There have been those over the first four weeks of the season who were thinking the Raiders two rookie scat backs should get more carries. Well, now, with Latavius Murray out with a toe injury, we will get to see how that will work out.
Each week one of either DeAndre Washington or Jalen Richard has had a big run. Last week Washington had a 28-yard run while Richard had a 47-yard punt return that set up a touchdown.
The previous week in Tennessee, Washington had a 30-yard run which was preceded by a 26-yard run in week two against the Falcons. None of those quite compared to Richard’s 75-yard touchdown run in the opener in New Orleans though. That set the tone from the beginning.
“I think we’re both playmakers, we both do good things, have good strengths,” DeAndre Washington told a group of reporters this week. “It’s fun to watch [Richard] do his thing and kind of just like a tag team deal, you know, I get in and do my thing, and just be ready when your number gets called. You never know, whether it be special teams last week like it was for Jalen or offense, so just be ready.”
The two backs combined have rushed the ball 40 times — the exact number of rushed Murray has had. In those carries, they have combined for 291 yards (7.2 ypc) compared to 172 (4.3 ypc) by Murray. They’ve also combined for 11 catches for 76 yards (6.9 ypc) to Murray’s 10 catches for 63 yards (6.3 ypc).
“Yeah, we hope it helps,” Bill Musgrave said of Washington and Richard’s game experience thus far. “We definitely hope it helps because they’ve gotten some valuable experience, talking about the young guys.”
Being the primary backs for the team isn’t just about running, it’s also about blocking. Murray is a solid pass protector, which you’d expect from a player his size (6-3, 225 pounds). Washington and Richard both stand at 5-8 and around 200 pounds. Not ideal for pass protection, but by itself not necessarily a reason to believe they can’t hold their own.
“They’re so sharp in pass protection as well as when we get them in the passing game,” said Musgrave. “We get them out, throw balls to them. Latavius is the smartest one we have in terms of pass protection. . . These young guys have really fallen in step with him, so we know we can trust them. That opens up a lot of great avenues for us.”
“We gotta step up,” Washington said. “We’ve prided ourselves on keeping [Derek Carr] upright and this season we’ve done a pretty good job, so . . . we shouldn’t miss a beat. We should be able to keep him upright, keep him healthy.”
They aren’t alone back there. They also have fullback Jamize Olawale who is a very good blocker as well as a capable runner and receiver in his own rite. With Marcel Reece having been released last week and Taiwan Jones nursing a knee injury, the trio of Washington, Richard, and Olawale will shoulder the load for the Raiders this week.
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