KANSAS CITY, Mo. -– The Raiders offense couldn’t do much of anything right in Sunday’s 23-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That wasn’t an aberration. It’s part of a continuing trend.
A once-explosive offense has struggled down the stretch, with lackluster efforts in pass protection, run blocking and big plays that were their signature earlier in the season.
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They scored but one offensive touchdown against the Chiefs, and weren’t savvy enough to complete a late-game comeback. They had 205 yards and averaged just 3.7 yards per play against Kansas City and have been under 5.0 in four of the past five games.
“We struggled to move the ball tonight and really sputtered to finish the year,” head coach Jack Del Rio said. “I feel like we lost our way a little bit. There will be a lot of work done this offseason to figure out exactly where we went off the rails. We were nowhere near the productivity we expect to have. We really have to take a look at that.”
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The Raiders entered Sunday with 38 plays over 25 yards. They only had one at Arrowhead Stadium, a 31-yard touchdown catch from Michael Crabtree that cut the lead to six.
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“We have not been what we were early in the year,” Del Rio said. “Back then, we were able to generate some explosive plays. We certainly ran the ball better. We didn’t do that well today. We haven’t gotten chunk yards that we took so many times this year. That’s a far cry from what we generated early in the year. We certainly have work to do.”
Part of that is falling behind schedule. The Raiders have given up more sacks in the last month than they had in the rest of the season, and quarterback Derek Carr was taken down a season-worst six times by the Chiefs. It’s happened 15 times in the past four games.
While several factors key into that downtrend, it has hurt the Raiders ability to sustain drives and create manageable third downs. Carr’s interceptions have gone up as well, trying to make big plays in tough situations.
“When you’re behind the chains, it’s really hard to compete in this league,” Carr said. “You have to stay on schedule, and we haven’t done enough of that lately. Doing that will make us be more consistent.”
The Raiders showed flashes of excellence, but haven’t worked downfield consistently enough despite more teams consistently using seven-man fronts and two deep safeties to prevent big strikes.
“We have sputtered. That’s a good word for it,” Carr said. “We looked like ourselves at times, sometimes when we need it the most. But, at other times, we really look sloppy. We looked not the way we want to look. That’s something we have to analyze and eventually grow together.”
That’s why Carr is optimistic this group can remain dominant for years to come. The Raiders have a strong core of skill players under contract for a while, and that group can improve within coordinator Bill Musgrave’s offense.
“That’s going to help us this offseason, being able to build off of what we’ve done as opposed to starting over from scratch,” Carr said. “On good offenses, you see have guys growing year in and year out. At times we looked great, and at times it just wasn’t there.”