The Las Vegas Raiders made serious efforts to shore up the passing game around quarterback Derek Carr heading into the 2020 NFL season.
They loaded up the receiving corps through free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft in an attempt to add some much-needed firepower to the offense. Their moves have paid some major dividends through the first half of the year thanks to the resurgence of Nelson Agholor, along with the emergence of rookies Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards.
Having a stable of explosive talent has allowed Carr to take shots downfield that simply were not there in year’s past. It seems the uptick in such plays was not done by accident.
Las Vegas has relied on the deep ball heavily in recent weeks. Carr says it is all part of the plan moving forward, per Vic Tafur of The Athletic:
“Yeah, it’s something that when we get all our guys rolling and healthy, that’s a part of what Coach wants to do,” Carr said. “There’s a rhythm to it, too. The play calling, the game planning, you know who you have every week, and you start, ‘Oh, that looks good. Now we can do this. Or now we can do that off of this.’ All that kind of stuff.
“Now it’s just becoming who we are.”
Car added that this approach has been in the works since head coach Jon Gruden’s arrival:
“We’ve talked about that since coach Gruden got here,” Carr said. “I think finally now you’re seeing a lot of completions outside the pocket on scramble drills, me running for first downs and things like that, multiple first downs in games. That’s stuff that we have stressed, it’s becoming second nature for me.”
The approach has worked wonders for Carr, who is in the midst of a career year with 1,726 yards, 13 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He is also averaging a career-best 8.2 yards per attempt while completing 12-of-22 passes for 20 yards or more.
The passing game is only poised to improve with so many talented, young weapons across the board. As a result, the onus will ultimately fall win Carr and Gruden to utilize in the most productive way possible.
They will need a big day from the offense if they hope to bounce back from last week’s loss. Fortunately, Carr and the offense have a favorable matchup on the road against a Cleveland Browns’ defense that is giving up the third-most passing yards per game (288.1).
