Silver And Black Pride
The Raiders offensive line has struggled, and that’s slightly an understatement. Prior to week 3 the Raiders rank 32nd in RBLK win rate, 19th in PBLK win rate, 12th in pass block grade, 17th in run block grade, 27th in sacks/game, and 23rd in pressure rate. The Raiders are on pace to have Geno Smith sacked 68 times and pressured on nearly 30% of his snaps. In terms of the running game, rookie 6th overall pick has been hit behind or at the LOS on 57% of his rush attempts this season including 11 of 17 vs the Commanders. It’s difficult for the Raiders to establish a fluid running game when they lack fundamentals and struggle to maintain discipline in their blocks.
The Raiders moved Jordan Meredith to center, a position he hasn’t played since high school and it hasn’t worked out the greatest. Meredith looks confused at times, struggling to maintain his assignment on help blocks which prevents the Raiders from getting consistent efforts in the run game. Additionally, they’ve been rotating at right guard with Jackson Powers-Johnson, who missed week 2 and then didn’t play in week 3 while the Raiders attempted to “maintain consistency” with Alex Cappa according to head coach Pete Carroll. In addition to moving Powers-Johnson and Meredith to positions they aren’t accustomed too, the Raiders slid Dylan Parham to left guard where he’s historically struggled compared to his play at right guard. Rookie DJ Glaze has looked fluid in the first two weeks but struggled vs the Commanders allowing at least two sacks. The Raiders attempts to move Meredith to center haven’t worked, he’s not accustomed to the position, and with that hasn’t been the most consistent with his snaps. Jackson Powers-Johnson needs to be on the teams starting offensive line, and likely back at center where he looked extremely good to end to the 2024 season while also having played at an All-American level his final two seasons at Oregon while at center. In run blocking, the Raiders aren’t fluid, they lack overall communication, and the interior offensive line looks uncomfortable and lacking assignments at times. When it comes to pass protection, those same issues have arose with the interior offensive line struggling to adapt to blitz packages especially from the ILB and safeties. Players have been consistently pushed back out of their gaps and struggle to anchor. Additionally teams have attacked the interior with stunts and delayed blitzes with pass rushers having the ability to get free lanes attacking the Raiders communication and consistency on the interior.
The Raiders need to get their fundamentals corrected on the offensive line especially on the interior. A step could be the Raiders switching Meredith and Jackson Powers-Johnson back to their positions in 2024 where the team did see signs towards the end of the season of being a potential league average offensive line. Additionally, working on improving not only consistency but also their communication is going to help in providing more stability with stunts. If...
