Las Vegas Raiders vs Washington Football Team: Offensive Grades for Week 13
Defensive Line
Do not get me wrong about my feeling towards the defensive line, because I’m about to roast them a little bit here. Maxx Crosby is one of my favorite players in the league, not just on the team, and Yannick Ngakoue and Soloman Thomas have been two of the better free agent signings by the Raiders in years.
I also saw a lot out of Malcolm Koonce, now that he actually got some playing time.
Yes, this defensive line is much improved over the past couple of years ever since the Khalil Mack trade, as both Yannick and Maxx are the top two in terms of quarterback pressures. Thomas has revived his career in Las Vegas after struggling his first couple seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, and Malcolm Koonce got a sack in his first game played after being inactive the first 12 weeks of the season, but Koonce’s sack was the only one of the game.
Crosby gets a bunch of pressures a game but all five of his sacks came in two games. Ngakoue has already hit his usual eight sacks and this entire defensive line has continued the struggle against the passing game that has plagued the Raiders defense for many years. This defensive line does affect the quarterback some, but with the athletic quarterbacks that now are all over the NFL, just getting pressure and struggling against the run is just not going to get it done these days.
Sure, this group seems to always be on the wrong end of calls, especially Madd Maxx, but if they play like this against Kansas City on Sunday, it could get ugly again.
Grade: C