Oakland Raiders Week 8 X-Factors against the Houston Texans

Tahir Whitehead

While Deshaun Watson isn’t known as a runner, he has shown the ability to use his legs and move the chains. Obviously, this is a problem for opposing defenses and one of the best solutions is to use a spy. For a spy defender, two of the most important attributes are: lateral speed and sure tackling, and Tahir Whitehead is perfect for that role.

The veteran linebacker is known for being a tackling machine (leads the team) and is athletic enough to keep Watson in front of him. While Whitehead is an effective run defender, his Achilles’ heel is pass coverage. When targeted the veteran allows a quarterback rating of 121.0, so the defense isn’t missing much if he is used as a spy.

Committing a defender to play man coverage on the quarterback is more of a situational strategy,  often used on third downs, so this won’t be the linebacker’s only role. However, it will be an important piece of the game plan to get the Texans offense off the field.