After the Raiders drafted running back Ashton Jeanty in the first round earlier this year, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly talked about the team’s desire to see him tweak the pre-play stance he used at Boise State.
Jeanty stood straight up in the backfield while in college, which drew comparisons to Michael Myers from the Halloween movies. Kelly called football “a bent-knee game” and said running backs coach Deland McCullough spoke to Jeanty about a change that Jeanty employed this summer and in the first three weeks of the season.
Sunday saw Jeanty revert back to his old stance and it coincided with his best performance so far this year. Jeanty ran 21 times for 138 yards after running 47 times for 144 yards in the team’s first three games. After the game, Jeanty said there wasn’t an explanation for why he prefers that stance beyond “it’s just what I do.”
“That’s how I naturally feel good standing in the backfield, so it’s just how I’m gonna play,” Jeanty said.
The Raiders line provided Jeanty more running room than in previous weeks and more of that in the future will be a bigger factor in Jeanty’s success than how he’s standing before the play.
