Raiders Setting up the Pass Game to Open up the Rushing Attack

The Las Vegas Raiders struggled to run the ball again in Week 2. This time, they adjusted to pass the ball in the second half, which opened up the run game late in Sunday's win.

Sep 15, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; dLas Vegas Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew (15) throws on the run uring the second half against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce wants his team to be a run-first offense.

Pierce wants to play smash-down football and run the ball down the opponent's throat. So far, through the Raiders' first two games, that has not been the case for this team. It has struggled to form holes and create running lanes for the backfield. Moving forward, Pierce wants his offensive line to play better.

He has mentioned the struggles, and it is something the team has to fix to make the offense more dangerous.

When the Raiders could not establish the run in Sunday's win, they turned to the passing game. And this adjustment proved to be the difference for the Raiders.

The passing game brought out the best for the weapons this Raider team has on offense. And going forward, this passing attack could open up the run game for the offense to be complete.

Our Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. talked about the passing game for the Raiders on a recent episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

"They [the Raiders] are committed to winning," Carpenter said. "And if what you are doing is not winning, then you have to be flexible. ... I said in California when they were playing the Chargers, used the pass to set up the run. I think they finally adjusted, and they got the win."

" ... He [Pierce] wants to be a smash-mouth, run-the-football team. He wants that and if you go back and look at that Ravens game, once they had the lead, you saw them run the football. They got a lot of yards there at the end of the game. I think you could be a lot of different things... At the end of the day, the Raiders are committed to winning. They want to be, at the end of the day, a smash-mouth team because it is too difficult to win in this league if you cannot eat up the clock. You have to eat the clock. ... They understand that they want to be able to smash the football when they need to smash the football. And if they have to use the pass to set it up great."

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