Are the Raiders bad at football again?
It sure looked like it on Sunday, and there’s an argument to be made that their 36-22 loss to the Panthers was the worst of Antonio Pierce’s head-coaching tenure with the Raiders.
Even more disappointing was the fact many of the areas the Raiders struggled on Sunday had been strengths of the team going back to last year.
Where is Zamir White?
White was one the NFL’s most productive running backs in the final four weeks of the 2023 season, but this year he has only 102 rushing yards on 32 carries.
The offensive line hasn’t changed that much from a year ago, so the issues with the Raiders’ running game are either connected to offensive coordinator Luke Getsy or the scheme he is running.
Head coach Antonio Pierce wants to be a ‘run first’ team, but the Raiders have been borderline incompetent in the running game to this point in the season.
The Panthers were the NFL’s second-worst run defense going into week 3, but they held Raider running backs to 3.15 yards per carry on Sunday.
That’s abysmal.
What happened to the defense?
Carolina had not led in a regular season game in 279 days until Sunday, and at one point in the fourth quarter they led 33-7.
We’ve know about the offensive deficiencies, but when has Patrick Graham’s defense ever been more disappointing?
The defense against the Panthers didn’t look anything like what we’ve come to expect from a defense coached by Graham.
Did the players quit on Sunday?
The one thing we could always count on was players playing hard for Antonio Pierce, right?
Apparently not.
After Sunday’s game, Pierce suggested that certain players didn’t compete once the game got out of hand.
Looking back, it was less concerning that players made “business decisions” at the end of the game, and a little more concerning that a lot of them started the game without energy.
It was the first time in Pierce’s 11 games as head coach (counting his games as interim HC last year) where players didn’t seem to play with effort.
Hopefully that doesn’t turn into a trend.
