5 things to avoid so the Las Vegas Raiders make the playoffs

5 things to avoid so the Las Vegas Raiders make the playoffs

Gruden’s poor red-zone play-calling

The Raiders are one of the most frustrating teams to be a fan of in the NFL, and one thing that makes the games so frustrating is the red zone play calling. How often are the Raiders going to run three tight end sets in the red zone, just to run play action, role right, and have no receivers on the field to throw to.

When Las Vegas is in the red zone, they are either going to run it up the middle with Jacobs, run it up the middle with Ingold, or role out to throw to a tight end or a full back. It has been very predictable and not effective the last couple of seasons.

The Raiders need to mix it up in the red zone, and one way to do that is to get the receivers involved. When the Raiders had that great 2016 season, they were scoring touchdowns in the red zone, and the reason they were able to do it was because they had a balanced offense down there, and they were not afraid to take risks.

If the Raiders were in the red zone, they would score a touchdown, whether it was a fade route to Michael Crabtree, a quick slant to Amari Cooper, or a run up the middle with Latavius Murray. I would love to see the Raiders get back to this with fades to Edwards, slants to Renfrow or Ruggs, and opening up the playbook to Josh Jacobs, but if that doesn’t happen, the Raiders will continue to settle for field goals.