Oakland Raiders secondary was a real mess against Green Bay

The Oakland Raiders secondary faced an elite quarterback in Week 7, and he made an absolute mess of the team’s defensive backfield.

In their two games against elite quarterbacks, the Oakland Raiders defense was torched by both the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, as well as the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers. The one thing in common? Awful secondary play.

Recently, the Stacking the Box podcast, the flagship podcast of FanSided’s NFL section, criticized the Raiders defense, and stated they would hold the Raiders back from the postseason. As the author of that article, Raiders fans refused to believe it to be true. It’s now showing to be true, or at least something to be concerned about.

Aaron Rodgers torched the Raiders secondary with five touchdowns with one on the ground. To be fair, it’s Aaron Rodgers though. However, the Stacking the Box group made good points in saying the Raiders have only beat teams with average quarterbacks, but tend to fall flat against good offenses.

It’s proving to be 100% accurate.

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Let’s assume, for a minute, the Raiders somehow make the playoffs. Who will they be playing? As it stands, New England is the top offensive team and with that comes the league’s top defense and arguably, the best quarterback ever with Tom Brady. Then comes the Bills, who have Josh Allen as their quarterback, but their defense is legit.

The Raiders also seem to fall flat against teams with decent defenses and those who can bottle up the run game, as was the case in the Minnesota Vikings game. In third place is the Chiefs with the reigning MVP, Patrick Mahomes, who will only be out for a few weeks, and will be back for the late season matchup, this time in Kansas City.

In fourth place is the Baltimore Ravens with Lamar Jackson playing out of his mind right now and they can beat you on the ground as well. In fifth and sixth place are two AFC South teams with the Colts and Texans. Jacoby Brissett just had a career day against the Texans – for more on it read this article I wrote up about the analysis of it – and Deshaun Watson who is developing into a good quarterback too.

So what’s the point of all of this, you ask?

Exactly what you’re thinking right now. The Raiders team is currently built to play ahead. They have a great rushing offense that needs the lead to get going.

At halftime last week the score was 21-10, and the Raiders got torched after. Scoring 42 points, 21 points in each half, the Packers proved the weakness of this team is, indeed, the secondary. Many thought after the suspension of Vontaze Burfict the run-defense would take a hit, but in reality, it’s the pass-defense, coverage to be specific, that’s lacking.

Back in 2017, the Raiders made Gareon Conley their first round pick, and the hope was he would develop into a true CB1. However, he never really improved under head coach Jon Gruden, and on Monday, he was sent packing to the Houston Texans.

With Conley gone, Daryl Worley will have to step up as the new top guy on the depth chart, but he did not fair well against the Packers either.

Both starting cornerbacks were below a 50 coverage rating this week. While Conley gave up 45 yards per catch, inflated by a single 74-yard touchdown catch, Worley gave up 84 yards with a 16.8 average and a touchdown.

If you thought a 149 QB rating was bad enough, Worley helped Rodgers achieve a perfect 158.3 passer rating in the game. Erik Harris even got into the action, giving up a touchdown and a 95 quarterback rating according to Pro Football Focus.

On the season, Conley is one of the worst corners in the league with a 126 passer rating when being targeted. On 26 targets, he’s allowed 18 to be caught and seven passes have been dropped by the receiver, meaning he’s only defended one pass this season and that was in interception on a tipped pass, again, not due to his skill.

While he may have been a first round pick, he did not play like a first round talent.

I’m first a Colts fan, but I’m also a Raiders fan and I firmly believe this team has potential. However, the secondary is holding this team back. Halfway through the season the Raiders are 3-3 but they still have some tough quarterbacks on the horizon.

Oakland will take on Mahomes one more time, and Philip Rivers twice. In addition, they take on Deshaun Watson this upcoming week, and Matthew Stafford when they finally return home in November.

Defending the pass is crucial in today’s NFL, and not only does the secondary need to step up, but the Raiders have to get some kind of pass rush this week. We can officially hit the panic button on this secondary, but guys like Trayvon Mullen and Isaiah Johnson should get some run in the coming weeks, so the Raiders can see how much they need to do to improve the group next offseason, or even at the trade deadline next Tuesday.

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