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5 defensive stats the Oakland Raiders need to improve on in 2019

By Jordan Alexis

OAKLAND, CA - OCTOBER 28: Nyheim Hines #21 of the Indianapolis Colts carries the ball and gets tackled from behind by Marquel Lee #55 of the Oakland Raiders during the second half of their NFL football game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on October 28, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - OCTOBER 28: Nyheim Hines #21 of the Indianapolis Colts carries the ball and gets tackled from behind by Marquel Lee #55 of the Oakland Raiders during the second half of their NFL football game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on October 28, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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GLENDALE, AZ – NOVEMBER 18: Maurice Hurst #73 of the Oakland Raiders celebrates a sack with P.J. Hall #92 in the first half of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on November 18, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ – NOVEMBER 18: Maurice Hurst #73 of the Oakland Raiders celebrates a sack with P.J. Hall #92 in the first half of the NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on November 18, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /

Yards Per Drive & Yards per play

We discussed how the Raiders were unable to get off the field with their poor third-down numbers. Well, that is just a portion of issue that eventually leads you to their way too high yards per play and per drive numbers.

Let’s dive into just how bad this is.

The Raiders opponents started their drives on average around their own  30 yards line according to Football Outsiders. The Oakland defense gave up 36.13 yards a drive and 6.3 yards per play which were suitable for 29th and 32nd in the league. So on average, if you faced the Raiders, you finished your drives on the Oakland 34 or 35-yard line. Which means opponents are in field goal range a majority of the time while also dominating field position.

This also correlates with Oakland’s 26th ranked (73.2%) drive success rate on Football Outsiders which is any drive that results in a touchdown or first down.

The simple fix to this is, of course, play better, but it could also require Paul Guenther to be more aggressive on first & second down. Oakland has to get teams off-script by forcing 2nd and long or obvious passing situations. Allowing six yards a play makes it very difficult to function as a defense which the Raider proved in 2018.

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