Lowell Cohn: Raiders offense a breath of fresh air, poetry in pads

OAKLAND

The Raiders offense is a pleasure to watch. Oh, it’s more than that.

I had been assigned to 49ers games until covering the Raiders-Titans game Saturday, final score Tennessee won 27-14. I was condemned to football hell being with the Niners offense. Meaning the Niners offense is highly offensive, and the Raiders offense is a fresh spring breeze among the lilacs. Such a beauty to behold.

Take the Raiders’ first drive of the game, Raiders down to Tennessee 7-0. Raiders drive 58 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

What did the Raiders do well in that drive? For starters, they could run the ball. Ran hard. Ran up the middle. Power. No one got hurt. So un-49er. Latavius Murry ran and so did Jamize Olawale and so did rookie DeAndre Washington. Power combined with clever. What a concept.

And then there was quarterback Derek Carr. He is a star for the Raiders. He may not be a star in the league. May not be a top-10 quarterback. Not yet. But he’s close and getting closer. He threw four passes on that first drive, completed every pass, one for a TD. The crown jewel a 41-yard beauty deep right to Michael Crabtree. Perfection.

Carr threw two TD passes while he played, the second TD went 29 yards in the second quarter to the great Amari Cooper - try and cover this guy - to the deep left side of the end zone. Poetry in pads.

As I watched the Raiders offense, I compared my experience - thrilling to the max - to what I’ve been enduring at 49ers games. And I apologize to the Raiders for writing about the Niners in this Raiders column. But the comparison is so there, so appropriate, so necessary.

You never see this level of daring or competence or execution from 49ers offense. Never see this level of imagination. ?Of creativity. You watch the Raiders and you think, “Oh, that’s what football looks like.?I forgot.”

You think, “What’s wrong with huddling? The Raiders huddle. Things get accomplished in huddles.”

You think, “Why are the Niners in such a hurry with that no-huddle razzmatazz? The Raiders aren’t in a hurry and they move down the field and score with ease.”

And you think, “What’s wrong with having a fullback? The Raiders have two very good ones, Olawale and Marcel Reece. And the Niners don’t even use their fullback, Bruce Miller, as a fullback because Niners coach Chip Kelly has a mental block about fullbacks.”

And you think, “What’s wrong with having a quarterback complete passes to his wide receivers? Carr completes all sorts of passes to his wide receivers, but the Niners’ best wide receiver, Torrey Smith, has not caught a pass in the preseason.

And you think, “What’s wrong with taking a shot downfield, with throwing the deep pass, with going long, stretching the field, taking it to the defense, giving yourself a chance to score a TD on almost every pass play? That instead of this creeping, begging, humble, passive 49ers offense that takes abuse from the defense, that takes blows instead of giving blows.”

Bill Walsh always told his offense to get in the first punch. The Raiders do that with both fists. The Niners, Walsh’s heirs, absorb the punches. The Raiders and Niners are exact opposites. I’m going with the Raiders.

And you think, “What’s wrong with having a quarterback who sees the whole field, who has a quick release, who’s accurate?” Neither of the 49ers ostensible quarterbacks has all those virtues.

“I think he was very successful throughout this offseason,” Jack Del Rio said after the game, gushing about Carr. “It’s been a tremendous offseason for him. I feel really good about where he is. How he’s carried himself, how he’s connected with his receivers.”

Imagine Kelly saying that about any of his quarterbacks.

And watching the Raiders you think, “I had forgotten what a great game football is. Such an exciting game. Maybe the most exciting game. This is wonderful instead of the slow, measured, crawling thing the Niners engage in.

And you think, “What’s wrong with a team that takes risks?” The Raiders took a risk at the end of the first half. A risk that failed. So what?

They had the ball at the Titans’ 8-yard line, needed 2 yards for a first down. Never went for the first down. So boring. So ordinary to go in search of 2 yards. They threw into the end zone three times in a row, even on fourth down.

Carr never connected, missed Crabtree badly on fourth down - Carr needs to improve near the goal line. But he got practice in a meaningless game for when it means something one Sunday down the line.

You admire the flat-out aggression of the Raiders offense. You don’t admire anything about the Niners offense, starting with their pathetic time of possession.

Just so you won’t think I’m sugarcoating the Raiders, so you won’t catch diabetes from reading this sweet column, here’s a serious criticism.

The Raiders defense couldn’t tackle the Titans. Has not tackled well all preseason. Let the Titans run right up the middle. Couldn’t stop the run. Big yards. Hard yards.

The Titans offense pushed back the Raiders defensive line. Not a pretty sight.

“I take it real personal, I don’t know what to tell you,” Del Rio said. “I don’t have a good alibi for it. It bothers me. You can’t be a great defense doing that.”

Everyone expects the Raiders to make the playoffs. Their offense can take them there. Their defense, as it stands, cannot. If the Raiders don’t make the playoffs, well, that’s a shame. Terrible waste of a good thing.

For more on sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.