Raiders aim to grind on the ground vs. the Colts
Vegas aims to recapture smash-mouth personality against Colts
Trent Brown was back at practice Wednesday but Josh Jacobs was not as the Raiders look to get their sagging running game back on track for the last quarter of the season.
It was Brown’s first practice since late October, as he rejoined the starters in limited fashion. Jacobs, who missed a 31-28 win over the New York Jets with an ankle injury, will have his availability determined Thursday and Friday.
Whether they play Sunday or not against the Indianapolis Colts, a significant part of the Raiders’ identity has been missing in action over the last three games and it’s difficult to envision a playoff push without the kind of steady forward progress which got them to 6-3.
The Raiders are 7- 5 and the Colts are 8- 4 and currently holding the third and final wild card spot in the AFC behind Cleveland (9-3) and Miami (8- 4).
“I haven’t been happy with the last couple games,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said. “We can be optimistic and we can be realistic. I’m going to be realistic. We’ve got to do a better job ... we feed our families with our running game. We’ve got to be able to run out the clock at the end of a game like we did at Arrowhead. We’ve got to be able to convert in short yardage.
We’ve got to do better and we made the effort to get better today.”
Through Week 10, the Raiders were on a threegame win streak with the running game taking the lead. In wins over Cleveland, the Los Angeles Chargers and Denver, the Raiders ran the ball 112 times for 572 yards with six touchdowns, averaging 5.1 yards per carry.
The Raiders were ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing, fifth in attempts and fourth in first downs rushing.
In the last three games, which included back- toback losses to Kansas City and Atlanta followed by a 31-28 win over the New York Jets, the Raiders rushed for 201 yards on 65 attempts with two touchdowns averaging 3.1 yards per carry.
In weeks 8 through 10, the Raiders ran the ball 112 times and passed it 72 times. In weeks 11 through 13, they passed the ball 112 times and ran it 65.
Going in to the Colts game, the Raiders have dropped to 10th in the NFL in rushing and 11th in rushing first downs.
Power running has been a big part of Gruden’s philosophy in both tours in Oakland as well as Tampa Bay, and Colts coach Frank Reich doesn’t believe the last three games will deter him from sticking with his philosophy.
“I just feel like that’s when they’re at their best,” Reich said on a conference call. “My guess is the way they want to operate is to that run game, to get it going like it was going. I have no doubt that will be a top priority for them this week and we’re going to have to be at our best in our run defense.”
And the Colts have been very good at stopping the run. They’re fifth in total defense and seventh against the run, giving 100.9 yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry. The only back to have any success is Tennessee’s Derrick Henry, who had 19 carries for 103 yards in their first meeting and 178 yards on 27 attempts in the rematch.
Aside from Henry, no back has exceeded 72 yards against the Colts.