Getty Josh McDaniels with Las Vegas Raiders OL coach Carmen Bricillo.
The Josh McDaniels era for the Las Vegas Raiders got off to a rough start with a Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. While it always hurts to lose to a division rival, there are still things to be excited about. The defense played well in the second half against a great offense and Davante Adams looks just as good as the team hoped he would when they traded for him.
However, the offensive line is still a major concern. The group gave up six sacks as quarterback Derek Carr was consistently under pressure. Carr is a quarterback who doesn’t make a lot of plays with his legs so he needs a clean pocket to be effective. For some reason, the Raiders haven’t done much to address the offensive line this offseason. They can no longer ignore the issue and should look to bring in a veteran or two.
According to Vic Tafur of The Athletic, the Raiders are well-aware of the issue.
“Maybe now he brings in some veteran guys,” Tafur said on the “State of the Nation” podcast, via Raiders Beat. “Clearly there are guys on the market who may not be ideal guys … but clearly they can help you and be better than the guys you are using now. Lester Cotton is a guy who you used there all of preseason, all of training camp, and day one you’re like ‘Yeah, I’m not sure about you, I’m going to just platoon things.’ So clearly they are not happy with what they have. I know they say they are, but clearly, they are not.”
Josh McDaniels Doesn’t Blame Everything on the OL
It’s easy to blame the offensive line for the Raiders’ loss but Carr does deserve a large portion of the blame. He threw three interceptions and some of the sacks were due to him holding onto the ball for too long. McDaniels essentially said as much.
“I thought we did a decent job in many ways of just giving ourselves a chance to get the ball out on time,” McDaniels said after the game. “When we ended up having to hold the ball, that was based on the coverage. I thought they did a good job. They changed up a lot of different things in the secondary, forcing us to hold the ball a little bit on a few things.”
The Chargers have a talented squad and a defensive-minded head coach. Many teams will struggle to score on them throughout the year.
New #Chargers pass-rusher Khalil Mack with a sack of Derek Carr.
Kolton Miller Had a Game to Forget
The talk of the offseason was how the Raiders needed to address right tackle. Former first-round pick Alex Leatherwood flopped and Brandon Parker got hurt. That left the team with journeyman Jermaine Eluemunor and rookie seventh-round pick Thayer Munford. Eluemunor was on the receiving end of a highlight play by Khalil Mack where the former Raiders essentially pushed the tackle into Carr for a sack. Other than that Eluemunor actually had a serviceable game.
Left tackle Kolton Miller is supposed to be the best offensive lineman the team has but had his worst game since he was a rookie. He finished the game with a Pro Football Focus grade of 54.8, which was the worst of any of the team’s offensive linemen. He needs to play better or the Raiders are in trouble. He’s the only offensive lineman on the team who didn’t take a snap in preseason so perhaps he was rusty. He needs a bounceback week against the Arizona Cardinals.