Oakland Raiders: 5 takeaways from four-game losing streak
By John Buhler
This defense struggles to force turnovers
Through six weeks, the Raiders are the only team in football to have not forced an interception. The Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins were able to get their first aerial takeaways of the season on Sunday, yet the Raiders remain pickless.
Oakland has forced a handful of fumbles, but ballhawking ability out of this back-seven has been absent. Yes, the Raiders have had some injuries at cornerback, but not capitalizing on an errant throw from the opposing quarterback is certainly troublesome.
The truth is that the Raiders pass defense hasn’t been all that horrible. They only have one bad game as a unit on the year and that was the debacle versus Washington. Through six games, Oakland has allowed 1,396 yards through the air and seven passing touchdowns. Oakland is only 10th worst in yards allowed per game through the air, but seventh-best in passing touchdowns surrendered.
If this secondary could just get the opposition’s passing game out of rhythm with a timely pick or two, Oakland could be better than 2-4 in the win/loss column. Turnovers might be largely random, but an inability to create them in the secondary is a contributing factor in the Raiders’ current four-game slide.