The Oakland Raiders’ defense hasn’t been the reason this team has underperformed, but they have looked worse the past few weeks.
The bye week couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the Oakland Raiders. They are sitting at a 4-5 record and are going to have to prove the statisticians wrong in order to make the AFC playoffs. The Raiders have not performed up to expectations. Oakland’s offense has been the main focal point in regards to the team’s failures, but what about the defense?
The expectations for the defense was that it was going to continue riding the back of Derek Carr and the offense just like last season. That quickly ended during their four-game losing streak. The defense has actually played well enough to keep the team in the game.
Against the Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Chargers, and even the Washington Redskins, the defense held up well enough. The offense was just failing to convert on third down so often that the defense was asked to come right back on the field so quickly.
Those three games and the first two wins the defense was okay. With that said, the defense’s grade entering the bye is a D. More times than not, it was the offense’s fault for why the team has lost, but after making Jay Cutler look like a top-five quarterback in football, it is rightfully earned. The defense the last few weeks has trended down. It makes all of us fearful of what is to come when they have to square off against Tom Brady.
Of the 121 CBs with 101+ snaps through W9, #Raiders' Amerson, Smith & McDonald rank No. 121, 120 and 119 in passer rating allowed.
— Austin Gayle (@austingayle_) November 7, 2017
YIKES.
The Raiders’ secondary is the Achilles’ heel of the defense. They essentially have the worst secondary in the entire league. They are still yet to record an interception, which is setting a new NFL record this deep into the season.
The players are below average, as well as defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. How he calls the defense is atrocious and we have seen this atrocity for the last three seasons. He doesn’t know how to play to his players’ strengths nor knows how to disguise his players’ weaknesses.
As terrible as the cornerback play has been for the defense, they haven’t been the only one. Safety Reggie Nelson is just as horrendous as any of them. Nelson gets caught so many times staring in the backfield and doesn’t get enough depth in his zone to protect the deep ball. More notably the game against the Baltimore Ravens.
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Cornerback Sean Smith gets beat twice on a streak against Baltimore receiver Mike Wallace. The first time Nelson is slow to get there and the second time his feet get stuck in the mud from staring at the backfield.
Nelson as a single-high safety does not work. That goes back to Norton’s play calling. He wants Nelson as the single high and drops strong safety Karl Joseph into the box to add run support.
Although playing Joseph in the box does work because he can tackle well, Norton is also hurting the defense by leaving Nelson alone at the top. At this point, Charles Woodson would be a better option right now. At least when Woodson would get beat it would be because of physical deficiencies not mental ones.
Next: Raiders: Ranking the remaining games in terms of difficulty
Brady and the New England Patriots will be foaming at the mouth to face the Raiders’ defense. There’s no way that this defense will shutdown the Patriots’ offense, but they have to at least slow them down. With Norton calling the defense, it’s hard to believe that they even can.