Raiders' Lack of Long Ball is Hampering the Offense

The Las Vegas Raiders have had trouble stretching the field all season. For quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and company, it all comes down to player execution.
Raiders' Lack of Long Ball is Hampering the Offense
Raiders' Lack of Long Ball is Hampering the Offense /
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The Las Vegas Raiders' struggles on offense have been well-documented this season. Through six games, there are many reasons why the Raiders have struggled, but none have impacted them as much as their inability to stretch the field.

This has negatively impacted how Las Vegas calls plays on offense. We asked Coach Josh McDaniels today how the lack of execution affects the team's play-calling.

"I mean, I think you always want to be able to do that [throw the ball deep]," McDaniels told Sports Illustrated. "And at times, we've had opportunities.

"We threw it down the field a handful of times yesterday. We hit the one to Tre [Tucker] down the middle of the field, which was a big play in the third quarter.

Jimmy Garoppolo is questionable versus the Chicago Bears this weekend in the Windy City.
Jimmy Garoppolo is questionable versus the Chicago Bears this weekend in the Windy City / © Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports

"And we missed some other opportunities, so those plays generally come down to a lot of people doing the right thing. You never can predict when you're going to have a really clean opportunity to do that based on what the defense chooses to do.

"But when they do it, as the Tucker play would show us, when they do that and leave the middle of field exposed, or the deep part of the field exposed, it really comes down to an execution play then."

What is more troubling than the Raiders' inability to throw the ball down the field might be that every defense they face seems to have little respect for even the possibility of them throwing the ball deep. 

No play this season proves this as much as the Green Bay Packers lining up their 6-foot-5, 275-pound linebacker in coverage on wide receiver Davante Adams. 

McDaniels shared that the Raiders must execute when allowed to complete a long pass. 

"Does the quarterback make a good throw?" McDaniels said. "Does the receiver run a good route? Do they finish the play with the ball?

"And had some opportunities yesterday, and I'm disappointed that we didn't come up with a few more of those, but we're going to keep working on them because they obviously can help us," McDaniels said. 

"That cuts out a ton of plays from a drive. Instead of having to execute seven more plays, you get one. So, I'd take all of them that we can get, clearly."

The Raiders' offense started to move the ball more accessible than they had all season after quarterback Brian Hoyer's long pass to Tucker. That play alone is a testament to how much better this offense can be if they can execute large-chunk plays when they can. 

The Silver and Black will head on the road to take on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Oct. 22, at 1:05 p.m. EDT/10:05 a.m. PDT.

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Ezekiel Trezevant
EZEKIEL TREZEVANT

Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.