Just last week, Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak discussed fixing the team in small bite-size pieces. On Wednesday he was asked which pieces he's picking up before the clash with the Los Angeles Rams. And his response was concise.
"Third quarter, breaking tackles, red zone finishing," Kubiak said.
Calling those bite-size is generous, because the list touches almost every stretch of the games the Raiders have been losing late. On the surface, they read like three separate fixes, but at the core they describe one habit, and it belongs to a team that keeps running out of gas a few steps from the finish line.
The third quarter is on the coaches first
Kubiak deserves some credit for pointing at his own staff. The Raiders were shut out in the third quarter against both Kansas City and Buffalo,
and Kubiak framed the slow restarts as an energy problem the coaches need to fix.
"I think it's a lot of energy too," Kubiak said. "So as a coaching staff, we gotta make sure our guys have more energy come out of that second half. There's a lot of things that we've discussed, it's a point of emphasis."
He also said the Raiders have a plan for it in practice this week. Energy is a fair word, but halftime belongs to the coaches more than any other part of the game, and a team that comes out flat twice in a row usually needs a sharper opening script for that first series.
Breaking tackles starts with Ashton Jeanty
Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty made a living last season on what happened after the first hit. He broke 24 tackles as a rookie, third-most in the NFL, and 57% of his rushing yards came after contact.
The second-year back is averaging 2.52 yards after contact per carry this season, down from 3.19 as a rookie, and he is gaining well under a yard per carry before a defender touches him. Kubiak sounded patient about the run game as a whole.
"I think when you're year one in a system, there's gonna be good things, there's gonna be bad things," Kubiak said. "And right now, that's a part of our offense that we're continuing to grow on. But I do see we're going in the right direction."
Patience has limits, though. Asked whether rookie running back Mike Washington Jr. has earned more reps, Kubiak answered with a simple yes, and the Raiders need their first-round pick to start making that first tackler miss again.
Red zone finishing cuts both ways
"Yeah, it's never one thing, but I know we wanna be better running the football in the red zone," Kubiak said when asked what is keeping the offense from finishing drives.
Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins entered Monday night tied for the NFL lead with 14 touchdown passes, yet the Raiders rank last in the league in expected points added per carry inside the red zone.
The defense deserves just as much heat, since opponents have scored touchdowns on 74% of their trips inside the Raiders' 20, while the Rams hold teams to touchdowns on 52% of their red zone trips (10th-best in the league).
Kubiak's sharpest line came when he was asked how he wants to close games out.
"It's such a competitive game," Kubiak said. "And if you're just hoping to keep it close in the fourth quarter, that's not a winning mindset."
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Analyzing Raiders 3 problem areas Klint Kubiak focusing on Week 7 vs Rams
