Las Vegas Raiders: Studs and Duds from 2021 Week 4 vs. Chargers

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Oct 4, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden talks with quarterback Derek Carr (4) during the second half against the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /

Las Vegas Raiders: Studs and Duds from 2021 Week 4 vs. Chargers

Duds – Jon Grudens early offensive script

Jon Gruden is a Bill Walsh disciple and one of the tenets of the Walsh offense was to script your first 15 plays ahead of the game. If Jon Gruden is still doing that then his script needs to go back to the writer’s room for some major edits.

The Raiders were out-scored 21-0 in the first half and struggled to get literally even a yard on offense.

They were shut out by a competent LA team but they made them look like the 85 Chicago Bears. Gruden also has to answer for his conservative play-calling early on when the game was still in the balance. In this era of the NFL, coming out with two inside runs and a pass on third and long is a recipe for disaster.

He has a veteran quarterback that has seen everything a defense can throw at him and he needs to trust him more even with a leaky offensive line.

When he is chasing a game, Gruden lets Carr loose and he lets it rip up and down the field. He turns up the aggression and makes great adjustments as the game goes along but there has to be an answer for these early-game struggles. The Raiders are clearly a good team with a potentially great offense but they can’t keep spotting every opponent two scores and hope to win. Gruden and his staff need to fix this problem and they need to do it ASAP.

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