Oakland Raiders: Ground game essential in victory over Chargers

Perhaps more than ever this season, the Oakland Raiders will need to lean on its running backs offensively to win in Week 6 over the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Oakland Raiders find themselves in a difficult spot they frankly didn’t expect to be in at the start of the season. Losing three games in a row after a 2-0 start has the Silver and Black faced with a crucial, must-win game against a division rival on Sunday afternoon in Week 6.

For the Raiders to be able to knock off a familiar foe in the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, it has to start with the ground-and-pound attack. The running game has been hit or miss for the Raiders all season. Can Oakland get back in the win column with a great rushing performance out of the running backs?

Through five games, the Raiders have rushed for 453 yards on 109 attempts for four touchdowns. The interesting part of this is that the Raiders have rushed for over 100 yards as a team three times already. Those performances came in Week 1 versus the Tennessee Titans, Week 2 at home versus the New York Jets and last week versus the Baltimore Ravens.

The problem is Oakland rushed for a combined 56 yards in the two losses to the Washington Redskins in Week 3 and on the road versus the rival Denver Broncos in Week 4. In short, the ground game is usually the best indicator of offensive success for this football team, not necessarily the passing game.

Though the Raiders lost last week, they still had 108 rushing yards and a touchdown. It was that costly fumble by Jared Cook that Jimmy Smith returned for a touchdown that sank the Raiders early on Sunday. The ground game headlined by Marshawn Lynch gave the Raiders a chance to win in Week 5.

Sure, he may be past his prime, but does Lynch and the rest of the Raiders’ running backs have a shot against Los Angeles on Sunday? Absolutely and here is why. Los Angeles has allowed more rushing yards (806) than any team in football. It’s a big reason the Chargers are 1-4. They are allowing 5.0 yards per carry, third worst in the NFL behind the Pittsburgh Steelers (5.1) and the Jacksonville Jaguars (5.4).

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Some of this could be attributed to Los Angeles playing from behind. Teams that have leads usually try to milk the clock with the ground-and-pound attack. It works very well against the Chargers since their best defensive players are out on the perimeter. Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram play out on the edge. Casey Hayward is a cornerback and Jason Verrett is out for the year.

In essence, the Chargers are vulnerable up the middle of their defense. Oakland will have to get creative in play calling, but there are opportunities for offensive coordinator Todd Downing to take advantage.

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Lynch will again be the bell-cow, but will do so with the home crowd amping him up. He found pay dirt last week versus the Ravens in a goal-line situation. We’ve seen his backup Jalen Richard explode through the hole for a big gain a few times. Even Cordarrelle Patterson has made some plays in the backfield.

The big question is the health of running back DeAndre Washington and fullback Jamize Olawale. Washington didn’t play against the Ravens due to a hamstring injury. Olawale is in the concussion protocol.

So not having a third running back in Washington or a lead blocker in Olawale could be problematic. However, getting the bad Chargers run defense at home might be exactly what the Raiders need to right their sinking season.

A solid ground game could take pressure of quarterback Derek Carr on Sunday. Keep in mind that he is coming back from a transverse process fracture in his back. He can play, but likely won’t be at 100 percent.

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With Amari Cooper struggling to catch passes and Michael Crabtree getting a tough matchup in Hayward, it is imperative that the Raiders can run the football with conviction on Sunday afternoon. If they can’t, they might fall to 2-4. That would put the Raiders in last place in the AC West. You could kiss hopes of the AFC playoffs good by as well with that mark through six games.

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