Raiders hoping to start as well as they’ve been finishing

The Raiders have been consistently criticized for a puzzling inability to finish games and seasons strong, a trait that has proven costly in the final standings.

Now that they have at least temporarily answered those critics by being strong closers so far this season, perhaps it’s time to turn some attention to their confusingly slow starts.

Quarterback Derek Carr acknowledged there have been internal conversation about how to come out faster to start games, a mission they will hope to accomplish when the Raiders head to Los Angeles to play the Chargers on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.

Coach Jon Gruden and Derek Carr have put together one of the most explosive and dynamic offenses in the league, which is why it’s so staggering to consider that the team has gone scoreless on its opening drive in nine straight games.

Five times they have gone 3-and-out, once they failed to convert a fourth-down try, once they were intercepted and two other times had short drives result in a punt.

The Raiders last scored on an opening drive when Josh Jacobs took one into the end zone from 2 yards out in a loss to the Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 22.

Opponents have outscored the Raiders 67-29 in first quarters since that game. Las Vegas has put the first points of the game on the scoreboard just twice over that span.

“The emphasis for two years has been finish, finish, finish” Carr said this week. “We have to get back to start fast, then finish. But again, that’s pro football. Everyone wants everything to be perfect for four quarters. For us, five quarters. It’s not always going to be perfect.”

Coming back from an early deficit is a habit the Raiders need to break. “You want to be your absolute best at the end of the game, that’s for sure,” Carr said. “But there are some things that we have looked at and seen in-house to be able to start better and start faster.”

The Raiders are four games shy of the franchise record for opening-drive futility, a run of 13 straight games without a point that spanned the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

On the positive side, it hasn’t hurt them yet this year. The Raiders have been able to rally from 14-0 deficits twice to earn victories and remain undefeated through three games.

That success allows them to analyze and identify areas of concern without the panic of seeing a season start to slip away.

“It’s good when you can teach after winning the games,” offensive coordinator Greg Olson said. “It’s much easier to do that than if you’re losing games. So, obviously it’s an emphasis of ours to play a complete football game.

“The good thing is that we are 3-0 and we don’t feel like we’ve played a complete football game offensively.”

There may be an opportunity to reverse the early fortunes against a Chargers team that has had its own issues with slow starts this season.

Justin Herbert threw interceptions on the opening drive of each of the first two games before going three-and-out against the Chiefs last week.

Gruden would, of course, like to get an early lead, but the slow starts are far from his biggest concern. He wants to see improvement in all aspects of the game.

“We have to play better,” he said. “That includes the starts and every aspect of it. Start. Finish. We’ve got to get better.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.