2. Defensive Line
Many people will say that upgrading the defensive line is not more important than bolstering the linebacker corps or improving the secondary. I do not agree with that — I believe that a better defensive line, particularly with a better pass rush, will automatically help the linebackers and the secondary.
Khalil Mack went bananas again and deservedly won the Defensive Player of the Year award. Irvin helped with the pass rush, but other than those two guys, the Raiders had basically no pass rush. The fact that the team finished last in sacks speaks for itself.
On the interior, things were even worse. Mario Edwards Jr. showed a lot of promise in 2015, but had a pretty bad neck injury and missed almost the entire 2016 season. When he was back on the field, his production was not nearly as impressive as in the previous year. Jihad Ward is still very raw and has not justified his second round selection.
Pressure from the defensive tackles was non-existent. They simply were unable to collapse the pocket, so the offensive lines could focus a lot more on the edges, which partially explains the team’s low sack total.
All of that combined means opposing quarterbacks had about an hour to make reads and decide what to do with the ball. It is impossible for linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties to keep tight coverage for so long, particularly with slow players like Malcolm Smith and Nate Allen.
1. Defensive Coordinator
I am well aware that Ken Norton Jr. will stay around for the time being, but I needed to get this off my chest, okay? Thank you.
Khalil Mack is a monster, Bruce Irvin is an excellent player, Sean Smith and David Amerson may have had a down year but are talented cornerbacks, Perry Riley and T.J. Carrie are not liabilities, Karl Joseph has a ton of potential…the Raiders defense does not have a stellar cast, but it could not be that bad.
In other words, the defensive scheme is wrong for the current personnel, and this is on the defensive coordinator. Nobody really knows how many fingers Jack Del Rio has on this defense, so the assumption is that Norton is the main one to blame for their horrible performance.
2015 was a bad year on the defensive side of the ball, but Norton was off the hook because it was his first year in Oakland. With the addition of Smith and Reggie Nelson in free agency, and then Joseph in the draft, the Raiders defense was expected to be much better in 2016.
I’m not going to crunch the numbers here, but it turns out that the defense was even worse in 2016 compared to the previous year. It became more and more obvious that Norton wanted — and probably still wants — to replicate the Seahawks defense. But it is also very obvious that the Raiders do not have adequate personnel for that.
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If so, what should Norton do? Or, if you prefer, what should Jack Del Rio force him to do?
Change the scheme to a different one which fits the players’ skills. Period. Norton cannot just ask Malcolm Smith to drop back in coverage. Or ask any linebacker to cover a slot WR. Or ask Nelson to cover both sides of the field. There is no Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner or Earl Thomas in Oakland.
It. Will. Not. Work.
Simple as that.
But Norton appears to be extremely stubborn and he does not show the ability to make halftime time adjustments. Or from one game to the other. Or any adjustments at all, honestly. Game planning? Nope, never.
He needs to go.
John Pagano was hired as “assistant head coach, defense”, whatever that means. Hopefully this is the first step towards getting Norton out of Oakland.