The Las Vegas Raiders' Week 6 loss to the Buffalo Bills once again proved Las Vegas can compete with the league's best teams. Still, the Raiders have lost three games straight, proving they are still a few pieces away from simply competing against the best, but beating them.
The Raiders are not even halfway through their first season with a largely new roster. They are still a work in progress, especially their ground game, which is running behind two new starting linemen. Las Vegas' new pieces have improved the team, but it takes time to iron things out.
Las Vegas' staff is still figuring out what works and what does not. They are still learning what their players do and don't do well, which is why their small victories are notable, despite their three consecutive losses and a home game against Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams.
Ground Game Mix-Up
Arguably the biggest decision Klint Kubiak and his staff got right on Sunday was getting their other running backs more involved than in previous weeks. In other games, they tried to do so, but only briefly, once a running back other than Jeanty failed. They stuck with different backs on Sunday.
Against the Bills, Las Vegas gave rookie running back Mike Washington nearly as many carries as Jeanty. Washington looked like the healthier of the two backs. Overall, the Raiders' running backs had a pedestrian day. After the game, Kubiak emphasized multiple things to his team.
“The object of the game is to score points, and whether you're getting it done from the ground or from the air, or they're coming from special teams or defensive scores as a team. Obviously, it's a team game, and it's about outscoring the opponent,” Kubiak said after the game.
“So, we're never going to – we always want to be great in all facets, okay, but you're going to play to your strengths. So, moving the ball and scoring points was good yesterday. However, what do you got to do to get over the hump? You've got to score on all five possessions in the red zone, not just two of five.”
Best Decisions
The biggest decisions that Kubiak and his staff got right against the Bills were to incorporate more play-action passes than in Week 5. Of course, falling behind as much as Las Vegas did in Week 5 makes play-action passes less effective.
However, the Raiders' decision to use the play-action pass early, before it is clear whether the ground game is working, helps them. They returned to the play-action pass to help put themselves in advantageous situations. The extra seconds led to several positive plays for Las Vegas.
Getting Washington and Dylan Laube more involved could help the Raiders' offense open up the passing lanes more. They have been so unsuccessful running the ball that opposing defenses have been able to make the Raiders one-dimensional fairly early.
Finding ways to get Washington more involved and potentially adding more plays and blocking schemes specific to him and his style of play will lead to additional playing time. The Raiders did not rest Jeanty in Week 5 as they should have.
Giving Washington and others more carries is the next best thing they can do. Regardless, Las Vegas has little time to dwell on the past three weeks, as a reeling Rams team with Super Bowl aspirations comes to town.
“All I know to do is go back to work to have candid conversations on Monday that make us better as a football team. To have your process, your habits that get you ready to play well, and then to go through that process to not change anything when you're winning, to not change too much when you're losing,” Cousins said.
“I think the only part you change is when you go back and see where we got to be better, and you emphasize that during the week. But we just got to go back to work and just put the work in and expect that if you do that, that the breaks will fly your way."
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