Oct 25, 2015; San Diego, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Amari Cooper (89) celebrates a touchdown with quarterback Derek Carr (4) during the second quarter against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Oakland’s offense had a breakout performance against the San Diego Chargers last week. Before tapering off in the second half, the offense looked nearly unstoppable. Carr was delivering passes with top level precision. Several Raiders receivers were making plays. The run game looked solid. Even the offensive line played extraordinarily while facing a blitz happy defense. With all that high level performance on the field it’s no wonder the Raiders jumped out to a 30-6 lead at the half. But the real MVP wasn’t on the field. The real MVP of the first two and a half quarters was Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave.
The NFL Gamebook play-by-play section reads like a thing of beauty for Oakland’s offense. It starts with a lot of Carr passes short left, right, and middle. Some of which net solid yardage.
Carr pass short left to T. Jones for 16 yards.
It gets a little more interesting when a few long runs get thrown in the mix.
Murray right end for 14 yards. Murray right end for 17 yards.
Next it moves to some of the bigger pass plays.
Carr pass deep right to Walford for 23 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Carr pass deep right to Cooper for 44 yards.
Then finally, we go full circle.
Carr pass short left to Cooper for 52 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Carr pass short left to Crabtree for 25 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This is exactly how it’s supposed to go. Start with the easy things, force the defense into making adjustments, then punish those adjustments. A game plan like the one executed against the Chargers, is what Oakland should aspire to every week. And now we know they can make it happen.
This week we’ll examine the offensive game plan, specifically the progression of plays, and determine exactly why they were so successful.
Next: The Short Pass