Todd Downing: Raiders ‘not concerned’ with offensive struggles past three weeks

I think it’s safe to say that Raider Nation is at minimum a bit concerned about how the Raiders have performed over the past three weeks. The natural question is if the Raiders coaches and/or players share that concern.

Offensive coordinator Todd Downing, who has watched his offense score just 37 points over the past three weeks combined, says they are unshaken.

“I wouldn’t call it concerned. I’d call it continued attention to detail.” Downing said Thursday. “We’re not concerned. Obviously we’d like to have better results over the last three weeks, but it doesn’t change our belief or our resolve in what we’re doing.”

What they’re doing is still somewhat of a mystery to those watching, and it appears as if it’s a mystery to many of the players as well.

Since the Raiders trounced the lowly Jets 45-20 in week two, they’ve been completely out of sorts on offense. Marshawn Lynch and the offensive line didn’t look to be on the same page prior to last week, Amari Cooper has dropped an insane 7 passes and was almost completely ignored last week in the loss to the Ravens, and despite success in the play action, the Raiders have run it on just 11 dropbacks all season — that’s the fewest of any team in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus.

All of that is concerning. Averaging 12.3 points a game over three weeks is concerning. Only having a shot to pull out one of those games late is concerning. Not having a single runner or receiver surpass triple digits in a game all season is concerning.

I’d be shocked if this team’s belief in this offense isn’t shaken, especially compared to the juggernaut it was last season under Bill Musgrave when it averaged 26 points per game.

Having concern doesn’t mean this team is giving up. It isn’t a sign of weakness. If something isn’t working, you fix it or you change it. In this case, perhaps you change it back to what worked last season ala ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’. Whether that can be done midseason is another story.