Good teams blow out bad teams. The Raiders have had a habit of playing down to their opponents, but this is the second week in a row, that the Raiders have been able to thoroughly dominate their opponent in every phase of the game. Derek Carr continued to play at an elite level under Greg Olson’s streamlined offensive approach and had a record day in terms of accuracy — second-highest completion percentage (91.2) with a minimum of 30 attempts in a game. The Eagles secondary wants to sit back in zone to prevent explosives and Carr carved them up underneath but when they tried to play man, he was aggressive and went downfield.
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Even with Carr’s record day, I thought the biggest surprise was the play of the offensive line. Although the interior of the Raiders offensive line has gradually improved since moving first-round pick Alex Leatherwood inside to guard, it struggled for most of the season. The Eagles might have the best defensive tackle duo in the league with Fletcher Cox and Javon Hargrave. On paper, it looked like the Raiders would have to deal with a huge mismatch inside, but when the whistle blew, the Raiders definitively controlled the line of scrimmage from start to finish.
On the opening drive of the game, the Eagles drove the ball downfield and scored a touchdown. The Raiders’ offense needed to respond but quickly found itself in a third-and-15 situation after a holding penalty. These are typically low-percentage situations and most offenses will forgo trying to pass the ball past the sticks in favor of screens or draws. It’s hard enough to go deep when the defense doesn’t know it’s coming.
7:23 remaining in the first quarter, third-and-15
The Raiders for years have generally conceded in these situations but on this play, Olson and Carr got aggressive and called a double-move (out-and-up) to Zay Jones.
The defense rotated into a three-deep shell and even after the double move and a pump fake by Carr, cornerback Steven Nelson stayed deep and was in a dominant position on Jones. In the past, Carr would be more than happy to check the ball down to one of the wide-open receivers in the flats. Now, he understands that receivers can be open when they don’t look like they are, and he’s more willing to attempt to throw his receivers open.
He threw a perfect back-shoulder pass more than 50 yards down the field from the launch point to get the Raiders into the red zone. Carr ended up throwing an interception on this drive but I thought this deep throw was a tone-setter for the Raiders — they were going to be aggressive despite the Eagles’ soft coverage.
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Against the Eagles, the Raiders had their best run game in terms of total expected points added (EPA). Center Andre James had by far his best game. One area he struggled with was his timing on double teams in terms of when to start climbing to the second level. James and the rest of the line looked like they finally got in sync and they got a lot of movement off of their doubles on the Eagles front.
13:11 remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10
The Raiders ran an interesting gap scheme that they may have taken from the Ravens. It’s essentially a counter to outside zone. The key part of the play is that they got three bodies on Hargrave.
Left guard John Simpson was the primary blocker on Hargrave but James had to get a strong chip on him before climbing to the second level. After James, tight end Foster Moreau would follow to finish him off.
Fullback Alec Ingold and running back Kenyan Drake both took a counter step to the outside before redirecting to the A-gap right through the teeth of the defense.
James did a good job of getting a full slab of ribs on his block before climbing to the second level to block the mike linebacker. The offense made the play look like outside zone, which caused the front to flow to the offensive right, making their blocks easier.
After James climbed to the second level, Moreau bowled over Hargrave with a full head of steam.
Another key block to note is Leatherwood single-blocking Cox on the right.
Finally, Ingold put an exclamation mark on the play with a thunderous lead block on the sam linebacker. Drake was untouched until he was about five yards past the line of scrimmage.
A few plays later, Carr threw his first touchdown pass of the day to Moreau, who had to take the No. 1 tight end role after Darren Waller was a late scratch due to an ankle injury.
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“So I read pre-snap that it was going to be a two-shell and on the snap of the ball,” Moreau explained after the game. “I looked up — it (the coverage) had rolled and I was in danger and I ran for five yards like the Tasmanian devil and had no idea what I was doing and I mean thank God for Derek just giving me a chance. And again, just kind of blacked out on the catch. I still really haven’t seen it but just happy to get in.”
11:36 remaining in the second quarter, second-and-3
What Moreau meant was the defense initially had two safeties deep but after he put his head down in his stance, the defense rotated into one-deep. Moreau ran a seam and the coverage dictated how he has to run his route. If there were two safeties deep, he was to bend his route to get in between both safeties. Since the coverage ended up being Cover 1 (man-to-man with one deep safety) he had to take his route further outside, near the numbers and get vertical. He seemed to get to the correct landmark or near it anyway despite being surprised by the safety rotation but he might have been a little apprehensive and a tick slow.
One area that Carr has greatly improved on this season is his play fakes. Before this season they looked rushed, but this season they look more deliberate. Here, he had his eyes directed and the ball extended toward the running back’s pocket.
Up front, the Raiders had a trap protection called. Right tackle Brandon Parker and Leatherwood doubled Cox, while Simpson pulled to block the end. There were a couple of benefits to running this scheme:
1. It allowed the Raiders to get a double team on Cox.
2. The pulling guard added to the play fake. Both linebackers were caught frozen staring at Medusa (the ball). Safety Marcus Epps had Moreau so he kept his eyes on him and covered him.
Carr saw that Epps had his back turned toward him and decided he was going to trust Moreau to make a play even though he was technically covered.
Carr threw the ball a little too far inside but Moreau was able to pluck the ball from the top of Epps’ head for the touchdown.
Jon Gruden didn’t believe in using play-action against man coverage but through two games, it seems that Olson will be more committed to using play-action despite what kind of coverage the Raiders face. Against the Eagles, Carr had his most effective game utilizing play-action and averaged 0.62 EPA per dropback on such plays.
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I was concerned with the offense losing creativity in its play designs when it lost Gruden, but so far there still have been some really well drawn-up plays sprinkled in the game plan.
14:16 remaining in the third quarter, second-and-5
The Raiders run four verticals but get Moreau wide open down the seam with how they get into the play. Initially, they began in a slot formation with receiver Henry Ruggs lined up in the slot to the left. Moreau was attached to the line to the right with receiver Hunter Renfrow lined up next to him. The two would switch release — Renfrow ran the bender, while Moreau released outside of him and ran a seam as he did on his touchdown.
Ruggs would motion over and run the outside vertical.
Before the motion, Epps had Moreau in man, but after the motion, Epps bumped out and took Ruggs.
This meant one of the inside linebackers had to pick up Moreau in coverage. The Raiders used trap protection and play-action again the way they did on Moreau’s touchdown, freezing both linebackers.
No one picked up Moreau and Carr hit him for a 21-yard gain.
A few plays later the offensive line asserted its dominance again and the Raiders scored on a 4-yard Drake touchdown.
12:11 remaining in the third quarter, first-and-4
On the play, the Raiders had split zone right called. The line blocked inside zone to the right, while Moreau came across the formation to block the backside defensive end. The key to the play was getting movement from the double teams inside.
This is where you can see the offensive line really getting in sync with each other. James helped Leatherwood displace Cox, while keeping his eyes on the sam linebacker. On the backside, Simpson and Miller knocked Hargrave off of the line of scrimmage with eyes on the mike linebacker.
James and Miller both climbed to the second level and Drake didn’t even have to make a cut until he was past the line of scrimmage. Epps was unblocked by design but Drake was able to drip past him to finish in the end zone.
The Raiders started the season with three consecutive wins solely on the arm of Carr. They struggled to run the ball with consistency and Carr had to make play after play under duress. That style was unsustainable and resulted in two straight losses in Weeks 4 and 5. However, the offensive line has looked like a much-improved unit in its past two wins — props to offensive line coach Tom Cable. They’ve been able to run the ball with authority and give Carr clean pockets. They might get even better with the potential return of All-Pro guard Richie Incognito after the bye week, who presumably would replace Simpson. With a balanced offensive attack and Carr playing the way that he is, this offense could ascend to being one of the league’s best week in and week out.
(Top photo of Foster Moreau: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
