This Significant Issue Continues to Hold the Raiders Back

The Las Vegas Raiders' offense has looked much better under interim offensive coordinator Scott Turner. However, the unit has also had its fair share of struggles in certain aspects.

The Raiders have scored ten combined points in the first quarter of the last five games, including zero points in the first quarter of their three most recent games. Las Vegas' inability to start fast has been a significant issue the entire season.

Even when former offensive coordinator Luke Getsy had successful opening drives, that drive was usually about the extent of the success.

Under Turner, the first-quarter issues have remained, but the Raiders have improved as games continue. This was not the case with Getsy, meaning progress has been made overall.

Still, their slow start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cost them the game. Much to the disappointment of Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, the offense and defense played poorly, falling behind 14-0 in the first quarter.

"Early in the game on third down, short yardage on defense, that was the number one thing, because that was a long drive to start out the gate," Pierce said. "Kind of anticipated them that they would accept and take the kickoff and get their offense out there. I thought offensively, we had a shot on the very first play, and we're a yard or two away. We had another opportunity with Big Mike [Michael Mayer]. That ball was incomplete, so you can see that we're trying to be aggressive out the gate.

"Didn't hit those throws, created short field, and now that's what happened against a very explosive offense. But pumped the brakes, second quarter, these guys kind of focused, dialed in. I thought they did a great job competing. You saw the defense there were three turnovers, and then offense finally got going a little bit. And look, we're going into half 14-10 with the ball. And the third quarter, we had the ball for whatever it was, 10-plus minutes down inside the 10-yard line with an opportunity to be down by one or take the lead."

The Raiders' offense has undoubtedly improved under Turner. The unit has plenty of issues that Turner will be unable to fix, as a large portion of the problem comes down to execution.

However, the offense's improvement under Turner proves he has the skills to fix the first-quarter and first-half issues.

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