams, Poona Ford, Kobie Turner, and Blake Grupe, the replacement kicker. Nate Scheelhase, the Rams offensive coordinator, is experiencing some first-year coordinator growing pains. Last year under Mike Lafleur, the Rams had the number-one scoring and yardage offense; this year they have fallen all the way to 20th in scoring offense.
Revisionist history on can’t-lose games hasn’t been kind to the Raiders. Whether it’s head coaches who have never coached before or quarterbacks who have been on the team for less than a week, or rosters missing 50% of their starters, these games never seem to work out for the Raiders.
Concerns or sports fans masochisms
Aaron Donald has yet to make the impact many thought he would coming out of retirement. Against the Raiders’ left side of the offensive line, which is their worst, he could finally get right. Spencer Burford has struggled mightily to block anyone who wasn’t a lower-caliber player; Tyler Linderbaum hasn’t been as good as advertised, nor has he played up to the contract he was awarded. Kolton Miller is getting pumped up by analytics charts from whoever is using AI to draw them up. When, in fact, his play has bordered on abysmal.
Braden Fisk is facing a right guard situation where the position no longer has an entrenched starter. For as much as Kubiak has said there will be competition at the position, no player, be it Jackson Powers-Johnson or Caleb Rogers, has seized control. Rogers missed some key blocks last week and was blown up in a short-yardage situation, which ended a drive inside the red zone and under the shadow of the goalposts.
Schematically, no teams deploy 13 personnel (one back, three tight ends) more than the Raiders’ current and last opponents. The Rams rank 1st at 29% of their offense and the Bills rank 2nd at 27%; realistically, that means a heavy emphasis on the run game and a lack of talent at the wide receiver position. The Rams have rushed for 676 yards, six rushing touchdowns and average 4.6 yards per carry. Ranking 12th in the NFL through six games.
Too much to cover
Covering tight ends continues to be a work in progress for the Raiders defense. Safeties Treydan Stukes and Jeremy Chinn continue to be up and down in terms of communication and execution. Stukes being the expected weakest link. Stukes, a rookie safety, struggles with in-breaking routes run by big ol’ tight ends. Chinn, the veteran, struggles with the out-breaking routes and lacks the twitch or long speed to keep up. Throwing in a third tight end puts a linebacker (Quay Walker or Nakobe Dean) on them, sometimes Taron Johnson, or leaves them open to a soft vacated zone.
While the Raiders’ pass defense has prepared itself for wide receiver-heavy offenses, the tight ends and the running backs out of the backfield have been the Achilles’ heel. What’s problematic is that this plays right into Scheelhase’s and quarterback Matthew Stafford’s hands. Stafford has been without either Adams or Puka Nacua in every game except the game in Australia in Week 1 and last week.
So sticking with power sets and standing tall in the pocket waiting to throw to tight ends and running backs is nothing new to him. Ultimately, it will be up to the Raiders’ offense to take advantage of the injuries to the Rams’ defense to get the win in Las Vegas, but the defense will have to be even better at getting to the quarterback and getting him on the ground. If not the song and dance of “the same old Raiders” will get louder and start to become unbearable.