Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders
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(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
In his first two NFL games, Las Vegas Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty hasn’t yet reached 20 carries in a single outing. He had 19 attempts in the Week 1 win over the New England Patriots, but that dropped to just 11 carries in the Week 2 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Jeanty also hasn’t topped 50 rushing yards in a game this season, making for a tough start to his NFL career at just 21. Former Pittsburgh Steeler star James Harrison has now criticized Raiders head coach Pete Carroll for not giving the rookie more opportunities with the ball over the past two weeks.
“You have to have help from your offensive line, of course, but you need to effectively be able to run the ball,”Harrison said on the “Deebo & Joe” podcast. “You didn’t draft [Jeanty] over there just to hand the ball to him 12 times a week.
“I like Geno, but he ain’t gonna be that quarterback that’s going to sit out there and pump the ball out 40–50 times a game and think that that’s going to be something conducive to you guys winning.”
Pete Carroll Not Concerned About Raiders’ Ashton Jeanty
Raiders coach Pete Carroll isn’t worried about the running back’s output after the first two weeks. Following the September 15 loss to the Chargers, Carroll addressed the media and wasaskedspecifically about Jeanty’s performance.
“We’re just getting started,”Carroll said postgame. “He’s breaking into the NFL. He’s figuring it out. When he had 11 or something carries, he’s already had 11. He’ll get more. That’ll come.We’re going to have to run the football better than we did, more effectively.
“We got to get more yards; we have 50 or 60 yards or something rushing — that’s not enough. We got to get more than that. I’d like to see that just as well as you would. The issue with him, trying to get him 25 carries or something like that, we’re breaking him in. So that’ll come.”
Can Las Vegas Find Its Run Game?
Whether it was the Raiders’ offensive line failing to open running lanes or just a rough night for Las Vegas on the ground, the rushing attack struggled mightily against the Chargers. Jeanty managed only 43 yards, while Geno Smith added 20 and Tre Tucker contributed seven.
The loss was an overall forgettable performance on the ground for the Silver and Black, highlighting the need to improve their running game. As the loss to the Chargers demonstrated, relying on Smith to throw 40-plus times isn’t a winning formula—it resulted in three costly interceptions for the veteran quarterback.
It will be interesting to see what Carroll and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly can muster up as the Raiders need to get their running game going if they want to succeed this season.
Las Vegas will now head on the road in Week 3 to face the Washington Commanders, after back-to-back weeks of a nonexistent running game. Having a breakout run game in the Nation’s Capital would be ideal to get the team’s confidence going again and have a bounce-back performance.