Since Antonio Pierce overhauled the offensive coaching staff, he made it clear this team will be built around the run game. And that fact alone tells you why the team is 2-7 and have lost five straight.
They simply cannot run the ball. Like, historically bad at running the ball. Which wouldn’t be terrible if the team wasn’t relying upon it so heavily. But being that they were counting on it being a strength, everything else kinda fell apart along with it.
So, when Antonio Pierce fired Luke Getsy after just nine games, he also let a couple other coaches on the offense go as well.
“Our ability to run the football has to change,” said Antonio Pierce.”We have to run the football. We’re one of the worst teams in football, if not the worst running team in football. So, that has to change.”
With the way the team finished last season, there was reason to believe they could get something going on the ground.
Zamir White came in for the injured Josh Jacobs for the final four games and White’s rushing numbers were quite good. Even without seemingly doing anything special — which Jacobs was known for — White was still churning out the yards, averaging nearly 100 yards per game and over 4.7 yards per carry.
This season, he has seen his numbers take a nosedive. He is averaging less than three yards per carry and a few weeks ago lost his starting job.
What happened? A new blocking scheme happened.
The offensive line has struggled to acclimate to it as have the backs. And the entire offense.
That’s why along with Getsy, offensive line coach James Cregg was fired and replaced by Joe Philbin.
“Joe Philbin has been around this game a long time, coached some really good offensive lines, and been around some good offenses as well,” Pierce said. “And obviously, you got a gentleman who’s been a head coach, we talked about that prior. He’s been an offensive coordinator, and his forte is O-line play.”
Before and after Philbin was an OC and a head coach, he has coached offensive lines. Most recently for three seasons in Dallas (2020-22) and for a couple seasons in Indianapolis before that (2016-17).
His last two years in Dallas, the Cowboys rushing attack was top ten in the league. And he did it deploying man-power scheme, which is what the Raiders used the last two seasons with great success including Josh Jacobs becoming the league rushing champ in 2022.
Getting back to that kind of play could be the key to finding something on offense this season.
“Pad level, eyes down, striking, physicality up front, getting off the rock, hand placement, hat where it’s supposed to be,” Pierce added.
“And the one thing we talked about was just purely how we look off the offensive line. What does it look like physically from a technique standpoint, from a fundamental standpoint; so I’m excited to see what these guys do today in practice going forward.”
It may seem crazy to even think of switching up schemes midway through the season, but is it any more crazy to keep trying to force this line to run a scheme they clearly are not meant to run?
This upcoming week the line could have Dylan Parham back on the left side next to Kolton Miller. That’s where they lined up the past two seasons, so you know they could do it. Jordan Meredith was also on the team the past two seasons. Power is literally Jackson Powers-Johnson’s middle name. Well, ok, not really, but the Rimington award winner can definitely run that scheme. That just leaves rookie DJ Glaze at right tackle.
I, for one, think it will be fascinating to see what changes are to be made with this unit and whether the run game will find its footing again.