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While the Las Vegas Raiders wondered whether they would be in the mix for Daniel Jones, they received a flurry of bad injury news. And when Sunday came, the Raiders learned they would not have their top two running backs versus the Broncos, according to a post on X by Adam Schefter.
“Raiders RBs Alexander Mattison (ankle) and Zamir White (quad) are both inactive today vs. the Broncos.”
These injuries hurt a team that already struggled to move the football. The Raiders entered the game ranked No. 29 in yards per play and No. 32 in EPA/play. Making matters worse, the Broncos entered the game allowing the fewest yards per play in the NFL.
The move meant more responsibility for Ameer Abdullah.
Raiders RB Alexander Mattison struggling to produce
Maybe the Raiders won’t miss Mattison much after all. Over the last three games, he carried 28 times and gained only 70 yards with no touchdowns. However, he added eight catches for 79 yards.
Before that stretch, Mattison had been earning confidence from head coach Antonio Pierce, according to Sports Illustrated. Mattison produced a big chunk of a ground game that had some success.
“I mean, it's something we've been working on for three weeks,” Pierce said. “No, let's go back, even since the preseason games, like, hey man let's get this running game going. Let's get some positive yards, let's get these chunk runs, these explosive runs. And that really showed up. Again, for a defense you don't want that. That's one thing that plays in your mind.
“You can throw the ball for 500, 600 yards, but when a team is running the ball on you, that gets into your head mentally, emotionally and physically, and it just wears on you.”So, the more you do that, it opens up our play-pass, our play-action, our keepers and things of that nature. And obviously last night, maybe not statistically what we wanted from a passing game, but it was efficient.”
