Offense Game Grades: Preseason Week 2 vs. Arizona

in Commentary / by Felipe Amaral / on August 22, 2012 at 12:06 am /

On friday night, the Oakland Raiders flew down to Arizona to face the Cardinals as part of week 2 of the 2012 NFL pre season. At this time of the year, coaches aren’t really looking for a win or loss, but rather paying attention to players’ individual performances, as they prepare for the beginning of the regular season, when only 53 men will make the roster. Out of the 27 points scored by the Raiders, 9 were courtesy of the defense (a fumble recovery to the endzone and a safety), as the other 18 points were due to 4 field goals and a lone touchdown, followed by a blocked extra point kick. So let’s take a closer look into what the Silver & Black offense brought to the field at the University of Phoenix stadium, where the Cardinals beat the Raiders by a score of 31-27.

Quarterbacks:

Matt Leinart was the most consistent QB of the bunch, with a 62.5 completion percentage and 8.3 yards per attempt, but had to go to the locker room early due to a injury. Palmer had some nice moments but once again threw an interception on an overthrow. Terrelle Pryor only had 3 attempts but his performance wasn’t that much different from the one against Dallas. Neither QB was able to throw a touchdown pass.

Overall Score: C

Running Backs:

It was not the ideal debut for Mike Goodson, who finished the game with only 0.8 yards per carry and 2 fumbles, one of which was recovered by the Cardinals, and left the game early with an injury. Darren McFadden had some good moments as expected but only ran 9 times for a 3.8 YPC, so Lonyae Miller once again handled the heavier load, with 15 carries, with a 3.6 YPC and a touchdown.

Overall Grade: D

Wide Receivers:

Six different WRs were able to record a catch, with rookie Rod Streater leading the pack with 7. There wasn’t too many drops this time, differently from the Dallas game. Streater once again was impressive and he’s the making the most of his opportunities, specially with injuries to players like Denarius Moore and Jacoby Ford that are listed higher in the depth chart. Against the Cardinals, Streater rolled with the first-team offense and was a favorite of Carson Palmer.

Overall Grade: B

Tight Ends:

None of the TEs recorded a catch and their work was pretty much focused on blocking. David Ausberry had a nice block on McFadden’s longest run of the game, a 22-yard gain in the first quarter.

Overall Grade: C

Offensive Line:

The OL overall performance was good, but lacked consistency specially on the running game, in which it wasn’t able to create the holes that RBs need with a lot of frequency. The first team OL only commited one penalty (a holding call, by Mike Brisiel) and the backups, two (false starts, by Joe Barksdale and Kevin Haslam).

Overall Grade: B

Coaching:

Offensive Coordinator Greg Knapp’s zone-blocking scheme had some flaws on friday night, specially when the Raiders had a first & goal at the 1 yard line, but ended up kicking a field goal, after 2 stuffed runs by McFadden and a playaction call which got figured out easily by the Cardinals defense. His offense was only able to score 1 touchdown and lacked variety on the playcalling, but hopefully that is because it’s pre-season, when coaches normally don’t like to open up the playbook too much.