Las Vegas Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak made headlines during last week's game against the New York Jets. Not for himself, but a decision he made with Las Vegas' backfield.
Kubiak didn't just switch the Raiders' lead running back between rookie Mike Washington Jr. and second-year pro Ashton Jeanty; he turned Washington into the feature back with 25 carries and made Jeanty the third-down option with just two carries and three catches.
Now, heading into the Week 9 matchup against the San Francisco 49ers, the question arises of whether the workload split between Washington and Jeanty will continue .
Some have speculated that Kubiak's decision was punitive-based. Ahead of last week's game, Jeanty gave the Jets 'bulletin board material' by saying that a few players on New York's defense "don't really want to tackle". While the first-time head coach is still establishing his identity, he's made it clear that he takes a 'no-nonsense' type of approach and doesn't divulge much to the media to avoid situations like this. So, there's reason to believe that the running back's comments irked Kubiak and played a role in the former's workload last Sunday.
However, this Sunday will give us a better answer to see if the 25-to-2 (or 12.5-to-1) ratio of carries, or a similar type of split, continues. On Monday, the head coach indicated that the workload between the two backs could vary game to game.
"I think it's always a moving target," he replied when asked if the Raiders will have a shared backfield moving forward. "See where your team's at, and who's playing the best ball at the time. And it's a 17-game regular season where things change every week. And they've been changing at guard…That's the NFL.
"We have a young roster, and we're going to give guys opportunities and see what fits us best. But your 11, whether you're playing really well or not playing well at all, it's always going to change a little bit."
Despite those comments, it's hard to deny that the Raiders' rushing attack did a better job of staying on schedule last week.
Washington had 83 yards on his 25 carries, which comes out to 3.3 ypc. That's pretty comparable to Jeanty's 3.1 ypc for the season. But the rookie's average was brought down by a handful of stuffed runs near the goal line. Also, Vegas' EPA per rush was 0.11 points better last week than the team's season average, and its success rate on the ground was 7.2% higher, per Sumer Sports .
That being said, Washington's lack of success in the red zone can't be ignored. He's averaging 1.2 ypc (17 attempts for 21 yards) inside the 20-yard line, per Sumer , and is viewed as more of a home-run hitter out of the backfield. Granted, Jeanty isn't much better in the scoring area — 1.6 ypc (22 attempts for 36 yards) — but it is an improvement on a slightly bigger sample size. Also, he's arguably the better option at getting the tough yards of the two backs.
So, maybe Klint Kubiak's formula moving forward is to have the rookie help get the offense into the red zone and then have the second-year pro take over with fresh legs. Of course, we won't know the answer until Sunday's game, which is why the topic is this week's game day FEED discussion.
Meanwhile, the 49ers have a very good defense that is great at stopping the run. San Francisco ranks fifth in the NFL with 89.0 rushing yards allowed per game and is second in EPA per rush allowed at negative 0.17 . Especially since the Jets were missing their best run defender last week, defensive tackle T'Vondre Sweat, this weekend will be a true test to see if the Raiders' rushing attack improves with Washington as the lead back.
So, for this week's game day discussion on The FEED , we'll be keeping tabs on how the carries are divided up in Las Vegas' backfield. The game kicks off at 1:25 p.m. PST and will air on FOX (check your local listings). I look forward to talkin' some ball with y'all!
