Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos: 3 things we learned in Week 6

Las Vegas Raiders at Denver Broncos: 3 things we learned in Week 6

Derek Carr and Greg Olson are a good combo

There were some critics among Raider Nation, myself included, that felt that Jon Gruden was a good or even great play designer but his in-game playcalling was lacking. His critics often felt that Gruden was aggressive when he should not be and conservative when he should not have been and thought that his playcalling lacked creativity at times.

Some of that was evident by his lack of screens and his preference for running inside in most short yardage situations.

This week we saw that many of the things that fans were clamoring for are in the Raiders playbook but they were just not being called. One demand from the fans was for the Raiders to run screens to take the pressure off a struggling offensive line and we saw that done effectively. Fans also wanted the Raiders to take more deep shots and put the game in Carr‘s hands when the Raiders were protecting a lead.

We saw the former in Carr’s big plays to Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards and the latter as he made those plays late in the game with the team sitting on a two or three-score lead. Gruden offenses usually went into turtle mode and leaned far too heavily on the run in those situations despite it being a major weakness of the team.

Now we get to see what an offense run by the combination of Derek Carr and Greg Olson will look like once again. Olson was the Raiders offensive coordinator during Derek Carr‘s rookie year but was replaced after that staff was removed following a rough season. He bounced around a bit but was responsible for making quarterbacks like Blake Bortles and Josh Freeman look competent throughout his career.

Now he gets to make Carr look like an MVP candidate once again and the pair clearly have chemistry. Let’s hope this relationship continues to blossom and we get to see a more creative and dynamic offense.