The Raiders marched the ball down the field on their opening possession as Jimmy Garoppolo was highly effective and efficient. But after that drive, the offense stalled and never got back on track. But who deserves the most blame after a subpar outing on Sunday?
In a recent article by NFL.com, they discussed Garoppolo’s performance in Week 2 against the Bills. While he certainly didn’t have a strong game, he wasn’t the only reason the offense struggled. In fact, they believe the run game deserves most of the blame for Sunday’s performance.
Buy Raiders TicketsHere is what NFL.com’s team of writers had to say about Garoppolo in the loss:
Las Vegas encountered remarkable struggles on the ground, with 2022 rushing champion Josh Jacobs finishing with -2 yards on nine attempts. Tucker’s single run ended up leading the Raiders in rushing for the day.
And with so much offensive responsibility placed on Garoppolo’s shoulders, the Raiders were doomed. Garoppolo threw two interceptions and would’ve had to be a superhero to lead the Raiders out of the hole they found themselves in. He was merely human.
The Raiders didn’t bring in Garoppolo to be the savior on offense. They signed him to run the offense efficiently. He needs a strong run game to function at a high level, but the Raiders just didn’t have that going at all in this game. He needs more support from the players around him for this offense to play to it’s potential.
Can the offense bounce back in Week 3, now that they are finally at home? They will have a tall task ahead of them as they will face T.J. Watt and the Steelers. There is also a chance they could be without Davante Adams, who left in the fourth quarter with a head injury.
Needless to say, the Raiders have to find a way to get their offense back on track sooner rather than later.