Raiders studs & duds from Week 8: Luke Getsy & Antonio Pierce fail again

Dud - Luke Getsy and Antonio Pierce 

It is clear through eight games that Luke Getsy and his struggles are a major reason why this team is struggling. Getsy has run an uninspired and vanilla offense despite having nothing to lose. If these struggles on offense continue, then he will likely lose his job anyway so why not roll the dice and open things up a bit to try to get the offense moving? 

These struggles were never plainer than a horrible goal line sequence where the Raiders got the ball on the KC three-yard line and ran four boring plays before turning the ball over on downs. One also wonders why Antonio Pierce didn’t consider kicking a field goal there to make 16-17 but he likely would have gotten roasted for that too. Instead of being creative, Getsy and Pierce have stubbornly tried to establish the run despite having the worst running back group in the NFL and an offensive line that generates no push.

On Sunday, the Raiders rushed for less than 40 yards on more than 20 attempts and could get nothing going on the ground against a tough KC defense. Usually, you chalk up those struggles to game script and a large deficit, but the Raiders were in the game until the very end but still could not run the ball. 

To his credit, Getsy did try to get a little bit creative by doing things like having Crosby line up in the backfield as a fullback and lining up Thayer Mumford out wide on the play that resulted in the Minshew fumble. It's unlikely that Getsy will last until Thanksgiving so he might as well reach deep into the depths of his playbook and try some crazy stuff to get things moving. What will likely happen, however, is more runs on second and short and mismanaging short-yardage situations out of shotgun as the Raiders continue to struggle to put up 20 points on a weekly basis.