1 Area the Raiders Continue to Fall Short In

The Las Vegas Raiders showed progress in some areas and a need for improvement in other areas in Week 9.

Putting Things in Perspective

The Raiders' defense struggled to get off the field in third- and fourth-down situations against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. Jacksonville converted nearly 60 percent of its third-down attempts and all three of its fourth-down attempts.

Following Sunday's loss, Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll addressed the issue.

"Well, count up how many third-and-ones they had. Was it four of them? It just like blankets that don't fit. They had three sneaks or something like that, and they had a couple of fourth-down sneaks as well. They did a really good job there, but the point is getting out of those short yard situations,” Carroll said.

“That happened again to us. I think we talked about that last time out that you've got to stay out of those situations, and that we have to be better on second down so that doesn't happen. We went into this with that thought, and we didn't get that accomplished. It was directly addressed. We went after it, and we weren't able to make it happen. That's a whole lot different than third and sixes and sevens and eights. The numbers can kind of mislead you a little bit."

The Raiders' defense has struggled on third downs in multiple games this season, most notably against the Indianapolis Colts. Heading into their Week 9 matchup against the Jaguars, Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham noted the importance of avoiding third and short.

As Carroll mentioned after the game, the Raiders' defense failed to do so against the Jaguars.

Las Vegas Raiders Pete Carroll | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

"Biggest takeaway was trying to minimize the third and shorts. Again, this league and just throughout my career, you spend so much time on third downs, spend so much time in the red area, which is warranted, but it's the first and second down plays. You think about some of the long drives we've given up, sometimes they even get to third down, or they got to third and two or third and three,” Graham said.

“That's not even really third down right there. I don't know what they're going to do there. Especially nowadays, they can run, the quarterback can run. They could go for on fourth down with all the analytics. So my job, the self-evaluation, is I got to put these guys in a better spot on second down. First down, pretty solid. Second down, got to do a better job on second down and try to create some longer third down situations. So, that falls on me."

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