One of the significant concerns about former Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was the lack of a running game and the usage of Ashton Jeanty, whom the Silver and Black drafted in the top 10.
Now that Kelly is gone, Greg Olson has taken the reins as the team’s offensive coordinator, and the major question is whether the Raiders will lean on Jeanty more than they did in the final games of Kelly’s tenure.
In Kelly’s 11 games as offensive coordinator, Jeanty only had two games in which he recorded more than 20 rushing attempts, which were against the Chicago Bears (21) and Tennessee Titans (23).
On November 27, Olson spoke with the media and shared insight into his plan for Jeanty, who he wants to be a focal point of the offense ahead of the Week 13 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“Part of the reason why we drafted him where we did was expectations of not only the player himself, but what we want our offense to look like,” Olson said. “Getting him more involved, touches in the passing game or the run game, screen game, [and] quick game.
“There are a lot of things he can do besides run the football, but how do you get the ball in your players’ hands, your best players’ hands, and he’s one of our best players, so we have to find more ways to get him the ball.”
Stories About Raiders Offensive Dysfunction Emerge
The Raiders will hope Olson is a step up from Kelly, whose head-scratching moments emerged after his firing. A few days after Kelly was let go, NFL insider Tom Pelissero began sharing accounts from the coach’s time running the offense for the Silver and Black, and those stories included more than a few puzzling episodes.
“It just seemed like from Week 2 on, teams just kind of caught up with what the Raiders were doing,” Pelissero said on the November 26 edition of “The Rich Eisen Show.” “And there are all kinds of different stories about the dysfunction of the Raiders offense.
“There were times I was told where Chip Kelly was repeatedly botching the play calls. For instance, tagging a motion on a play—so the receivers are on the left, not the right—and he forgets to say it. Geno Smith goes to the line of scrimmage thinking, ‘This doesn’t look right,‘ while they’re trying to run the play. It even happened on a third down in the game the other day.”
More on the Raiders’ Issues on Offense
Kelly botching a play wasn’t the only story Pelissero shared with Eisen to show just how dysfunctional the offense was.
“On several occasions, I was told Chip called a play that was either not in the game plan or not installed at all,“ Pelissero added. “Things like that happened. You’re not productive. That’s enough—you didn’t need any extra excuses. But a lot of issues were popping up within games that a good team simply cannot overcome. They didn’t have enough talent.”
It will be interesting to see if any changes come to the Raiders and Jeanty with Olson now calling the plays, and whether they dial it back after Geno Smith made more than 40 pass attempts in the past two games against the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns.
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