My take on the offense against Miami

I'm certainly not down on the field, I don't know what plays are being called and I can't hear audibles and even if I could, more than likely I wouldn't know what they meant. Therefore, the story headline for this piece stands as, from the outside looking in. What my insight is based on is what I've seen watching the coaches film and what I've learned while playing college football.

PLAY DESIGN: In the passing game I'm not seeing a great deal of the play design helping the receivers get open. There are some plays here and there, but they're mostly designed to get DMC in the open underneath or out in space and that's it. Where's the rest of the offense? Some plays are designed to have a receiver clear out, drawing the attention of the safeties to allow another receiver to catch a pass underneath . Other plays set up some sort of misdirection or play-action. Other than the plays created to get DMC out in space, the play designs for the passing game in my opinion are a joke. They seem to be almost entirely reliant on the receivers ability to beat the defensive back. Can the Raiders receivers beat defensive backs? Sometimes. But, in today's NFL you have to have more. The scheme of the play must help and the Raiders receivers aren't getting help. And even still, those plays must be called against the correct defense. I don't see a great deal of that happening. I think we all know how well the zone blocking scheme is producing. Knapp gets an F.

QB AND O-LINE: The offense is having a horrible time adjusting to the blitz. It is the job of the quarterback and center to recognize where the blitz is coming from and adjust the protection. The QB and WR then need to adjust to a "hot" route. Or, the QB needs to audible to another play completely. None of these things appear to be happening for the Raiders. Palmer and Wiz are just not getting it done in this department. There's a play I recall in the red zone in particular where the linebackers completely left a void behind them when they blitzed. No adjustment was made and Palmer threw an unsuccessful lob to DHB. Streater, if he had been adjusted to a hot route would have been wide open on a slant from the slot. Kudos to DMC though, he stands in and punishes oncoming blitzers. It's Knapp's responsibility to make sure they're prepared in this area. Greg gets an F.

I hate to see anyone be fired from a job but, Cooper Carlisle should just flat out be cut. He is a huge liability. I've watched play after play of him not blocking anyone and his man making the play. When he does manage to get in position he flat out gets over powered. Veldheer must react better to stunts. Wiz must get more consistent. The O-line as a whole is extremely lacking in the dominance department. They're completely getting pushed around and offenses typically go how their offensive line goes. Not good. D-

The receivers are actually not doing a bad job of getting open, but as I mentioned before the play design isn't helping. In fact, the design runs them into coverage or will have two receivers too close together and everything is cluttered. There is no creativity in the play design or play calling - play after play of twin receivers running deep to throw underneath routes. DHB is not getting the ball thrown his way and he should be. Palmer is throwing the ball to covered guys for incompletions while DHB is open with room to run. I thought perhaps Palmer was getting pressure and had to make a quick throw, but that ain't it. I saw the same play ran twice and both times DHB was open and both times Palmer threw into double coverage and the passes were incomplete. Is Palmer making some good throws? Yes, but he's missing far more than he's completing and its badly hurting the offense.

Overall I don't see a team on offense that's firing off playing with attitude ready to do some damage. I don't see any aggression up front. I question the offensive team unity. I saw Streater take a hard lick in the back and Moore walk right by him without helping his teammate off the ground. DHB and Myers were the only two I saw consistently blocking down-field. There's eleven guys out there, but only a few seem to be playing with any heart. Their teammates need more. The Nation needs more. That's my two cents.