You can say this about Oakland Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin: he knows what the strength of his offense is. According to Raiders beat writer Jerry McDonald at the Contra Costa Times, Kiffin is having dreams of a monster, clock-killing, punishing rushing attack led by Justin Fargas, Darren McFadden and Michael Bush that will pound the ball at defenses nearly 600 times during the 2008 season.
My amateur math skills tell me that 600 rushing attempts over a 16-game season comes out to, roughly, 37 carries per game. That's a lot of running. As a team, they ran the ball 508 times in '07, including seven games where they had at least 30 attempts.
Without getting into the question of, what does it say about your offense when the strength consists of two guys to never carry the ball in an NFL game, this seems like a dream in every sense of the word. I'm not saying the Raiders aren't going to pound the ball and be a run-first team, but 600 carries, or close to it, is nearly impossible to do.
In 2007, the Tennessee Titans led the NFL in rushing attempts with 543 carries, the only team to run the ball more than 530 times. Since the start of the 1990 season (a completely arbitrary time-span of 18 years) only one team in the NFL has run the ball 600 times in a single season: the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers, who ran the ball 618 times with Duce Staley, Jerome Bettis, Verron Haynes and Willie Parker. Only seven others have managed to eclipse the 550 mark during the same period - The '03 Ravens, '01 Steelers, '97 Steelers, '96 Bills, '94 Cowboys, '93 Giants and the '90 Bears.
It's worth pointing out that all of those teams finished their respective seasons with double-digit win totals and advanced to the playoffs, which brings up the chicken or the egg question of: Were those teams winning because they were running so much? Or were they running because they were winning?
There's no question a run-first mentality is the best game plan for Oakland right now, but they just aren't a good enough team to get anywhere near 600 rushing attempts. Eventually in games they're going to have to start playing catch-up, which will then turn the focus of the offense over to Jamarcus Russell's arm, and away from the legs of McFadden, Fargas and Bush.
If, however, the Raiders do give Kiffin his dream scenario, that will probably mean nothing but good things for the team and its fans. Or it could mean he's completely lost his mind and is still running when his team is trailing 28-0 in the fourth quarter.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-09-2008 @ 8:05PM
ken duran said...
Team is out of control. Personal fouls are out of control. Most of these guys can't tackel again. My god, don't they ever go to practice.?? Lane is not jumping enough dead in their asses. Some of them just don't seem to care. It was an embarrassment. I am sick an tired paying good money for a less then steller trying from these guys. I am sick an tired always defending these guys to other people, when they themselves could care less about how they have played. I really don;t feel that some of the players realize the history of the Raiders and how they are really playing on sacred ground. What those before them have done on that field. I wish the ghosts of Raiders past would come down and kick some young butt. It is true, the fans are living in the past with a team that could care less for the future... COMMITMENT TO EXCELLENCE ! What a JOKE !
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9-10-2008 @ 12:05PM
Blastin said...
Well as bad as we looked I did see a few bright spots. Our offense was able to move the ball fairly consistently, but failed due to mistakes which can be cleared up...I hope. In the past we were almost always seeing a 3 and out. Not seeing this anymore. On defense looked bad and confused. Like it or not Shanahan called an excellent game against us to exploit any and all weaknesses we have on defense. With that said Denver does appear to have a very good offense this year as I watched them in the preseason and they were really clicking on all cylinders. I expect them to do well if there defense can hold up. If we are able to pick ourselves up after this I think we will do good as Russell did look very good despite the situation and WR situation. Yes we looked very bad, but I don't think we are anywhere near as bad as we looked and Denver knows it because they could not stop us with consistency and a few of the stops were due to our own missteps.
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9-10-2008 @ 9:51PM
RaiderTroy said...
I would first like to say that I bleed Silver and Black, but most of my comments will be harsh.
The truth:
1) Al Davis did his part by getting the necessary pieces to the puzzle in Oakland. He went for pedigree and hall of famers in selecting a coaching staff. He spent tons of money this off-season to get the right players. He made getting season tickets a more pleasant and affordable experience. His efforts brought a sold out crowd to the Coliseum on Monday night.
2) JaMarcus Russell may be the great hope in the near future, but right now he looks more like a bust. The 6'6" 265lbs. of adonis, is easily taken down by arm tackles from cornerbacks. He overthrows and he underthrows. He has completions, but rarely do they move the chains. Oh, and give him time to throw, then he really gets confused. Russell, take the diamonds out of your ears and replace them with extra large headphones pumping instructional tapes on how to read a defense and how to run an offense. I almost forgot, this dude has a contract in excess of $60,000,000...ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
3) Ronald Curry will be forever be referred to as chicken curry with butter.
4) DEFENSE. What defense? The Mr. Broncos offensive line bullied our defensive line for 4 quarters. Our guy were being pimped slapped all over the field. Is Derrick Burgess on the team? Why don't we just start calling Tommy Kelly, Kelli. DeAngelo Hall and Michel Huff continue to be the worst starting defensive backs in the AFC. Also, our linebackers were ghosts.
5) Coaches. Lane and Ryan get out coached again by Shannahan. To Ryan's defense, he has names, but the defense lacks the talent. As for Lane, I do believe you are a brilliant offensive mind, but you did something dumb. It was 1st and goal at the 7. Did you forget you had a 6'1" 245lbs stud in Michael Bush waiting to slice the Bronco defense into dog meat?
6) Past history. Show this team the film of the old Raiders. What they stood for is way there are fans in the seats. Raiders never quit. For the first time, I saw the Raiders quit on Monday night. It was in their eyes. It was the feeling the Raiders had been passing on for years.
7) PS- For those who think Al Dvis has lost his touch for finding talent, look at the old Raiders film. It wasn't that all the players were great, but they all had hearts of fire. New Raiders, grow a pair.
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