When Bill Musgrave was hired as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator, he said he was eager to run the football with young running back Latavius Murray.
Musgrave had been the offensive coordinator for successful running attacks in Jacksonville (with Fred Taylor) and Minnesota (with Adrian Peterson), so he said he was eager to get the same kind of rhythm going in Oakland’s offense with Murray. Murray had shown great potential over the Raiders’ final few games of 2014.
Musgrave, in fact, said he was eager to “tailor our run game so it’s right up his alley.”
But in the Raiders’ season-opening loss to Cincinnati this past Sunday, Murray ran the ball just twice in the team’s first three series. Then, when the Raiders quickly fell behind en route to a 33-13 loss, they had to throw the ball to try to get back into the game.
Now, as Oakland prepares to rebound against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday at O.co Coliseum (1:05 p.m.), head coach Jack Del Rio hopes they can get the offense back on track by running the football and establishing some momentum.
Against Cincinnati, the Raiders ran the ball just 16 times for 63 yards. Murray had 44 yards on 11 carries.
“I’d like to see it go up,” Del Rio told reporters this week of the number of rushing attempts. “But we have to earn that. Convert some on third downs, have more possessions. I don’t feel like we totally abandoned it, but I don’t feel like we effectively did what we set out to do.”
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The Ravens, however, will be tough to run against – even with linebacker Terrell Suggs now out for the year. In an opening-week loss at Denver, Baltimore allowed just 69 yards on 25 carries, a 2.7-yard average that was the second best for a defense in the NFL in Week 1.
