The Raiders entered Week 6 still trying to sort out the mess on the interior of their offensive line, and Spencer Burford gave them something real to build on Sunday.
Burford turned in his strongest showing of the season against the Bills, and by the numbers it was a big-time rebound. Pro Football Focus credited him with no pressures allowed on 47 pass plays, and his 85.6 pass-block grade stood as the best pass-blocking mark PFF has handed a Raiders offensive lineman all year.
That matters because Burford’s recent stretch had been rough. He came into the week having allowed 18 quarterback pressures, the most of any guard in the league, and he followed Week 5 with a pass-blocking grade of zero from PFF. After two disappointing outings in the previous three games, Sunday looked like a much-needed reset.
The Raiders had already made one change up front, with Jackson Powers-Johnson getting replaced by Caleb Rogers against the Rams. Going into Week 6, Burford and Spencer Burford were both in the mix to lose their spots, but it was Powers-Johnson who ended up being the one moved out of the lineup.
Rogers did enough to keep the right guard job for at least another week, though he did have a costly missed block at the goal line. Still, Burford’s play was the more encouraging development for Las Vegas.
The Raiders have badly needed the interior to get on the same page in Klint Kubiak’s offense, and that process has taken longer than expected. Before the season, Kubiak described the line in Las Vegas as the team’s strength, but through six weeks, that hasn’t played out that way.
Burford’s performance against Buffalo was a step in the right direction, and the coaching staff also deserves credit for sticking with him for another week. There was a strong argument for making him the player to sit for Rogers, but keeping Burford in the lineup looks like the right call now.
In Other News...
Raiders Suddenly Have Too Many Roster Questions To Ignore
The Raiders came out of Buffalo with a 33-30 loss that felt bigger than just another mark in the standings. It was their third straight defeat, dropping them to 3-3 and putting the spotlight on the same problems that have been hard to shake for weeks: turnovers at bad times, an offense that can bog down, and a defense that has not been creating the extra possessions this team needs.
Ashton Jeantys play is now part of that larger conversation, because the running game has not consistently carried its share of the load. The bigger roster question, though, is whether Las Vegas has enough help at wide receiver to keep the offense from getting stuck when the game tightens up, especially with the defense still struggling to produce takeaways and give the group a shorter field to work with. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Losing Streak Puts John Spytek Trade Decision In Focus
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That is why John Spyteks front office is being pushed into the conversation about aggressive moves, with the broader idea being that Las Vegas should at least explore the market for a receiver who can fit beyond a short-term rental. The Raiders have not made any confirmed move, but the deadline chatter is starting to sound less like background noise and more like a test of how willing they are to act while the offense searches for a spark. [Read more 🡒]
Raiders Suddenly Face A Real Test As Pressure Builds On Kubiak
Three weeks into the season, the Raiders have enough on film to make the early promise feel real and enough recent damage to make it feel fragile. Under Klint Kubiak, Las Vegas sits at 3-3 after six games, a marked step forward from the way the franchise has looked in recent seasons, but the mood around the building has shifted quickly with the team stuck in a three-game losing streak and a matchup with the Rams up next.
Kubiak has framed the response in familiar terms, leaning on accountability and leadership as the standard for a group still trying to define itself. The bigger question now is whether that message can turn into something more concrete as the Raiders head into Week 7, where the margin for error is starting to shrink and every result seems to matter a little more than the last. [Read more 🡒]