Don’t put all blame on Raiders’ offensive line for Week 1 loss

By Mike Grimala (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Offensive line has been a concern for the Raiders throughout the entire offseason. Aside from stalwart left tackle Kolton Miller, the team is aiming to get by with fill-in and replacement-level players across the rest of the line, and the results in preseason were decidedly mixed.

Things reached a panicky crescendo on cut-down day, when 2021 first-round pick Alex Leatherwood was deemed incapable of helping the situation and was summarily released.

For a franchise that has gone all in with big-money skill players and an offensive-minded coaching staff, it’s natural to be worried that poor blocking up front will ruin what should be a contending campaign.

Those fears appeared to be confirmed in Las Vegas’ season-opening loss at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, as quarterback Derek Carr was sacked five times, including twice on the final drive to end the game.

On second look, however, pinning all the sacks on the offensive line might be a bit reductive, as there is plenty of blame to go around.

The first sack of the game was not an offensive line issue. On 1^st-and-10, Carr executes a play-action fake and sets in the pocket, clearly targeting wide receiver Davante Adams on a deep route; Los Angeles sends an extra pass rusher and succeeds, as safety Derwin James blitzes off the right edge and brings down Carr.

The offensive linemen do their jobs on this play. The break in the chain is running back Josh Jacobs, who is assigned to pick up the blitzer and misses. James is able to hurdle Jacobs’ low block and continue on to the quarterback. And not only does Jacobs whiff, he also rolls into the back of Miller’s legs, wiping him out of the play and opening the floodgates:

The second sack was squarely on right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor.

The Chargers blitz an extra man up the middle, but it doesn’t matter as Khalil Mack drives Eluemunor back directly into Carr:

The third time Carr went down was best classified as a coverage sack.

On this play late in the second quarter, the Chargers opt not to blitz, rushing four and dropping seven into coverage. Carr hits the end of his dropback and has plenty of time to scan the field, cocking his arm to throw twice before pulling it down and scrambling.  Mack chases him down from behind for the sack.

The main issue on this play is the design, which gives Carr no short outlets. You can see from the TV camera angle that there are no checkdown options in play until running back Brandon Bolden releases from his blocking assignment and goes out into the short middle. In fact, had Bolden stayed engaged with Mack, Carr would have had even more time to throw:

The next two sacks both came on Las Vegas’ final drive, when a touchdown would have won the game.

On 3^rd-and-3 near midfield, the Raiders flood the short area with plenty of receiving options, but Los Angeles anticipates that and smartly drops eight defenders into coverage. The line holds up fine, and Carr has time to drop back, and cock to throw three times before finally fleeing the pocket.

The problem is that no one is able to get open, allowing the three-man rush to envelope Carr and force a fumble:

The final indignity came one play later, on a 4^th-and-8 with the game on the line.

Coming out of the 2-minute warning, the Chargers rush four men and do a good job of penning up Carr inside a phone booth. But he does have room to complete his drop, step up and survey the field — he just can’t find an open receiver:

Carr doesn’t have all the time in the world on this play, but it’s a fourth down with nothing to lose. The ball has to come out. Taking a sack is the same result as an interception (except on Carr’s stat line).

So in review, of the Chargers’ five sacks, only two could be directly blamed on the blocking in front of Carr, and only one of those were failures of an offensive lineman. The final sack is debatable — Carr was certainly rushed and the bullets were flying, but the circumstances dictated a quick throw, and Carr held onto the ball.

Does that mean the Raiders’ offensive line worries are overblown and everything will be fine? Of course not, as this is a small, one-game sample size. But for one week at least, the blocking was the least of their problems.

Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.