In the Oakland Raiders’ Week 5 loss to the L.A. Chargers, it appeared head coach Jon Gruden got a little too cute with his goal line play calling. There is no other way to put it; if you have a running back whose nickname is ‘Beast Mode’ it would be plausible to actually use him in situations where a beastly running back is needed.
Calling a play-action to Lynch makes sense with the ball a few yards back on the goal line, in my opinion. But to intentionally not give him the ball at least once, when there’s possibly three more opportunities for BEAST MODE to advance the ball one yard… well that is absolutely moronic and I fail to see the logic in doing so.
Gruden commented on this issue saying, “it won’t be the last pass I call on first-and-goal either” he added, “I think that’s the best time to throw down there.”
Perhaps Gruden learned a lesson here but if not, and the Raiders somehow end up one yard away from a Super Bowl title with him calling the plays…history tells us that’s a bad idea too.
I have a hard time believing that is the best time to throw it, especially when Lynch is waiting in the backfield. If Gruden is serious when he says “I want everybody to be happy” then he should consider ditching his idea of what he sees fit to throw on the goal line, especially one yard away. After all, Gruden also said he will “do everything I can to fix the things that are bad. Cause most of the things that are bad, my fingerprints are all over.”
Considering Gruden calls the plays, yes, this one is in part on him. Of course, Carr is the one who threw it and decided not to call an audible but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that it was a bad idea in the first place.
A simple tweak in goal-line play calling is a great starting point to ensure everybody will be happy. One person who clearly wasn’t happy with the play call was Marshawn Lynch.
Paul Gutierrez of ESPN was able to speak to Lynch about the matter and got an interesting response. Lynch said, “I done seen it happen to me on the game’s biggest stage,” and added, “Now it’s happened in a regular season game. It’s alright, though.”
Gutierrez also shared this nugget of knowledge…
Since the start of Super Bowl XLIX, teams have now thrown four times — FOUR TIMES! — at the 1-yard line with Marshawn Lynch on the field. Following Derek Carr's interception, those passers are 0-4 with 2 Int on those passes, per ESPN Stats & Information. https://t.co/wOH4A7WG6u
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) October 7, 2018
Raider Nation, I’d love to hear what you think about this play call. Do you think a pass on first-and-goal from the one-yard line is the right call? Ramble on in the comments or let us know on Twitter.
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