Reviewing video of loss is no better

Two days later, the video offered no refuge.

The Raiders’ defensive players convened Tuesday to review their porous performance in Sunday night’s 27-10 loss to Washington. Before launching preparations for AFC West rival Denver, they needed to figure out what caused such a complete meltdown.

Not surprisingly, the video session unfolded without much input from the players.

“It was quieter, for sure,” defensive tackle Justin Ellis said. “Losing just doesn’t feel good.”

Head coach Jack Del Rio and defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. still didn’t bash the players, according to Ellis, because they consider the problems

fixable.

Those problems — including blown assignments, missed tackles and soft pass coverage — led to Washington chewing up chunks of yardage with little resistance. Kirk Cousins and Co. collected 472 yards of total offense, a striking contrast to what happened when the Raiders had the ball (128 yards).

Oakland’s offense figures to regain its footing, given recent history and an abundance of dynamic players. The skepticism surrounding the defense is more serious, because that unit ranked 26th of 32 NFL teams last season.

Three games into this season, the Raiders again rank 26th in total defense, relinquishing 364.3 yards per game. That’s not exactly progress.

“We’ve just gotta fix all the mistakes we had,” Ellis said. “Scheme-wise, we had a couple of busts. And we have to make tackles, make plays when they come to you. Just a lot of different things.”

The Raiders will try to fix the mistakes in an especially hostile environment. Any division rivalry carries a certain electricity, and now the Raiders — after starting the season with two impressive victories — suddenly find themselves stumbling into Sunday’s game in Denver.

And the Broncos no doubt took note of Oakland’s familiar defensive issues. They saw the tame pass rush in Washington (four of the Raiders’ six sacks this season came Sept. 17 against the Jets), and they will remember David Amerson’s trouble on long passes.

Amerson is probably the best cornerback on this team. But he has surrendered two curious touchdowns in the past two games, first a 34-yard catch by Jets receiver Jermaine Kearse and then a 52-yard catch by Josh Doctson on Sunday night.

Both times, Amerson put himself in ideal position to defend the pass — and failed to knock it away. He mistimed his jump against Kearse, and then he waited to jump against Doctson, who outleaped him.

Amerson suggested some confusion on Oakland’s coverage contributed to his mistake.

“I didn’t really know where (Doctson) was when the ball was in the air,” Amerson said Tuesday. “I didn’t know he was on my back like that. Otherwise, I would have attacked it different. I kind of relaxed and let the ball come down.”

These details add up, as Amerson acknowledged. And the next thing the Raiders knew, they were down 21-0 and on their way to an embarrassing defeat in front of a national television audience.

Their chance for redemption comes Sunday in Denver, where the Raiders have lost four of their past five games.

“Denver is always a big week, not only with them as a division opponent but just the history of the Raiders and Broncos,” Amerson said. “It’s always a game our team gets hyped up for, and the fans, too. That’s never going to change, no matter what happens the week before.”