Moe Moton
When a vision doesn’t pan out as planned, you must regroup. That’s where the Las Vegas Raiders stand headed into their Week 6 bye. Instead of a quick start, they’ve stumbled out of the gate and need an extended timeout to get healthy and sort out some issues on both sides of the ball.
First and foremost, the Raiders have key players who need to recover from significant bumps and bruises. On Wednesday, cornerback Nate Hobbs revealed that he played with a broken hand in the Monday Night Football matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Las Vegas Raiders’ bye week will help depleted depth chart
Hobbs understandably had a rough outing against Kansas City, trying to cover receivers downfield with his hand wrapped up. He allowed seven catches for 119 yards on nine targets, per Pro Football Focus. The second-year cover man seems eager to play through the injury but an extra week off will serve him well.
Tight end Darren Waller played just eight snaps against the Chiefs before he exited the contest with a hamstring injury. He came into the game with a shoulder issue, too. While fellow tight end Foster Moreau hasn’t suited up since Week 3 because of a knee injury.
Even though linebacker Denzel Perryman and wide receiver Hunter Renfrow passed concussion protocol last week, neither player performed at an optimal level in a crucial matchup with the Chiefs. Per PFF, the former missed three tackles in addition to his typical lapses in pass coverage. The latter had a relatively quiet outing with four catches for 25 yards and collided with Davante Adams on the final play of the game.
Yes, every team deals with injuries over the course of a season, but the Raiders had a thin tight-end unit with Waller and Moreau on the sideline. Hobbs, who’s played 91 percent of the defensive snaps through five weeks, clearly struggled to cover with his hand injury. Linebacker Jayon Brown missed the previous outing because of a bad hamstring.
With multiple key players unavailable or coming off significant injuries, Vegas has battled attrition early this season. Perhaps undrafted rookie cornerback Sam Webb takes on an expanded role, or Anthony Averett (broken thumb) makes a return from injured reserve to help bolster the secondary if Hobbs misses some time or plays fewer snaps.
Beyond the injuries, the Raiders need to take a step back and take a deep breath.
Raiders need to gather themselves and rebuild confidence
After a 30-29 loss to the Chiefs, Adams shoved a cameraman who ran in front of him as he walked toward the tunnel. The individual filed a police report against the wideout and claims to have suffered a minor concussion and whiplash from the incident. Regardless of what you think about the freelance media member, Adams made the right decision to immediately apologize for his action in the heat of the moment. With that said, the league has already started an investigation and may suspend him, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
If Adams has to miss a game, the Raiders will need Waller, Renfrow, and Moreau to step into bigger roles as they did last year, which is why it’s important for them to heal and fully recover from recent injuries. Furthermore, the Raiders had high expectations heading into the 2022 campaign, and with a 1-4 start, the players will likely feel a ton of pressure to snap out of a funk.
Head coach Josh McDaniels talked about building confidence to close games.
“I think experience and actually getting it done under pressure gives you confidence that you can do it again. And we did some of those things a week ago against Denver and we had our chances yesterday.”
– josh mcdaniels
As the old saying goes, when it rains it pours.
Through five weeks, the Raiders have lost two games in which they had a three-score lead. That probably weighs heavily on the psyche of players, which may result in a loss of confidence. With a Week 6 bye, the Raiders can work on the finer details at practice and put their recent shortcomings behind them.
How the Raiders must adjust heading into a weaker schedule in the month ahead
Looking ahead, the Silver and Black must flush its poor start and move forward with six games against sub-.500 squads on the upcoming slate from late October through November. Of course, some of those teams may rise to or above .500 in the coming weeks, but the Raiders don’t have any world-beaters on the schedule over the next month and a half.
Over the past two games, Vegas has fielded a balanced offensive attack capable of scoring 30-plus points on any given week. If Waller or Renfrow produce at a level similar to what they did last year, the Raiders should be able to outscore most of their upcoming opponents. However, Vegas shouldn’t go into every contest with the idea that it has to win a scoring shootout. One-dimensional squads that can only beat the opposition in one particular fashion won’t sustain win streaks.
During the bye week, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham must make some tweaks with a unit that’s allowed opponents to score 14 touchdowns on 17 red-zone trips (82.4 percent scoring rate).
Along with the defensive red-zone issues, Graham has to address the team’s poor tackling. Vegas is tied for fourth with Kansas City in missed tackles. Unlike the Chiefs, the Raiders don’t have an efficient offense, specifically in the red zone, to mask fundamental defensive lapses that result in more yards and points allowed.
Ideally, you want to see complementary football with both sides of the ball pulling equal weight, but that’s not the reality for most clubs across the league, including the Raiders. With the 28th-ranked scoring defense, the Silver and Black will likely have to outscore teams in a race to 27 or more points and depend on timely stops and/or turnovers on the other side of the ball.
This past offseason, the Raiders extended quarterback Derek Carr, acquired and extended Adams, and signed Waller and Renfrow to new deals. They went all-in on their offensive playmakers. Moving forward, that high-paid core has to pay big dividends.
While the Carr-to-Adams connection has clicked in stretches, the Raiders signal-caller has to get in sync with Waller and Renfrow, who have missed time because of injuries. They can use the bye week as a get-right period to help the offense perform at a more efficient level. With those names in the passing attack, this offense should rank higher than 15th in passing yards with a 47.4 percent touchdown rate in the red zone.
In addition to Graham’s defense, Carr and company must use this week to work through some wrinkles with a chance to go on a midseason run.
Maurice Moton covers the Raiders for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @MoeMoton.
