FTN’s Football Almanac highlights Las Vegas’ deficiencies in broken tackles and attacking light boxes
The Las Vegas Raiders rushing attack was an issue last season as the team ranked 30th in the NFL with 90.7 rushing yards per game and 28th in yards per carry (3.7). Granted, the Raiders’ offense as a whole struggled and Antonio Pierce taking over as head coach should improve those numbers.
Pierce has made it no secret that he’d like Las Vegas’ offensive identity to go back to being a more ‘old school’, ground-and-pound style of play. The shift in philosophy will certainly help but the unit needs to become more efficient in the running game. FTN’s Football Almanac shared a few numbers that highlight a couple of areas of improvement for the Silver and Black.
“Las Vegas was last with just 77 broken tackles, although New Orleans had a lower broken tackle rate,” the Raiders’ chapter of the Almanac reads. “Josh Jacobs plummeted from 74 broken tackles in 2022 to just 35 in 2023.”
For context, the Saints had the 10th-most rushing attempts (480) in the league last year while the Raiders ranked 27th (413) to help explain the difference between the lowest number of broken tackles and the lowest rate. Either way, this is not exactly a category the Raiders want to be in.
FTN isn’t the only analytics site to document Jacobs’ decline last season either. Pro Football Focus had him posting a career-worst 2.35 yards after contact per attempt (yco/a), nearly half a yard lower than his previous worst of 2.82 in 2020. Also, that was a significant drop off from his 2022 rushing champ campaign; 3.40 yco/a, more than a full yard better.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
While it was a much smaller sample size—104 attempts for Zamir White to Jacobs’ 233—the good news is White logged 3.21 yco/a last season. With the latter taking over as the lead back in Las Vegas this fall, it’s just a matter of whether he can maintain that rate when given more touches.
Something that could help the third-year pro in 2024 is if new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy changes when the unit attacks defenses on the ground this season.
“The Raiders ran 28% of their running back carries against light boxes, the lowest rate in the NFL,” via FTN’s Almanac, “yet they had the same yards per carry average (3.9) on both light-box runs and other runs. DVOA was also similar, though slightly higher against light boxes.”
Granted, the team’s passing attack will be a big factor in how many light boxes the offense will face as opposing defenses routinely loaded up the line of scrimmage last year, daring Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Aidan O’Connell to beat them deep. Also, the offense needs to do a better job of executing against light boxes as the ypc and DVOA observations above highlight.
However, FTN’s Almanac also pointed out that Las Vegas ran the ball 58 percent of the time versus base personnel and only 34 percent and 16 percent against nickel and dime personnel, respectively.
In other words, the team tried to pound the rock nearly six out of 10 times when defenses had an extra linebacker on the field and less than 3.5 times when facing five or more defensive backs. So, taking advantage of the opponent’s formations and personnel groupings should be a point of emphasis for Getsy this season.
Now the question pivots to how will everyone execute once September rolls around.
If you’d like to purchase a copy of FTN’s Football Almanac and read the full chapter on the Raiders, visit FTNFantasy.com/Almanac or follow this link.