The Raiders are hoping to fix their turnover problems.
With his team at 1-4, head coach Jon Gruden cited a particular statistic Monday as a reflection of the Raiders’ early struggles.
“We have to win the turnover battle to be a great football team,” Gruden said. “And right now, we’re turning the ball over too many times and we’re not getting the ball back.”
The Raiders committed two turnovers and had no takeaways in Sunday’s 26-10 loss to the Chargers. The turnovers came at costly times: Martavis Bryant’s first-half fumble on a 21-yard catch came one play after the Chargers had taken a 10-3 lead and led to another Los Angeles touchdown. In the third quarter, quarterback Derek Carr threw an interception on 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
The Raiders’ minus-4 turnover margin is tied for third worst in the league, and four of their five takeaways came in their lone win of the season against the Browns.
Carr has thrown an NFLhigh eight interceptions and, through five games, is more than halfway to his career high of 13.
“He’s too good a player to throw any,” Gruden said. “And I believe that. I think we can correct these interceptions. We’re going to correct these interceptions.
“I think he’s aggressive. Coaching him to be aggressive. I feel like we’ve got some good shot plays, we’ve got some good receivers. But I think we can tone down some of that aggressiveness. But we’ve got to eliminate the turnovers.”
Of Carr’s interceptions, three have come in the end zone and three others have come inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. On Sunday, Carr appeared to try to force a throw to tight end Derek Carrier on the 1st-and-goal play after his primary read was covered off the line.
After the game, Gruden said he thinks Carr “just presses in some moments.” Carr agreed with the assessment.
“I’ve always just tried to do too much,” Carr said. “It’s not out of a bad heart. I just want to win so bad. Sometimes it gets me caught up, like on that one today, in a bad play.”
Through five games, Carr’s 71.3 completion percentage and 1,641 passing yards are fourth and fifth, respectively, among quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts. He had completions to seven receivers Sunday, though notably targeted Amari Cooper only once (for a 10-yard catch). Gruden said Monday that Cooper “was open a couple times.” Gruden gave a restrained evaluation of Carr’s play in the loss.
“Derek Carr had a couple bad plays that he needs to correct and he will correct,” Gruden said. “But there were some good things. I’m going to continue to emphasize the good and do everything I can to fix the things that are bad. Because most of the things that are bad, my fingerprints are all over.”
The Raiders’ defense, meanwhile, has forced just one turnover outside of the game against the Browns, when Oakland played against a rookie quarterback (Baker Mayfield) making his first NFL start. Cornerback Rashaan Melvin had an interception in their Week 2 loss to the Broncos.
In five games, the defense has a league-low six sacks, and recorded just two quarterback hits Sunday on the Chargers’ Philip Rivers, who finished the game with a 143.4 passer rating. Gruden cited a connection Monday when asked how the defense can force more turnovers.
“It starts with pressuring the quarterback,” Gruden said. “We’ve got to get more pressure on the quarterback. We’ve got to force them to make some bad decisions. We’ve got to make that guy unload it when he doesn’t want to. We’ve got to disrupt the timing. We’ve got to knock him off the spot. We’ve got to do better.”