Gutierrez: Third time around, Greg Olson aims to steady Raiders' struggling offensive attack

Nov 28, 2025 at 02:01 PM

Paul Gutierrez

Raiders Columnist

Is the third time the charm for Greg Olson?

The Raiders certainly hope so.

Oly 3.0, as in the third time Olson has assumed the reins as the team's offensive playcaller, has a different feel this time. Because in his first term, Olson was hired by Dennis Allen to be the offensive coordinator in 2013 and finished out under interim coach Tony Sparano a year later.

Olson took over as offensive playcaller after Jon Gruden's resignation five games into the 2021 season and after an immediate bump in production, the Raiders made a playoff appearance.

Now? Coach Pete Carroll tabbed his quarterbacks coach after the dismissal of Chip Kelly following Sunday's lackluster loss to the Browns.

Surely there will again be a bump in production, both emotionally and physically, and you might even see some different lineups, especially when it comes to the oft-porous offensive line.

But what, exactly, will an Olson-led offense look like…entering Week 13 of the NFL season?

"Well, it's difficult to change a whole lot, and anyone that goes into an offensive system, anyone, a quarterback would tell you, it's oftentimes like learning a new language," Olson said this week. "So, at this point, there's not a lot that you would change in terms of how we're calling things, terminology wise. But there are tweaks that you can make and certainly that we're making to try and be more efficient, because we haven't been efficient enough.

"At this point, with six games to go, we will make some tweaks, but there won't be a lot of wholesale changes that you'll see."

Consider: the Raiders are just 2-9, have dropped five straight. Entering Friday, they had the No. 30-ranked total offense, trailed by only the Browns and Titans, and were ranked 25th in passing and 31st in rushing.

The Raiders are tied with the Saints for last in the league in averaging 15.0 points per game and quarterback Geno Smith is tied for the NFL lead in interceptions (13) and is second in sacks (41).

This despite having a First-Team All-Pro tight end in Brock Bowers (granted, he suffered a knee injury in Week 1, was slowed and missed three games) and rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, the No. 6 overall pick of the draft.

But about that offensive line…

Yeah, it's missing a couple of starters in left tackle Kolton Miller and right guard Jackson Powers-Johnson.

No wonder Olson took the podium Thursday smiling and saying the day was "Hectic. Hectic, to say the least."

But it's a familiar spot for him, even if there aren't a lot of familiar faces for him to call upon when he draws up plays Sunday at the Chargers.

Miller is the lone offensive player remaining from the 2021 team.

"Looking back, that was a hell of a year," Miller said. "That team faced a lot of adversity. But Oly, he came fired up every day. Same guy, so you're confident.

"Now, we're at a point in the season where we've hit adversity … as a team you've got to bring it back together. I'm really excited. For him to step up and accept that role is huge. I know the guys, we're all going to buy in. He's a guy you can roll with, for sure."

Olson is the Raiders' eighth offensive playcaller since the start of the 2021 season - Gruden, Olson 2.0, Josh McDaniels, Bo Hardegree, Luke Getsy, Scott Turner, Chip Kelly and Olson 3.0. And in each of his previous playcalling stints with the Raiders, Olson leaned on a ground game.

From Darren McFadden to Josh Jacobs to now, hopefully, Jeanty, right?

"Yeah, no question, and that's part of the reason why we drafted him where we did," Olson said. "Touches - whether it be the passing game or the run game, screen game, quick game. I think there's a lot of things that he can do besides run the football.

"But how do you get the ball in your players' hands, your best players' hands? And he's one of our best players, so we've got to find more ways to get him the ball."

Of course, it all depends upon what lanes and holes that O-line can create.

"When you look across the league, the successful teams are the teams that run the ball when they want to run it, not just to run it to maintain balance," Olson said. "But we've got to get in the mindset of when we want to run the football, we'll run the football, no matter what the situation or who we're playing.

"A lot of people talk about balance, and certainly we're looking for balance in the fourth quarter, but we've just got to get better at that part of what we're doing."

From a certain point of view, Olson deserves this shot. More than deserves this shot as part of unfinished business, what with how his last stint ended - the Raiders inside the Bengals 10-yard line, in prime position to score and either force OT or go for the win with a 2-pt conversion and, instead, getting an uncalled spiked ball on first down and a game-ending interception thrown short of the goal line on fourth down.

From another point of view, this is the NFL, and there are no such things as "deserving" when all that matters is producing.

So, is the third time the charm?

Raiders.com digital team reporter Levi Edwards contributed to this report.

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Las Vegas Raiders safety Tristin McCollum (27) during practice at Intermountain Health Performance Center.