Raiders Pass Rush
There’s no ignoring the fact that the Raiders pass rush last season was historically bad. However, in the 2019 season opener last week, the pass rush looked completely different. The Raiders defense recorded three sacks on the night with two of them coming from seven-year vet Benson Mayowa.
Oakland will need to apply pressure on Patrick Mahomes to minimize the usage of his big arm. Last offseason, Gruden brought in defensive line coach Brentson Buckner to work with the pass rushers and it already looks like it’s paying large dividends as they generated a much greater amount of pressure in week 1 than they did all of last season.
In the preseason the Raiders showed a multitude of blitz packages and it worked quite well. This could be a game plan they utilize to get after Mahomes before he can step into his throws and deliver.