Raiders' Offense Needs to Take Chances Downfield to Keep Defenses Honest

The Las Vegas Raiders have plenty of offensive weapons. They need to trust those weapons to make plays downfield.

Sep 8, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15) throws the ball against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders beat themselves in Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

Raiders coach Antonio Pierce has said that his offense had to protect the ball and avoid turnovers to be able to win games in the NFL. And Pierce puts emphasize on turnovers that happen on the road. It is already hard enough as it is to win a game away from home, and if you are turning the ball over, it makes it that much more difficult.

Quarterback Gardner Minshew II finished with two turnovers while running back Zamir White fumbled after a solid run. The Raiders still had a chance to put a drive together in the fourth quarter to take the lead but could not take advantage of good field position.

Our own Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. and Ezekiel Trezevant discussed what they had seen from Minshew in Week 1 on a recent episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

"I was watching the film today of the game, and I am going to be honest, there were a lot of misses where Gardner had guys down the field," Carpenter said. "I was a little surprised at that. His stats were good. But where he checked down. I said it after the game, but I wanted to get back and watch film and make sure what I saw was accurate, and it was. He checked down a lot, when he could have thrown the ball down the field. For this Raiders team to be successful, they need to get to 17 points a game that they create, not their defense. I do not mind a check down when there is nothing there, but a check down, when there is something there, just literally makes you want to pull your hair out."

"It is similar to last year in a sense right now," Trezevant said. "Some of it is: Do you want execution? Yes, but even down to the point of just try them. Launch that bad boy deep and let them think, 'Hey, he might go deep.' Once you start checking down all game, the defense has a lot less to worry about, especially when your running game is not doing well. ... All those weapons you have are for nothing if you are not going to at least try those guys down the field."

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