Will Raiders RB Jennings take playing time from McFadden?
The Oakland Raiders didn’t do anything particularly well on offense Sunday. If you had to pick a positive, or bright spot if you will, you could turn to the running of Rashad Jennings in relief of the oft injured Darren McFadden.
The 28-yeard-old running back out of Liberty University – 7th round draft choice by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2009 – ran 20 times for 88 yards against the New York Giants in the Raiders’ 24-20 loss.
Against Philadelphia when McFadden went down, again, Jennings ran 15 times for 102-yards and a touchdown.
So, will Jennings cut into the playing time of McFadden, or is that a moot point since McFadden is constantly injured anyway?
CSN Bay Area’s Scott Bair discussed the running game against the Giants with Oakland head coach Dennis Allen.
“I thought we ran the ball exceptionally well today,” Raiders coach Dennis Allen said. “That was a point of emphasis for us. We wanted to run and they’ve done a great job stopping it, but we were able to move the ball.”
McFadden ranks second on the team – behind Terrelle Pryor’s 63 carries for 485 yards – with 98 carries for 352 yards, or a 3.6 yard per rush average.
Jennings ranks third with 51 carries for 242 yards, or a 4.7 yard average.
“I don’t know how many attempts we had, but I thought we had a good game plan,” Allen said. “We really tried to run the football, and I thought we did the right things. We just didn’t make enough plays offensively to win the game.”
It sure sounds like Allen is happy with the running of Jennings. Bair asked the backup back if he thought his recent play would cut into the playing time of McFadden.
“I don’t make those decisions,” Jennings said. “But I’ll take the ball whenever my number is called. I expect to perform well every time. I expect to help us win games. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that today.”
Hey, why not? But this really is a moot point since McFadden is injured all the time. Jennings has an excellent yards-per-rush average, but how much of McFadden’s subpar year is attributed to injury?