The Las Vegas Raiders are coming off an impressive road win in Baltimore, storming back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull off a 26-23 victory. Pivoting to face the 0-2 Carolina Panthers, who benched starting quarterback Bryce Young, coach Antonio Pierce isn’t concerned about the issues of his opponent but rather his own club.
“We’ve got a lot of things that we need to correct,” he said Monday, via The Associated Press. “It was a win yesterday, but there were a lot of things in that first quarter that were ugly, in that first half that were ugly and in that third quarter that were ugly. We’re not worried about the Panthers. We’ve got to fix the Raiders.”
It took a stirring fourth quarter to win Sunday. Vegas scored on all three possessions (FG, TD, FG), marking the most final-stanza points scored by the Raiders in a road game since Week 17, 2020 at Denver (15).
“Fourth quarter,” Pierce said, “is what it needs to look like for all four quarters.”
One big area for Pierce to fix is the Raiders’ run game, which has been missing for two weeks. Vegas ranks last in the NFL in yards rushing per game (49.0) and yards per carry (2.51). The ground issues put Gardner Minshew in a lot of long down-and-distances.
Pierce called the run game “piss-poor” but didn’t place all the blame on starter Zamir White, who is replacing Josh Jacobs.
“It isn’t Zamir,” Pierce said. “We’ve got to start up front. The big boys up front got to block. Bottom line. They know it. We are going to talk about it here in a few minutes.”
The Raiders’ offensive line has been a sore spot to open the season. In addition to the run-blocking issues, Vegas has allowed nine sacks in two games, including five Sunday in Baltimore.
Facing Andy Dalton instead of Young throws Pierce’s club a curveball. The Panthers looked their most competent last season with Dalton under center for one game. But that was a different staff in a different season. The unknown should keep the Raiders on task in Week 3 and from overlooking a winless opponent in a potential trap game.
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