The Raiders could show a greater commitment under Tony Sparano, who takes over as interim head coach heading into Sunday’s game against the San Diego Chargers.
“It’s no secret that my philosophy is to run the football,” Sparano said, “to keep games tight and try to be able to get yourself in a situation where you can win football games at the end of a game.”
The numbers certainly support that claim. Sparano ran the football 45.6-percent of the time during nearly four full seasons as Miami Dolphins head coach.
Sparano stuck to his guns – he made the Wildcat formation famous at the NFL level – and continued to run even during some lean years.
While Greg Olson will continue calling plays, Sparano is an offensive minded coach and will exert greater influence in the offensive game plan.
This is all well and good, but if the Raiders can't stay in games with a strong ground game (which they currently do not have), they won't be able to continue to run in the second half. In theory, this benefits Darren McFadden and Maurice Jones-Drew.
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