The Las Vegas Raiders won’t be making many changes after their season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, but one will likely be a timeshare at running back. While starter Zamir White had a fumble, backup Alexander Mattison scored on a 31-yard touchdown catch and run where he hurdled a couple of players.
“You’re in the game thinking, ‘Hey, listen, a lot of Zamir White,’ and then Alex Mattison makes some plays,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said at Monday’s weekly news conference. “And as we go throughout the week, we’ll look at that more and more.”
Pierce later added that he will go with the hot hand, and that really started already on Sunday. Mattison played 36 of the Raiders’ 60 offensive snaps — finishing with 19 yards rushing on five carries and four catches for 43 yards — while White was on the field for 23 snaps. He had 44 yards rushing on 13 carries and two catches for 1 yard.
It turns out Mattison, signed in the offseason from the Minnesota Vikings, was preoccupied as well.
“I give him a lot of credit,” Pierce said. “His wife went into labor right before the game started and for him to stay focused like that. Baby boy was born last night. So, congrats to him. But I thought he did a heck of a job. Every time he went in there, he made plays. Really good job also in pass protection for us.”
GO DEEPER
It’s early, but the Raiders wilting in opening loss to Chargers is not inspiring
White, who took over for an injured Josh Jacobs last season, struggled out of the gate Sunday and it wasn’t really his fault. He was stuffed for no gain on his first three carries as his offensive line got pushed back on top of him.
“Yeah, we didn’t finish,” Pierce said. “We didn’t finish up front. Running backs got to stay on track and we gotta run with better pad level with our backs overall. I mean, some of these tackles, we gotta break through arm tackles. And I think just up front, we got to finish. We’ve got to stay on our blocks.”
Mattison came in for the third offensive series and that’s something offensive Luke Getsy did with his backup running back when he was in Chicago, too. But after two runs for a total of 3 yards, Mattison caught a swing pass on the right side with Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley cutting across to tackle him. Mattison hit the sideline as cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. dove at his feet. He hurdled him and the jump was also good enough to elude a flailing Henley on his left side. Mattison jogged into the end zone.
Alexander Mattison goes 31 yards for the @Raiders first TD of 2024!
📺: #LVvsLAC on CBS/Paramount+
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/TZJ9X8R9Cm— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
“If you look over the progress of my career in college and the NFL, that’s one of the things in my back pocket that people probably don’t expect,” Mattison said after the game. “Once I saw him drop his feet and drop his hips, I knew I had an opportunity and it was great that the linebacker chasing me got cut off by that to give me an open lane to the end zone.”
The former Boise State star was drafted in the third round by the Vikings in 2019 and became the starter last season after three years backing up Dalvin Cook. He had a lackluster 700 yards rushing on 180 carries and caught 30 passes for 192 receiving yards, but his three fumbles and nine carries inside the 5-yard line without a touchdown were the reasons he was released after the season.
The Raiders scooped him up because he is well-versed in their new wide zone run scheme and they are quite pleased with the addition.
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations & everything you need to know to win your fantasy football league.
Pick up The Athletic 2024 Fantasy Football Guide to read expert evaluations.
Buy
“He’s a dynamic player,” receiver Davante Adams said. “I have played against him quite a bit, when I was in Green Bay and we went head-to-head, and he’s a great player that brings another dimension to that running back room.”
Pierce did say he thought both White and Mattison could have run lower to get some better results.
“We’ve got to run through contact,” Pierce said. “We’ve got to run with low pad level, we’ve got to run with a certain intent, and we didn’t do that yesterday and it didn’t show up enough.”
And whether it’s White and Mattison, or another position, Pierce said the Raiders will stick with and get the ball to whoever makes plays.
“We’ve got to, to be honest … we’re just at that point offensively,” he said. “Look, if it’s Davante, if it’s Zamir, if it’s Brock (Bowers), if it’s Big Mike (Michael Mayer), Jakobi (Meyers) … whoever it is, man, we’ve got to do whatever it is to score more than 10 points. That’s not going to be good enough in the National Football League, we understand that.
“That’s the frustrating part about it. You name all these names you’re saying and … ‘Well, why?’ Well, listen, penalties and turnovers, that’s the reason why. That hurts you.”
The offensive struggles were part of the reason Pierce punted the ball on fourth-and-1 with 7:15 left, down six points from the Chargers 43-yard line. He had no regrets about that decision on Monday.
GO DEEPER
Antonio Pierce’s play calling comes up short as Raiders fall to Chargers in season opener
“I get analytics, I get what’s been going on, but the ball’s at the 8-yard line” after the punt, he said. “Our defense at the time had only given up 200 yards of total offense. That’s the strength of our team.”
Meanwhile, Pierce had no update on defensive end Tyree Wilson’s knee injury. Wilson left the game in the second quarter and was seen wearing a knee brace after the game. The NFL Network reported that it is a sprain.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
(Photo of Alexander Mattison: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)
