Las Vegas Raiders: Jon Gruden more aggressive with Marcus Mariota
Marcus Mariota added a new dimension to the offense
The weapon Jon Gruden had on Thursday night that he didn’t have before Week 15 was a quarterback in Marcus Mariota who is absolutely lethal with his legs. Derek Carr is relatively athletic for a quarterback and can make plays with his legs, but he has never done that consistently, and probably never will.
With Mariota in the game, Gruden was able to open the playbook a little thanks to his skill set. Mariota ran the ball nine times for 88 yards and a touchdown against the Chargers, and they seemed completely unprepared for that wrinkle in the game. This is understandable considering they spent all week preparing for Carr, and instead got Mariota for the majority of the game.
Two of Mariota’s nine rushes came on fourth down and both went for first downs. The first was a run around left end in a play that Carr just can’t physically make, as he beat a defensive back to the corner. The second run was a quarterback sneak up the middle that Carr has executed plenty of times, so we can throw that one out, but the other rushes were plays only a quarterback as athletic as Mariota could make.
Having this dual-threat ability at the quarterback position opens things up for Gruden because it gives him more options on any down, including fourth down. Mariota’s ability to not just extend plays, but break off big runs with his legs makes him harder to defend in short-yardage situations because he is big and fast enough to beat defenders or power through them for crucial yards.
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We will have to see if this was just a flash in the pan for Gruden if Mariota starts against the Dolphins, but he could be licking his chops at getting ten days to prepare for a tough Miami defense with his dual-threat quarterback. If Carr is under center and is not 100%, then we likely won’t see much aggression from Gruden and the Raiders, but if they choose to protect him and start Mariota, we can only hope that Gruden will keep rolling the dice.