Raiders offense: Run game, Davante Adams, Brock Bowers need more looks

Las Vegas must hone in on big-time weapons, find balance against Baltimore and beyond

A day after the humbling 22-10 season-opening loss, Antonio Pierce was straight and to the point.

“We got to be honest,” the Las Vegas Raiders head coach began during his Monday press conference, “I think we’re just at that point offensively. Look, if it’s Davante (Adams), if it’s Zamir (White), if it’s Brock (Bowers), if it’s Big Mike (Mayer), Jakobi (Meyers). Whoever it is, man, we got to do whatever it is to score more than 10 points. That’s not going to be good enough in the National Football League, we understand that.”

Two days later, Pierce’s assessment remained the same and stressed his Raiders need to avoid self-inflicted wounds like penalties and turnovers.

“Like I said, I think it was a lot of self-inflicted stuff. I mean, to be honest, we only had one penalty on offense, and it hurt us,” Pierce said during his Wednesday presser. “It was on a critical play where we got to the ball to the 35 yard line, and then there was other ones where we get the ball on the plus 45 and we take back to back sacks, or we miss a read, or we have a turnover. So, a lot of self-inflicted stuff. The timing can pick up. We can pick up our operation, our speed, obviously.

“But I will say this, I think we see it across the National Football League, a lot of teams in Week One didn’t look like they’ll probably look the rest of the season, that’s what we’re banking on.”

Pierce noted the frustrating part of film review from Week 1 is seeing things that are fixable and avoidable. Las Vegas (0-1) gets another opportunity to click and play complementary football this Sunday on the road when the team travels to face the Baltimore Ravens (0-1). It’s going to be a matchup of two teams that let missed opportunities scuttle its hopes for victory. Week 2 is a get-right type atmosphere and there’s no sugar coating it, the Raiders face a tremendous challenge against the Ravens.

“I mean, they’re one of the best defenses in the league. They got a lot of smart, skilled football players basically at every single level of the defense,” Las Vegas wide receiver Davante Adams said during his media availability Wednesday. “I mean, that’s obviously what I’ve paid attention to the most, but their offense is tough to deal with as well. So, it’s difficult when you got a well-rounded football team like that, and you got to do a lot of things right. But we had a good practice today in hopes of correcting a lot of things we didn’t do as well last week.”

Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew, who has two career games against the Ravens under his belt (1-1 record, 49 of 73 for 453 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, but sacked 10 times) is all too familiar with Baltimore’s vaunted defense and echoed his wideout’s sentiment.

“Yeah, no, shoot, that’s been one of those consistent teams in the league over the past several years. I’ve been able to play them a few times and they always present a lot of challenges,” Minshew noted. “They’re so stout against the run, they really trust their front to stop the run, and then they got really smart players in the back end that get around the ball and create turnovers. So, I think the challenge is to take care of the ball, like I said from last week, keeping us on track, and putting us in good third downs.”

Avoiding penalties and turnovers — the self-inflicted Raiders beating the Raiders, Pierce is so apt to all — are priorities, it shouldn’t preclude Las Vegas from being aggressive, either. Going into a shell to protect themselves isn’t going to be wise despite the fact Baltimore likes to set the tone and take initiative on defense. The Raiders should fight fire with fire and with its plethora of weapons, dial up the volume on: The run game and increased targets for Adams, rookie tight end Brock Bowers, in particular.

And that isn’t just relegated to Week 2 against the Ravens, but beyond, too.

The 22 rushing attempts to 33 passing attempts Las Vegas engaged in during the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers was odd to see for a bully-ball based Raiders team. Getting a ground and pound mentality in Baltimore with betting blocking up front and vision from running backs — particularly Zamir White — can set the tone and get the Raiders deeper into the playbook. The run game and offensive line are the catalyst and without both, it’s like a blown out pilot light — there’s no fire, no heat.

White paced the group with 13 carries for 44 yards (including an untimely fumble) with Alexander Mattison next with give carries for 19 yards. Not ideal numbers, but a refocused effort in the trenches and improved vision by White can lead to more production. And that can parlay itself into the passing game, too.

“Yeah, can’t have play action without a run game. That’s what I’m going to go back to,” Pierce said. “We got to establish a run, we got to get Zamir going, we got to get Alex going. We got to get our whole o-line going, right? The juice and the flow starts with those big boys. And I always say when those guys are ripping and rolling and coming off the rock and finishing down the field, we’re a good football team. And that obviously will open up our passing game, our play action, our keepers, our boots, everything else for that nature.”

Regarding the air attack, Bowers did lead the Raiders in targets in the season opener with eight (six catches for 58 yards). Adams and Mattison tied for six targets (five grabs for 59 yards and four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, respectively). Minshew was an efficient looking 25 of 33 for 257 yards with one touchdown and one interception while getting sacked four times. Now you may say having Minshew drop back is counter intuitive due to the sacks he took against the Chargers and the amount he’s absorbed against the Ravens over his career, the metric below denotes it doesn’t spell doom for Las Vegas to throw the ball.

Pierce noted his offense didn’t take advantage of opportunities to go deep down the field in the passing game because things didn’t sync up. Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and Minshew play a large part in that, as does the offensive line. A productive run game with a passing game that mixes short, intermediate, and deep passes can force the Ravens hand. Screens and quick passes designed to get the ball out of Minshew’s hands and generating yards after catch (YAC) can get even the best defenses on its heels.

A rejuvenated effort in the trenches run blocking with a refocused outing pass blocking by the Raiders is going to be tough against the Ravens, without question. But if the Silver & Black is to exude the style of football Pierce wants from his Raiders, they have no choice but to do it.

Otherwise, it’s just empty talk — supreme hyperbole.

Series History: The Raiders and Ravens have meet 13 times with Baltimore leading the series 9-4 (also 1-0 in postseason play). The most recent game between the two — Sept. 13, 2021 — Las Vegas won on a walk-off overtime touchdown 33-27. Before that, the Ravens won the 2018 and 2017 matchups 34-17 and 30-17. The Raiders took the 2016 and 2015 contests 28-27 and 37-33.