The Las Vegas Raiders’ offense has been stuck in neutral this season, sputtering like a car running on fumes. At the heart of their woes? A ground game that’s more ghost than grind. For the third straight year, the Raiders are languishing near the bottom of the NFL in rushing yards per game, a fatal flaw that’s turned promising drives into dead ends and doomed their playoff hopes. But hold onto your helmets—interim offensive coordinator Greg Olson is plotting a seismic shift that could send shockwaves through the league.
Fresh off replacing Chip Kelly, Olson isn’t mincing words about rebuilding the Raiders’ run attack from the ground up. Drawing from his glory days in Seattle, where the Seahawks bulldozed defenses during a decade-long dominance powered by the legendary Marshawn Lynch (who even suited up for the Raiders in their Oakland and Vegas eras), Olson is channeling that beast-mode mentality. “Yeah, I think it’s important in any system,” Olson shared this week. “And certainly coming from Seattle, probably nobody ran it better than the Seahawks during their 10-year run there with Marshawn Lynch.”
His philosophy? It’s not about timidly tipping the scales for “balance”—it’s about imposing your will. “When you look across the league, the successful teams are the teams that run the ball when they want to run it, not just to run it to maintain balance,” Olson emphasized. “We’ve got to get in the mindset of when we want to run the football, we’ll run the football, no matter what the situation or who we’re playing.” Imagine that: a Raiders offense dictating terms, pounding the rock relentlessly, and leaving defenses gasping for air. It’s a blueprint that’s propelled champions, and Olson is betting it can resurrect Las Vegas from the offensive abyss.
But the real game-changer? Rookie sensation Ashton Jeanty, the explosive running back the Raiders snagged high in the draft with visions of him becoming the centerpiece of their attack. Olson knows unlocking Jeanty isn’t just an option—it’s essential. “Yeah, no question, and that’s part of the reason why we drafted him where we did,” Olson explained. “Expectations of not only the player himself, but expectations of what we want our offense to look like.”
The plan is audacious: flood Jeanty with touches in every facet of the game. Hand-offs that carve through lines, screens that exploit mismatches, quick passes that turn him into a dual-threat dynamo. “Getting him more involved, like as you said, touches, whether it be the passing game or the run game, screen game, quick game,” Olson said. “I think there’s a lot of things that he can do besides run the football, but how do you get the ball in your players’ hands, your best players’ hands, and he’s one of our best players, so we got to find more ways to get him the ball.”
This isn’t just tinkering—it’s a full-throttle unleashing. If the Raiders can ignite Jeanty’s potential, defenses across the NFL will be on high alert. Picture blitzing linebackers second-guessing every snap, safeties frozen in hesitation, and front sevens worn down by a relentless assault. The Raiders’ offense, once predictable and punchless, could morph into a multifaceted monster, opening up play-action bombs and keeping drives alive in crunch time.
Of course, turning talk into turf domination won’t be easy. The Raiders’ line needs to gel, and Jeanty must prove he can handle the workload against pro-level talent. But with Olson at the helm, channeling Seattle’s smash-mouth legacy, Las Vegas is signaling they’re done being doormats. The NFL better brace itself: the Raiders are gearing up to run wild, and Ashton Jeanty is the nightmare ready to break loose.