If Packers can't run on Raiders, there may be no oasis in the desert

Through four games, the Packers' run game has been stuck in the mud. That needs to change when the team faces off against the Raiders on Monday.

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The 2023 Green Bay Packers can’t do the first thing Matt LaFleur said he wanted to do when he arrived in Titletown back in 2019: run the dang ball. LaFleur helped transform Aaron Rodgers back into a multi-time MVP thanks to his passing prowess, but his offense relies on at least a modicum of balance and the counters they can throw off a consistent running game. If they can’t get it going, the Packers will be forced to rely more on Jordan Love and a historically young passing game.

More relevant this week, if they can’t get it going against the Las Vegas Raiders, there’s whithering hope they can at all this season.

Two weeks ago, I wrote the Packers had to stop the New Orleans Saints because Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst built the roster to stop teams precisely like them: pass-first teams that couldn’t run the ball effectively. And they did it! Packers DC Joe Barry’s group gave up just 10 points, though it was nearly a decisive 13 if not for a game-winning field blown astray by the old gods of Lambeau Field.

(The same is true this week against a Raiders offense that comes in 32nd in DVOA and 32nd running the ball.)

Against the Raiders, the Packers face a similar challenge on the other side of the ball. If they can’t get the run game on track this week -- against this front, regardless of who is healthy and who isn’t -- then there may be no hope for the ground attack in 2023.

Here is the statistical matchup for this ground-and-pound pillow fight:

Rush DVOA

• Packers 28th versus Raiders 19th

Adjusted Line Yards

• Packers 31st versus Raiders 24th

Rush EPA

• Packers 20th versus Raiders 21st

Success Rate

• Packers 27th versus Raiders 21st

The Packers enter Monday night ranked 31st in explosive run rate as well, coincidentally behind only the Raiders’ own offense. And it’s not hard to see why. The blocking for a team whose offensive coordinator presents (or has been billed as) a virtuosic offensive-line guru has been a joke.