3 storylines for the Raiders' bounce back game against the Browns
By Levi Dombro
What kind of personnel changes will the Raiders make?
Obviously, Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers spurred changes inside the Raiders organization. Antonio Pierce made that clear with his postgame comments, and he doubled down on them later in the week at several press conferences.
Whatever the team has been doing through three weeks has clearly not been good enough, as the team stands at 1-2 and is tied for last place in the AFC West.
But Pierce has never been adverse to change.
On one side of the offensive line, Dylan Parham has been quietly spectacular for an underperforming Raiders unit:
But on the other side of the line, the team has rotated through a slew of veterans like Cody Whitehair and Andrus Peat through three weeks. However, rookie G Jackson Powers-Johnson is finally healthy and playing good football, so the Raiders head coach had this to say:
A change on the offensive line could be exactly what the team needs to catapult the offense.
Not only this, but perhaps a shift in the running back snap counts would be beneficial as well. Both Alexander Mattison and Ameer Abdullah played more snaps than starting RB Zamir White on Sunday against Carolina, so maybe a change is coming.
Mattison has scored three touchdowns this year and has nearly the exact same yardage production as White on just half the touches. He could provide a spark for a Raiders offense that has been incapable of running the ball through 12 quarters.
Another change that could be in place is the reinvestment into 12 personnel.
Mayer is too talented of a player to keep him off the field for over half of the game, so Luke Getsy and Co. need to find a way to involve him more often. With all eyes on Davante Adams and Brock Bowers, it should be easier to find one-on-one matchups for him and Jakobi Meyers.
He is also a good blocker that can help in the run game, and Las Vegas is better with him on the field.