Las Vegas Raiders offensive tackles look to neutralize Tampa Bay’s pass rush
Trent Brown
The other reason the Raiders were effective throwing the ball deep two Sundays ago was the re-emergence of Trent Brown in the starting line-up. The mammoth tackle had been battling a calf injury that prevented him from suiting up for the first 4 weeks. He came back just in time to help the Raiders offense surge to unheard of passing totals against the Chiefs defense.
While it was discernible that Brown wasn’t yet playing at 100%, he still had a very strong day in his first real game action since Week 11 of 2019. Brown showed footwork issues that he surely will clean up once he gets his legs back under him, but when he got his hands on a rusher, it was over.
Much like the great pass protecting performance we grew accustomed to viewing in 2019, Brown’s heavy punch and independent hand usage made any movement problems irrelevant. There were only a few plays where he was late picking up a stunt that could be graded against him. As he continues to get healthy and shakes the rust off, he will remind those who forgot just how valuable he will be to the Raiders success on offense.