Oakland Raiders: I Thought We Were Going to Be a Running Team This Year

During the offseason the Oakland Raiders acquired Hue Jackson to be the offensive coordinator and to call plays on gameday.  He said that he wanted to install a power running attack this year.  Aside from Cooper Carlisle, all of our lineman usually have a size advantage against their opponents on Sundays.  With that said, our line is built to run block. 

There is no reason for the play calling against the Titans.  We came out passing early and often.  This played to the strength of the Titans defensive linemen who are the smaller/quicker type of linemen.

Darren McFadden was clearly our best weapon on offense.  I know he got 18 carries and 6 receptions but his touches were too few and far between, in my opinion.  He did the most with his touches racking up 150 yards and a TD.  I just feel that McFadden and Michael Bennett should have been taking handoffs left and right against the Titans.  McFadden was picking up positive yards and Bennett showed during preseason that he can still get things done, so why not just feed the ball to the RBs.

Had we came out pounding the ball down their throats it would have opened up things for the passing game.  The gameplan against Chris Johnson was to keep him on the sideline, right?  Well, the best way to eat up the clock is to run the ball. 

It was clear, in the first quarter, that we couldn't handle the Titans' pass rush.  I don't understand why Hue Jackson kept on dialing up pass plays.  We should have stuck to just pounding the ball instead of playing to the strength of the defense. 

Campbell had 37 pass attempts but when you add his four sacks and the six times he took off running that adds up to 47 pass plays.  That is 47 pass plays and just 19 called running plays.  Our RBs got just 19 attempts.  Hue Jackson needs to switch up his gameplan against the Rams this week.  I know the absence of Michael Bush had a lot to do with the gameplan against the Titans but Michael Bennett can hold it down while Bush gets healthy. 

What do you think RAIDER NATION?  Shouldn't we be pounding the rock?