Raiders’ defense giving up big plays
Just one or two sudden lapses can lead to a loss
In its first four series Sunday, the Raiders’ defense forced three punts and held the Chargers to three points and 77 total yards.
The Chargers eclipsed that total with two plays on their next two drives: a check-down pass to running back Austin Ekeler that turned into a 44yard touchdown and a screen to running back Melvin Gordon for 34 yards that set up another touchdown.
And so continued the Raiders’ trend of big plays undoing stretches of strong defense. It also contributed to a 17-3 halftime deficit and led to coordinator Paul Guenther delivering some choice words in the locker room.
“I got after them pretty good at halftime,” Guenther said Tuesday.
The basic message: “If we just do what we’re supposed to do, we’re not going to give up these plays.”
The Raiders defense has paid for its sudden lapses. Oakland has forced 16 threeand-outs, tied for third most in the NFL, but has allowed 27 plays of 20-plus yards and a league-high nine plays of 40plus yards.
The result: Despite playing the sixth-fewest minutes through five weeks, the Raiders’ defense ranks 30th in yards (404.4) and points (29.8) allowed per game, and is 31st with 6.8 yards allowed per play.
“It’s 55, 60 beautiful snaps you’re playing in a row,” Guenther said. “But again, it’s the same thing hurting us. We’ve got to work to eliminate those. And the only way I
know how to eliminate those is every guy doing their 1/11th part of the job. And when that happens, we play pretty good.”
Linebacker Derrick Johnson said that was the gist of Guenther’s halftime delivery.
“He’s always going to be real with us,” Johnson said. “He just let us know the couple plays that popped on us — it’s always one or two plays here and there — if we can eliminate that and stay focused. You take all those plays that we did well in, you take three or four (big plays) and you say, ‘Man, how do we correct this?’ ”
As Guenther noted Tuesday, the Chargers’ two long firsthalf gains resulted from missed tackles or missed assignments. The 44-yard touchdown came after quarterback Philip Rivers bobbled a shotgun snap and threw wrongfooted to Ekeler, who eluded diving linebacker Tahir Whitehead and outran the Raiders’ defense down the sideline.
On the 34-yard screen, Guenther said, a linebacker blitzing at the wrong time allowed Gordon to sneak out of the backfield and catch Rivers’ pass with three blockers ahead of him. Gordon might have scored had he not tripped over one of those blockers’ feet.
Guenther has acknowledged the Raiders don’t necessarily have the speed on defense to chase down opponents’ faster skill players. That means players must execute individual assignments to prevent ballcarriers from finding the open field.
“I think I told them during the Cleveland game, there are no 14-point plays in football, so just play one snap at a time, do your job, be where you’re supposed to be in the area,” Guenther said. “The margin for error is very thin. And if we don’t have guys in the right spots, that’s where we have kind of breakdowns. And that’s really the kind of thing we’re trying to eliminate.”
After facing three top-12 offenses in their first five games, the Raiders face a Seattle team Sunday in London that ranks 27th in total offense but whose mobile quarterback, Russell Wilson, will challenge a pass rush that has recorded a league-low six sacks.
Despite that and other unflattering statistics amid a 1-4 start, Guenther said he has not noticed lapses in work ethic or attention by players.
“Guys are working hard, they’re studying,” he said. “I think it’s important to them. I think they understand that sometimes players have to make plays.
“If I put them in a bad situation with a call, I’ll tell them — there’s going to be some times in the game you’re going to have a tough snap. … If you have a tough snap, you’ve got to understand you have to come up big for us in that area.”
Cornerback Leon Hall, who played in Guenther’s defenses in Cincinnati, said the coordinator expressed confidence in players to better handle those situations as part of his halftime talk Sunday.
“You felt his passion, especially behind this defense and his belief in us,” Hall said. “It was one of his better ones.” Briefly: Left guard Kelechi Osemele, who missed Sunday’s game with a knee injury, participated in the warm-up portion of Tuesday’s nonpadded practice but did not take part in position drills in the viewing window open to media . ... Safety Karl Joseph (hamstring), who has missed the past two games, also returned to practice.