Raiders Week 2: Winning the battle in the trenches

Las Vegas can ill afford to lose control of line of scrimmage against Baltimore

Bully ball.

That’s what Antonio Pierce’s Las Vegas Raiders are supposed to embody. A team that is physical, violent, and can “knock you ‘round and upside down”, as famously noted in the lyrics of “The Autumn Wind”.

One side of the Silver & Black certainly exuded that play style — the defense. Although, that eventually waned in the fourth and final quarter against the Los Angeles Chargers in the season-opening 22-10 loss this past Sunday.

The other side of the Raiders ball — the offense — was quite often devoid of that bully mantra. That group got manhandled by the equally physical and ultimately more violent Chargers defense.

Getting pushed around and dominated at the line of scrimmage eroded any consistency the Raiders tried to generate on offense, resulting in punting the ball. The quick three-and-outs eventually fatigued a determined defense and the dam broke in the final stanza against the Bolts.

“So, when I say ball control, I want to keep our defense fresh, and I want to be able to finish games in the fourth quarter like what happened to us,” Pierce said the day after the season opener. “A big part of our game is our identity and being physical and being stout at the line scrimmage, and that didn’t happen yesterday. Defensively, it did until the fourth quarter, and they cracked us. It was a couple fits. Again, all fixable things.”

Time to become Fix It Felix (of Wreck It Ralph fame) this week. Because the Raider are going to need it.

If Pierce is to go get his football team where they want to go — the playoffs and a shot at the Lombardi Trophy — the Raiders can ill afford to lose the battle in the trenches again. Las Vegas must win the control of the line of scrimmage — on offense and defense — if it is to have a chance at making a go of things during the 2024 campaign. The initial result was a face plant of embarrassing proportions.

Fortunately, there are 16 more regular season games to get things right.

Las Vegas faces another stout test in Week 2 when it travels to meet the Baltimore Ravens this coming Sunday for an early Eastern time zone matchup. Baltimore is in get-right mode, too, after falling 27-20 in its opener against the Kansas City Chiefs and is expected to be more rested than Las Vegas due to playing on Thursday, Sept. 5, as compared to the Raiders (Sunday, Sept. 8). And like the Chargers, the Ravens also boast an impressive interior defensive line.

The Silver & Black interior offensive line had issues against the Bolts middle front, particularly center Andre James and left guard Cody Whitehair. And, unless the Raiders figure things out quickly, they can find themselves overpowered by Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce (6-foot, 355 pounds) and defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike (6-foot-3, 305 pounds). While the struggles from left tackle Kolton Miller can be attributed to missing a chunk of practice time for Las Vegas, that’s not something that can be said about either James or Whitehair. Even right tackle Thayer Munford Jr., who also struggled. The only Raiders offensive lineman that showcased well is right guard Dylan Parham.

With 2024 second-round pick Jackson Powers-Johnson still making his way back from an ailment that caused him to miss a chunk of time like Miller, Las Vegas is going likely to roll with the same group and must have a better and focused showing to have a shot against Baltimore.

Being able to anchor and not lose any ground while driving the Ravens front will be difficult, the Raiders have no choice but to be on point up front to get the offense going. Lest, it be a struggle like in L.A.

“Yeah, we didn’t finish. We didn’t finish up front,” Pierce said of the run game woes in Week 1. “Running backs got to stay on track and we got run with better pad level with our backs overall. I mean, some of these tackles, we got breakthrough arm tackles. And I think just up front, we got to finish. We got to stay on our blocks. I mean, they did an outstanding job. Hats off to them. They finished blocks and finished plays, and we didn’t. And that has to start with us as coaches and the players doing it.”

And it’s not only for the offense’s sake. Winning the battle in the trenches parlays itself into sustained drives for offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s crew while giving defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s unit a much needed breather.

When Pierce noted his team needed that Mad Maxx energy (referring to defensive end Maxx Crosby’s apparently limitless stamina), it wasn’t hyperbole.

It’s stone cold truth.

Because for how well the Raiders defense played for most of the game against the Chargers, the 61-yard gallop by J.K. Dobbins cracked the Silver & Black, as Pierce noted.

“Yeah, that’s just football. And that’s what keeps you humble in this game; you never have all the answers,” Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. “The job’s never done until it’s completely done, but that’s just football. That’s just how the game goes. But that’s kind of what it was yesterday and just things we can learn from as a team, and things we can learn from as a unit and just build off of it moving forward.”

Defensively, it’ll be interesting to see how aggressive Las Vegas will be to support the battle in the trenches. Graham activated extra defenders to blitz and pressure the Chargers in the season opener and made life tough for Justin Herbert. Will the Raiders do the same against Lamar Jackson — who has the fleet feet to make a defense pay that whiffs on a blitz?

Also, up front, the Raiders are likely to be missing defensive end Tyree Wilson, who suffered a knee injury in the opener. Even then, there’s likely to be more contain, edge discipline, and even a QB spy against Jackson, but being able to dominate the line of scrimmage by Crosby, Wilkins, and group is another must-do.

Being able to win or perhaps even have a better showing in Week 2 against the Ravens would be a big confidence bump for the Raiders. Getting beaten in the trenches again, however, may have the opposite effect.

We’ll see which Raiders team shows up.