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Carson, Calif. — Amid the Raiders’ mostly treacherous first four games, rookie left tackle Kolton Miller drew more praise from Jon Gruden than anyone else.
The Raiders picked Miller 15th overall in April out of UCLA with sights on the mammoth youngster becoming a franchise left tackle. He impressed enough during offseason workouts and training camp that veteran left tackle Donald Penn, who made three Pro Bowls at the position, was forced to the right side. Early returns pointed to Miller becoming that cornerstone after he aptly withstood menacing pass rushes of the Rams, Broncos, Dolphins and Browns.
Miller ranked eighth among offensive tackles with at least 80 percent of their team’s offensive snaps played in pass-blocking efficiency through four weeks, according to Pro Football Focus. He was the best rookie offensive tackle in that category with only 11 quarterback pressures surrendered.
Yet in Game 5, with a right knee injury doing him no favors, Miller laid an egg. The Chargers sacked Derek Carr three times, and all three were Miller’s fault.
Asked what he made of Miller’s first real struggles, Gruden responded succinctly.
“Ingram,” Gruden said, referring to Chargers star defensive end Melvin Ingram. “He’s a very good player. Kolton is battling some injuries as well. He’s not 100 percent.”
Miller wore a bulky black brace on his right knee throughout practice this week and again during Sunday’s game. The agile rookie was visibly rusty on Sunday, allowing sacks to three different Chargers but Ingram showing him up the most.
“He was different this week because he’s a two-way player and I think me, being I went to the outside, sacrificed inside moves where I got beat,” Miller said of Ingram. “I think I wasn’t kicking as far in my set and wasn’t extending, which got him the edge.”
Midway through the first quarter, Ingram left Miller in his dust with a spin move before sacking Carr. Raiders defensive end Arden Key utilized spin moves to beat Miller multiple times during training camp, and one of the game’s elite pass rushers doing that same left Miller hopeless.
💪@MelvinIngram pic.twitter.com/nMoEVUOHAP
— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) October 7, 2018
Early in the third quarter, Darius Philon shed a chip block from Jared Cook and beat Miller on the outside, leaving Miller to push him off of a flattened Carr with the play already over.
Get 'em, @dukephilon_07! #OAKvsLAC | #FightForEachOther pic.twitter.com/tRrzvwpIFM
— Los Angeles Chargers (@Chargers) October 7, 2018
In the fourth quarter, with the game already decided, Isaac Rochell used an inside swim move to beat Miller and take down Carr again. Carr quickly flipped the ball to the referee from his side as Miller stood over his quarterback. Miller, the soft-spoken giant, tried escaping reporters in the locker room with a smirk on his face before being pulled back in.
“When I got some some knicks and knacks and you have some distractions during the week with treatment and other things, you gotta learn to overcome those things and move on to the next play and not let it affect your game,” Miller said. “I think I can definitely learn from that and move on from there.”
Gruden played up Miller’s injury more than the rookie did, but he acknowledged is hampered him, nonetheless.
“I think it was similar to KO’s,” Miller said, referring to a right knee injury that kept starting left guard Kelechi Osemele from playing. “But again that’s not really an excuse. You just have to not let treatment and stuff get in the way of your game.”
The Raiders scrapped together the pieces for their offensive line Sunday, with rookie Brandon Parker getting his first start at right tackle with Penn on injured reserve and Jon Feliciano starting at left guard with Osemele back in the Bay Area. Miller was supposed to be the proven stalwart among those three – right guard Gabe Jackson and center Rodney Hudson don’t count because they’re always solid – but he stood as the weak link for the first time this season.
