Watching The Oakland Offense Run Some Smash Mouth Football Last Night Gave Me Scaries

Josh Jacobs had a solid debut last night for the Oakland Raiders.  In fact, his 113 yards and 2 TDs was the first occurrence in an opening game since LT in 2001:

That stat sounds…. wrong? and something that is basically a weekly occurrence in the NFL, but whatever we’ll go with it because Jon Gruden was force feeding him the ball and that’s all that matters for the thesis of this blog.  He was getting the rock from start to finish last night and it set the Raiders up for success and an eventual win.

And Jacobs’ numbers weren’t even *that* impressive, all things considered.  3.7 yards/carry with a long run of 13 yards and a 28 yard reception.  A lot of times he’d receive the handoff and be immediately met with a host of tacklers.

BUT…

… He was fed the ball 23 times while Derek Carr only threw 26 times.  It was the commitment to running him and running him frequently that matters.  Just chew up yards, control the clock, and work off the play action when necessary.  It worked with the Raiders winning outright despite being 2.5 point dogs at home.  Compare that to Nagy, Trubisky and Montgomery this week?

6 carries for 18 yards for Montgomery, 5 carriers for 19 yards for Davis, zero carries for Cohen.  11 carries total out of their three RBs. NOT GOOD.  Mitch threw the ball 45 times for an average of 5.1 per attempt, which is just so brutal.  He should never be put in that position at this point.  Can’t have it, won’t have it.  The experts around the twittersphere all seem to agree as well, and these trends date back to his time in KC:

but the good news it’s 1 game of 16 and the Bears weren’t going 16-0.  They can and WILL adapt, starting in week 2.  Nagy is too smart, Trubisky too talented, and the offense too deep for the struggles to continue on some demonic path.  And with the Bears playing the Broncos on Sunday, the recipe is already there for success.  Run the goddamn ball.  Doesn’t even have to be Montgomery, but it’s evident throwing the ball 45 times with Trubisky is not the best way to win football games right now.  There are obviously a finite amount of snaps in any given game and I’m not saying there has to be one singular player getting the majority of carries, but they HAVE to run the ball and run it a lot nevertheless.

If Mitch’s numbers are anything close to what Derek Carr’s were last night (I’m talking strictly how much he threw) and the Bears attempt ~25 rushes, they’re going to be a in a great position to win on Sunday.  It’s as simple as that.  No more air raid, Texas Tech style offenses from Nagy, that will NOT work right now.

End rant.  Give backs the ball and give it to them a lot.  Trubisky can succeed that way.  He doesn’t need to win games, he just needs to be average and that’s not going to happen with him throwing the ball a billion times this year.