Raiders hope to jumpstart ground game ahead of stretch run

The Colts bring one of the league’s best defenses to Allegiant Stadium for Sunday’s pivotal AFC matchup, though they have shown some vulnerability against the run.

Whether the Raiders can exploit that could go a long way to determining the outcome.

The Raiders are 10th in the league in rushing yards per game and clearly have a desire to establish an identity as a team that can win games on the ground.

It just hasn’t happened over the last three weeks. The Raiders have been stymied in those games, scraping together just 67 yards per game and 3.1 yards per attempt.

Coach Jon Gruden made it clear that needs to change as the stretch run begins with the Raiders squarely in the playoff hunt.

“I haven’t been happy with it the last couple games,” he said of the running game. “I know our guys haven’t either. … We’ve got to do a better job. … I’ll just leave it like that. It’s never good enough. We feed our families with our running game.”

Nobody is starving just yet, but there is a line forming at the dinner table.

Here are three keys for the Raiders as they prepare to host the Colts at 1:05 p.m. Sunday:

Run for your lives

While the NFL is more and more a passing league, the run game is still a vital part of winning games.

Gruden pointed out how important it was to be able to line up and get a first down to run out the clock in the shootout win over the Chiefs earlier this season. The Falcons game got away from the Raiders, and the inability to convert in short-yardage situations early in the game was a major factor.

Star running back Josh Jacobs missed the game last week and could return Sunday. Offensive tackle Trent Brown may play for just the third time this season.

Their presence will help, but there’s more to the struggles. Third-down back Jalen Richard said the Raiders were seeing extra defenders near the line of scrimmage against the Jets, forcing them to throwing the ball more often than they would have preferred.

Quarterback Derek Carr took advantage with a big day through the air. But he knows re-establishing their ability to win at the line of scrimmage and run the ball will make his job that much easier.

“Balance makes the job a lot easier,” Carr said. “When we can do that, it helps and it opens the play-action even more. When you do drop back, they’re not just full-tilt, pin-their-ears back with games everywhere and making it tough on everybody.”

New uniform

This will mark the 29th time the Raiders have faced off against quarterback Philip Rivers. It will be the first time he wasn’t wearing a Chargers jersey.

Rivers, who turned 39 this week, is 18-10 as a starter against the Raiders and is finding success in his first year with the Colts.

“He has more fun playing football than most guys that I know,” Gruden said. “He has a passion about him that’s rare. I know he wants to beat us in the worst way. He has a disdain for the Raiders. He’s made that perfectly honest to me in the last three years I’ve been back on the sidelines. So it’s great to see him playing well. We look forward to competing with him.”

Control your destiny

Sunday isn’t a must-win, but it’s not too far off that classification.

The Raiders are on the outside looking in at the wild-card race in the AFC, but a victory over the Colts would help to change that. Not only would the Raiders move up in the standings, they would seize a potential tiebreaker advantage over the Colts.

There is also a game with the Dolphins, who are ahead of them in the wild-card standings, on the horizon, so the Raiders know their destiny is almost entirely in their hands as they begin a three-game home stand against AFC opponents.

“We’re in a single-elimination mindset,” Carr said. “Maybe it’s not that way, maybe it is. But our mindset is whatever we have to do to win it, let’s just do that.”

The team has earned the right to have its fate in its own hands. Gruden said it’s important to finish the job.

“We’ve worked hard to get here,” he said. “We’ve won some nail-biters. We had seven games on the road after 12 ballgames, a lot of them cross-country during a pandemic. It’s been a challenge. We’ll see who helps us land the plane.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.