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Raiders Mailbag: How is offense shaping up following bye week, heading into Miami?

Mike Chinchilla from Mexico City, Mexico asks:

"Will the playbook go through an overhaul or multiple changes?"

Scott Turner is not looking to reinvent the wheel steeping in at interim offensive coordinator. His focus is more on fine tuning the offense and maximizing their abilities.

With Turner being promoted to his current position, he's not unfamiliar with play calling or with the Raiders offense. In the midst of his second season coaching the Silver and Black, he came to Las Vegas with three seasons as the Washington Commanders offensive coordinator under his belt.

While speaking to the media Thursday morning, he let it be known he believes in the offense he's inherited. Now it's all about staying consistent week-to-week and putting his players in advantageous situations.

"You're not going to go in and put a brand-new offense in the bye week going into Week 10," said Scott Turner. "But any real offense, and again, I've only been in a few systems, you might coach a little different, but they have a lot of scheme. And then what shows up on Sunday isn't necessarily what's been in training camp, or what's been installed, and it's just a matter of what you get to. So, maybe some things that I'm a little bit more comfortable with or I feel like will help us be successful – We have it, and then it's just a way of getting it communicated to our players in a way that it makes sense to them.

"And there might be a couple new things here and there, and we'll see how that grows as the season goes on," he continued. "I'm not going to come up here and say it's not about the plays, a lot of is about the plays, but it's about the players believing in the plays and knowing exactly what to do so that they can play fast all the time and then reach their capabilities."

Fred Herrera from California asks:

"Who will be our starting quarterback going forward from our mid-season break?"

Head coach Antonio Pierce stated Wednesday that Gardner Minshew II will remain the starting quarterback heading into their matchup with the Miami Dolphins.

This subject was opened up for questions following Desmond Ridder coming in at quarterback for Minshew near the end of the Raiders previous game against the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the team plans to continue riding with the veteran quarterback for the time being.

"[W]hen we brought in Gardner, we expected, obviously, the play that we had seen in the past. And at some point, you got to give a guy confidence," said Antonio Pierce. "And there's been times, obviously, with turnovers and other things that have taken place where we made decisions to either put him on the bench or go to another quarterback. But this week, I felt like Gardner gives us the best opportunity to move forward, and he has every opportunity to go out there and help us get to a win."

While Minshew has thrown eight interceptions this season, he's still managed to complete 67 percent of his passes – ranking top 15 among quarterbacks. With Turner stepping in as lead play caller, the Raiders quarterback feels assured in what the offense can become.

"Scott's done a great job of making it pretty seamless," Minshew said of his new offensive coordinator. "He's done a great job of communicating with us, with the offense. Man, that's really all you ask. I feel really good, I think everybody's is feeling pretty confident moving forward with what we got."

Chris Pescador from Colorado asks:

"How can Zamir White improve this season?"

A big question surrounding the Raiders this season continues to be how to improve their rushing attack.

Going into Week 11, the team is ranked 22nd in rushing touchdowns (seven) and 32nd in rushing yards per game (76.9). While the trio of Zamir White, Alexander Mattison and Ameer Abdullah are trying to find ways to accumulate more yards on the ground, it will be a collective effort from all 11 players on the field and coaching staff to help progress in that category.

"We know we're not doing a great job right now of running the football," said Scott Turner. "Trying to just make sure that the communication is great up front, so number one, we know who we're getting to. ... Just really focusing on the fundamentals of hat placement, understanding what we're trying to get out of every run. Hopefully we can stay a little healthier and have some continuity, which will help us get going up front.

"And then the backs, just being decisive," he continued. "Don't worry about making a mistake or putting the ball in the wrong place, just go hit it and run and get your pads going forward. And then we got to get first downs, like you got to get first downs, whether it's in the run or pass, to give yourself more attempts to run the football, because that's where we're lacking too. We're lacking at attempts. We haven't had great efficiency, but we're also low at attempts as well."

While White is still in the process of integrating himself back into the offense following a quadricep injury that sidelined him for a few games, he did secure his first rushing touchdown of the season against the Bengals.

"It's about damn time," White told Raiders.com on seeing the end zone. "It felt good to finally get inside that box. My coaches were happy for me, my teammates were happy for me and the hole was so huge my granny could've walked in there.

"I've just got to keep on grinding. I'm just coming in here daily and just working. I'm grinding day by day."

As the Raiders prepare to travel to Miami for their Week 11 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, view photos of past matchups between the two teams.

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