Film room: Why is Zamir White is struggling?

Diving into why Las Vegas’ rushing attack hasn’t worked so far

Arguably the most frustrating aspect of the Las Vegas Raiders season so far has been the offense’s inability to get the running game going and, more specifically, Zamir White’s underwhelming production.

White finished last season with nearly 400 yards and 4.7 yards per carry during the Raiders’ final four games but has managed to post just 104 yards and 3.3 ypc in three outings during the current campaign.

Previously, Silver and Black Pride dove into the numbers behind the Raiders’ rushing attack struggles, suggesting a philosophical change should take place. But let’s dive a little deeper and take a look at the tape to add some context to last week’s article.

We’ll start with this clip as it highlights two of the Raiders’ biggest problems when it comes to zone run blocking; Andre James and Cody Whitehair.

Las Vegas is running inside zone here which means James is responsible for blocking the 2i-technique defensive tackle to his right (No. 95). However, James is too aggressive and ends up oversetting, so when the defensive tackle slants across his face, he isn’t able to recover which allows the defender to get penetration.

Meanwhile, Whitehair is responsible for combo-blocking the 3-technique defensive tackle to his left (No. 93) with Kolton Miller and working up to the linebacker (No. 25). However, Whitehead lunges and has his head down which allows the 3-tech to make him miss with a swim move. That leaves Miller out to dry as he’s supposed to have help on No. 93.

The result is all the interior gaps are plugged up and White has nowhere to run. Maybe he can bounce it backside and work off of Jakobi Meyers’ and Tre Tucker’s blocks, but we’ll see an example of why that’s a challenge later.

This time the Raiders try an outside zone run but Thayer Munford Jr. loses at the point of attack and the outside linebacker is able to reset the line of scrimmage. White is trying to press the line and set up the blocks, but the defender’s helmet is in the C-gap so the running back has to cut up the field.

Meanwhile, Jakobi Meyers is tasked with blocking the other outside linebacker on the backside. But the backer seems to know what’s coming as he immediately works flat down the line of scrimmage and Meyers has little to no chance of making that block since the backer lined up inside of him pre-snap. Not to mention the significant size disadvantage that the wide receiver has.

Meyers is a decent blocker for a wideout, but Luke Getsy was too reliant on that against the Ravens and Baltimore seemed to key in that every time Meyers was in a reduced split (or close to the offensive line) a run was likely coming.

So, with one unblocked defender on the backside and the playside edge defender able to gain control of Munford’s block, both EDGEs get involved in the tackle as White is lucky just to get back to the line of scrimmage.

Now, it’s not all the offensive line’s or the blocking’s fault as White isn’t executing the zone runs well, either. As mentioned in last week’s column, he doesn’t have the vision, patience and lateral movement skills to be a good fit in that type of scheme, and the clip above is a good example.

The Raiders run inside zone and the Panthers do a good job of plugging up the frontside gaps. But the backside cutback lane is open for a potential big play as Michael Mayer has a great cut block on Jadeveon Clowney (No. 7), Brock Bowers gets a piece of the backside linebacker (No. 47) and Meyers is in a good spot to pin the safety (No. 20) inside.

The problem is White isn’t patient to set up the blocks and lacks the agility to get to the backside D-gap quickly. That’s not easy to execute but good zone backs can get it done. Also, while he eventually works backside, it looks like he’s late to see where the lane opens up which more patience can help with.

As soon as Shaq Thompson (No. 54) commits downhill, the running back should put his outside foot in the ground and start working backside.

This is an outside zone where DJ Glaze and Brock Bowers should combo block the defensive end and work up to the linebacker No. 54. However, neither Glaze nor Bowers work up to the second level which leaves the backer unblocked. My tweet above has a mistake in it, this isn’t on James.

Still, White tries to make the blocking correct by pushing the line and setting Thompson up before bouncing outside. The problem is, again, the back doesn’t have the lateral movement skills to do that effectively so Thompson makes the play.

Unfortunately, this play got called back for holding as Michael Mayer needs to do a better job of keeping his hands inside, but it’s a good example of the difference in White on gap runs versus zone.

Las Vegas runs long trap here which invites the edge defender up the field and Parham has an easy block to create a rushing lane in the C-gap. Also, Miller has a good down block on the 3-technique defensive tackle while Mayer fakes the block on the edge and gets a hat on the SAM linebacker.

Now, Whitehair misses his block on the middle linebacker. However, in a gap scheme where White can get downhill, hit the hole and run behind his pads, he’s able to use his strength and power to break the linebacker’s tackle. Had it not been for that hold, this would have been a nice 15-yard gain to get into scoring position.

Here’s another example of long trap and it’s almost the same result as the last one. This time, Parham doesn’t get up to the linebacker (Roquan Smith, No. 0) after coming off the double team with Munford. But that doesn’t matter much since White is able to run behind his pads and break Smith’s tackle.

While this play doesn’t go for as many yards as the one above did, the offense will take seven yards or a chunk gain on the ground every time.

We’ll wrap up with one more gap run, only this time the Raiders motion a tight end across the formation and run counter. The frontside blocking is great as Mayer kicks the defensive end inside on the double team with Miller while Parham pulls and pins the linebacker inside.

Also, Harrison Bryant’s kickout block is good enough to give White a lane to run through, albeit a slim one. To cap it off, White runs through contact and nearly picks up the first down with the nine-yard gain.

Ultimately, it seems pretty clear that Getsy needs to go with a gap-run scheme moving forward.