Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Week 14 review: Studs and Duds

Las Vegas Raiders 2020 Week 14 review: Studs and Duds

Duds: The entire Raiders defense

Sunday’s game was yet another atrocious performance from a unit that is on the verge of bottoming out as the worst defense in the NFL. The Raiders’ defense was outsmarted, outmuscled, outhustled, and outplayed for 60 minutes by a team that is good but not great on offense.

The Colts have struggled to run the ball this season, averaging 104 yards per game coming in which was good enough for 21st in the NFL, but you would never have guessed it while watching this game. Indianapolis rushed for more than double their average, hitting 212 yards on 31 attempts, and likely could have run for more had their Raiders not handed the game to them early in the fourth quarter.

On all the Colts’ big runs, the common theme was the Raider defenders being out of position and especially in the case of the DBs, taking horrible pursuit angles. It’s not every day that you see a running back run for nearly 70 yards completely untouched, but nothing should surprise you when it comes to this defense.

Blowing a pass coverage could be attributed to mental errors, lack of coaching, or just not being as good as the opposing receiver. However getting blown up consistently in the run comes down to mental toughness and effort, two things the Raider defense has shown little of this year. They need to bounce back quickly with the LA Chargers coming to town on Thursday night and it may be a good thing that they will not be able to stew on that loss much longer.