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Friday, April 6, 2012

2012 Oakland Raiders: Just run baby!


With the passing of Oakland Raiders’ team owner Al Davis last year we knew there would be changes for the organization starting in 2012. Davis was a die-hard believer that speed kills and favored wide-open, air-it-out type offenses. He’d roll over in his grave if he saw what kind of conservative offense the Raiders will be running this year.


And running is the key word in that sentence because that is where the Raiders true focus will lie. Raiders’ offensive coordinator Greg Knapp has held the same position for the San Francisco 49ers, the Atlanta Falcons, the Seattle Seahawks, and he’s also had a previous stint as an OC in Oakland. During his two most successful stints which came with the Falcons and the 49ers, his teams ran the ball very effectively.

49ers’ running back Garrison Hearst revived his career under Knapp rushing for over 1,200 yards after a two-year hiatus from football due to a slow-healing ankle fracture. Knapp was also responsible for Hearst’s backup Kevan Barlow having the only 1,000-yard season of his career.

Then as offensive coordinator of the Falcons, Knapp was responsible for running back Warrick Dunn having the best three seasons he had as a pro. Are you starting to see a pattern?

Before Knapp arrived in Atlanta, Dunn had never rushed for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. Dunn produced three straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons under Knapp.

The running backs weren’t the only ones who thrived during Knapp’s tenures in Atlanta and San Francisco; quarterbacks Jeff Garcia and Michael Vick also had productive seasons. Garcia had two of his most productive seasons in Knapp’s offense and Vick had his best seasons in a Falcon’s uniform under Knapp.

All of Garcia and Vick’s success was predicated off of the run though. Knapp loves to run the ball but he still needs a quarterback that can make defenses pay for loading up the box. This was his biggest problem in his first stint with the Raiders.

Former Raiders’ running back Justin Fargas produced his only 1,000-yard season under Knapp. All three of the Raiders’ quarterbacks who started that season failed to capitalize off of Fargas’s running though which eventually led to Knapp’s ouster in Oakland.

Knapp was unable to get a running game going in Seattle during his lone season there. He attempted to get the best out of a running back committee that consisted of Julius Jones, Edgerrin James and Justin Forsett but to no avail.

Knapp will be happy to have an explosive back like Darren McFadden at his disposal this season though. McFadden is a dangerous runner who will force teams to stack the box but he has been injury-prone which is why the Raiders traded for Mike Goodson from the Carolina panthers to back him up.

With a strong rushing attack in place, Carson Palmer should have a much better season than he had last year. A lot of what the Raiders will do in the passing game this year will be set up by the run which will help Palmer.

He has the arm and accuracy to make defenses pay for loading up against the run but he hasn’t been as reliable in the past when he's been forced to carry a team with his arm. Play-action play-calling could help by giving him a little more time to find open targets.

But if McFadden once again goes down to injury and Goodson isn’t able to handle the workload then the Raiders may find themselves once again reliant on Palmers’ decision-making which has proven not to be a very good proposition in the past. Here’s hoping that won’t be the case in 2012. 


Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.

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