Raiders Coach Reveals Strategy to Help Hindered Defense

The Las Vegas Raiders suffered another signifcant loss with cornerback Nate Hobbs being ruled out. The Raiders' offense must do their part and not leave the defense in unfavorable positions.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle McKinnley Jackson (93) tackles Las Vegas Raiders running back Alexander Mattison (22) in the 3rd quarter at Paycor Stadium Sunday, November 3, 2024. / Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Raiders rushed for 60 yards, only converted five of their 13 third down attempts and lost the time of possession battle by over 10 minutes. 

The Raiders are even thinner on defense with the loss of Nate Hobbs against the Bengals. They can ill-afford to leave their makeshift defense on the field for an extended amount of time. 

When the Raiders face the Dolphins, they must either find a way to run the ball successfully, or, successfully enough, however that might look. They must extend and sustain drives better than they have over the last few weeks.

While there is only so many changes that can be made with a new offensive coordinator in such a short span a time, fixing that one issue could help swing the game in their favor. 

Something as small as tweaking the run game could impact the Raiders offense and defense simueltanously. Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce knows it is critical for the Raiders to stick with the run, even if they struggle running the ball initially. 

“I think that's going to be key, and how we set up the run,” Pierce said. “Do we start our game off running? Do we start off passing? And we've had a lot of discussions about that of how we've operated and attacked the game plan, and this game is going to be critical. 

“We’ve got to have balance. We’ve got to have balance. We don't want to be in a game where we're throwing the ball 40, 50 times. Hasn't worked out for us this year, it's not going to work out in the future. So we want to have that balance.”

 Pierce noted that it will be critical for the Raiders to get one or both of their running backs off to a solid start. They will have their work cut out for them, as the Dolphins rank 10th in the league in total rushing yards allowed this season.

“We’ve got to get those two running backs going, Alex Mattison and Zamir White, and that's going to be critical for us to get us going,” Pierce said. “But it's going to start back to the question prior, the offensive line, hat on the hat, and then we cannot have these tackles where we get an arm tackle, we’ve got to run through contact and be the physical team."

Few expect the Raiders to win on Sunday, which is fair. However, there are things they can do to help themselves out.

Scott Turner and the Raiders must get the run game going enough to prevent the already-thin Raiders defense from chasing Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and company for an extended amount of time.

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