We hear it all the time. That one of the offense’s primary objectives is to sustain long drives in order to keep the defense off the field as long as possible. Likewise, it’s also the defense’s objective to stop the opposing offense as quickly as possible to put the ball back in the hands of their own offense.
Sunday in Cleveland, the Raiders were able to do that better than they had all season long.
The weather played a large hand in accomplishing that, but both teams went into the game with the same objective and the Raiders won that battle handily.
As Gruden said after the game, the Raiders won with an old school attack. They ran the ball well and controlled the clock. The Browns at times were able to get something going, but not often enough.
This bore itself out in the snap counts, with the Raiders offense staying on the field for 72 snaps compared to just 49 for the defense.
While the 72 offensive snaps is not a season-high for the Raiders — that was week two against the Saints when they had 80 snaps — their 49 defensive snaps is a season-low. Their previous low was also that Saints game when they had 60 snaps.
The Raiders held onto the ball so much, the Browns only got six drives with which to work. The results of those drives were fumble, field goal, punt, field goal, punt, missed field goal. And the Raiders won 16-6.
| Offense | ST | ||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Kolton Miller | T | 72 | 100% | 5 | 28% |
| Denzelle Good | G | 72 | 100% | 5 | 28% |
| Gabe Jackson | G | 72 | 100% | 5 | 28% |
| Derek Carr | QB | 72 | 100% | 0 | 0% |
| Rodney Hudson | C | 72 | 100% | 0 | 0% |
| Darren Waller | TE | 57 | 79% | 0 | 0% |
| Nelson Agholor | WR | 56 | 78% | 0 | 0% |
| Henry Ruggs III | WR | 54 | 75% | 0 | 0% |
| Brandon Parker | T | 49 | 68% | 5 | 28% |
| Josh Jacobs | RB | 48 | 67% | 0 | 0% |
| Jason Witten | TE | 38 | 53% | 0 | 0% |
| Foster Moreau | TE | 31 | 43% | 10 | 56% |
| Alec Ingold | FB | 26 | 36% | 9 | 50% |
| Sam Young | T | 23 | 32% | 0 | 0% |
| Hunter Renfrow | WR | 15 | 21% | 2 | 11% |
| Jalen Richard | RB | 14 | 19% | 3 | 17% |
| Devontae Booker | RB | 10 | 14% | 3 | 17% |
| Zay Jones | WR | 10 | 14% | 0 | 0% |
| Derek Carrier | TE | 1 | 1% | 14 | 78% |
| Defense | ST | ||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Erik Harris | FS | 49 | 100% | 10 | 56% |
| Trayvon Mullen | CB | 49 | 100% | 8 | 44% |
| Cory Littleton | LB | 49 | 100% | 5 | 28% |
| Nevin Lawson | CB | 49 | 100% | 4 | 22% |
| Nick Kwiatkoski | LB | 48 | 98% | 4 | 22% |
| Johnathan Abram | SS | 47 | 96% | 6 | 33% |
| Maxx Crosby | DE | 41 | 84% | 4 | 22% |
| Clelin Ferrell | DE | 36 | 73% | 4 | 22% |
| Maliek Collins | DT | 31 | 63% | 1 | 6% |
| Carl Nassib | DE | 31 | 63% | 1 | 6% |
| Johnathan Hankins | DT | 29 | 59% | 3 | 17% |
| Lamarcus Joyner | CB | 28 | 57% | 0 | 0% |
| Nicholas Morrow | LB | 23 | 47% | 5 | 28% |
| Chris Smith | DE | 11 | 22% | 0 | 0% |
| Kendal Vickers | DT | 9 | 18% | 3 | 17% |
| Maurice Hurst Jr. | DT | 6 | 12% | 0 | 0% |
| Amik Robertson | CB | 2 | 4% | 4 | 22% |
| Jeff Heath | SS | 1 | 2% | 4 | 22% |
| Special Teams | |||||
| Player | Pos | Num | Pct | Num | Pct |
| Kyle Wilber | LB | 0 | 0% | 13 | 72% |
| Keisean Nixon | CB | 0 | 0% | 9 | 50% |
| Daniel Carlson | K | 0 | 0% | 9 | 50% |
| Isaiah Johnson | CB | 0 | 0% | 9 | 50% |
| Raekwon McMillan | LB | 0 | 0% | 9 | 50% |
| Trent Sieg | LS | 0 | 0% | 6 | 33% |
| A.J. Cole | P | 0 | 0% | 6 | 33% |
| Andre James | C | 0 | 0% | 5 | 28% |
| John Simpson | G | 0 | 0% | 5 | 28 |
[vertical-gallery id=75503]
[lawrence-newsletter]