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2017 Oakland Raiders: First half report card

By John Buhler

ORCHARD PARK, NY - OCTOBER 29: Micah Hyde No. 23 of the Buffalo Bills and Preston Brown No. 52 of the Buffalo Bills attempt to tackle Cordarrelle Patterson No. 84 of the Oakland Raiders during the fourth quarter of an NFL game on October 29, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY - OCTOBER 29: Micah Hyde No. 23 of the Buffalo Bills and Preston Brown No. 52 of the Buffalo Bills attempt to tackle Cordarrelle Patterson No. 84 of the Oakland Raiders during the fourth quarter of an NFL game on October 29, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /
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ORCHARD PARK, NY – OCTOBER 29: Micah Hyde No. 23 of the Buffalo Bills intercepts the ball as Michael Crabtree No. 15 of the Oakland Raiders attempts to break it up during the third quarter of an NFL game on October 29, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
ORCHARD PARK, NY – OCTOBER 29: Micah Hyde No. 23 of the Buffalo Bills intercepts the ball as Michael Crabtree No. 15 of the Oakland Raiders attempts to break it up during the third quarter of an NFL game on October 29, 2017 at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Offense

There is really no other way to slice this, but the Raiders have been massively disappointing on offense. When a team’s best player on that side of the ball is an above-average center in Rodney Hudson, you can tell that the Raiders aren’t getting it done offensively.

While the Raiders are 13th in points scored at 169, keep in mind that eight teams ahead of them have played only seven games this season. Oakland has played in eight. Consistency has been very hard to find on offense.

There are weeks when quarterback Derek Carr can throw for over 250 yards and a couple of touchdown passes to keep the Silver and Black in games. Other weeks, this team struggles to come close to putting 20 points on the board. The drops have been prevalent in the passing game and the ground game lacks any sort of dynamism.

Let’s be real. We were expecting a lot out of this Raiders offense. For this team to be have been championship caliber, it needed to have a top-five to eight offense in the league. Sadly, it’s only middle of the pack, maybe even slightly below that.

Moving from the man blocking scheme to the zone blocking scheme has taken serious bite out of the running game. It has forced Carr to be elevate his accuracy as a passer. The problem is he doesn’t always throw the most catchable ball. While he does get solid protection up front, he’s really only going to complete 64 percent of his passes in a good year anyway.

Overall, we have to dock the Raiders offense considerably due to high expectations. Five times have the Raiders been held under 20 points. Those five games were all losses for the Silver and Black. Offensive ineptitude has been a major downfall of this team.

Grade: D

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