3 reasons the Las Vegas Raiders will beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2
By Alex Perl
3 reasons the Las Vegas Raiders will beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 2
Improved Secondary
We can all commend the play-calling of new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley in Week 1, which was on full display and was night and day compared to that of former defensive coordinator Paul Guenther’s system. But it is the players first and foremost that has to perform, and Monday night they more than did their job against the dangerous Ravens offense.
The secondary surely benefited from the free-agent acquisition of cornerback Casey Hayward. The veteran cornerback has become a vocal leader of this secondary, and his familiarity with the system of Bradley has made it much easier for the younger players to grasp and adapt to the new schemes.
Cornerback Trayvon Mullen put on a solid display Monday, and one of the most polarizing players for the Raiders, safety Johnathan Abram, put on a dominant performance overall. The oft-criticized third-year safety was under the microscope going into the season, especially with all the new additions at the safety spot, but he responded in a big way.
As Abram played his best football in quite some time, rookie Trevon Moehrig was continuously shutting down every man he covered.
This secondary will need to step up as the Steelers are at their heart a ‘passing team’, and with an assortment of receiving options for Big Ben, the Raiders will need to be on their toes at all times. But with such an improvement among these young players, it seems the Raiders secondary will show up and give the receivers headaches early and often on Sunday.