Antonio Pierce, Gardner Minshew II on Las Vegas Raiders finding their ground game

The Las Vegas Raiders struggled to run the ball early this season for a variety of reasons.

Entering Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, the Raiders had the fewest yards per carry of any team in the National Football League. Their inability to run the football has led to problems for the offense and the team.

However, Sunday’s win over the Browns showed that the Raiders’ offense finally found a way to get its rushing attack going. Through Sunday, the Raiders had several rushes that barely showed up in the stats or impacted the game. In Sunday’s home win against the Browns, the Raiders not only rushed for more yards than they had all season, but they also had their two longest runs of the season.

“Yeah, I’m very proud of this group and we talked about how it wasn’t the beginning we wanted to play in the first three games, but the recognition of these guys,” Pierce said. “Let’s find the runs that work and let’s keep working on them.

“And on timed plays, there’s a 1-2 yard run and then what was it, 24 yarder, 17 yarder, 18 yarder, 12 and a 10. That didn’t show up. I think our longest run could have been 9, without penalties. But great job from these guys. I thought Zamir backed out, almost took one. Alex Mattison really showed himself today. These guys ran hard. I thought it was a more physical team as the game went on.”

Raiders starting quarterback Gardner Minshew II also appreciated the hard work of the running backs. The Raiders rushed for a season-high 152 yards against the Browns. Minshew said the running backs played well and praised the unit for the winning football.

“Yeah, it was huge, man,” Minshew said. “Hats off to her line. They locked it up. They have been challenged over the last few weeks and today they turned it on and played a great game. And our backs, Z and Alex, ran hard, made some big plays, big first downs, and when you’re able to do that and the play-action stuff starts working, everything becomes easier.

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