Defensive revival is something to behold
BALTIMORE — Derek Carr led the game-winning drive. Michael Crabtree hauled in the clutch touchdown. But Sunday’s nail-biter was a tribute to the Raiders’ defense.
It was the main reason the Raiders escaped with a 28-27 road win over the Ravens. Yes, that defense.
The same unit that was historically bad in the first two weeks of the season is suddenly viable. The same unit that had Raiders fans across the country cursing at the TV, and calling for the head of defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr., was the strength of the Raiders on Sunday.
It was the defense holding down the fort while the offense sputtered. It was the defense closing the door on the Ravens when the home team seemed poised for a winning drive.
That’s quite the turnaround — from intolerable to inte-
gral. The defense is suddenly aggressive, timely and sure-tackling with a penchant for making plays.
This is a critical turn of events. Because if the defense is revived, so then are the playoff hopes the Raiders have held. With the offense they have, the ability to get stops means they are never out of games.
“We just had to manup,” cornerback David Amerson said. “We had to know how teams were really trying to attack us and make the adjustment. I think we did a great job of that starting last week, and I think it kind of carried over to this week.”
No, the Raiders haven’t exactly been shutting down the Tom Brady-led Patriots the last two weeks. But after giving up 70 points and 1,035 yards of offense the first two games of the season, the Raiders defense has put together back-toback solid performances.
Tennessee managed just 10 points and 393 yards on its own turf in Week 3. The Raiders then went into Baltimore and stymied a Super Bowl champion quarterback in Joe Flacco.
The Ravens totaled six points and four punts on their first six drives. The Raiders stopped seven of the first nine third-down plays they faced. The defense was so locked in, it was unrecognizable.
Baltimore’s run game got going in the second half. When Hall of Fame-bound receiver Steve Smith caught a pass and took it 52 yards for a score, stiff-arming Amerson and blowing past safety Reggie Nelson, it seemed as if the Raiders defense had been figured out. The Ravens even took the lead after a turnover gave them the ball back in the red zone.
But Carr and Crabtree did their thing, putting the game back on the shoulders of the defense with 2:12 left. And the defense delivered. Yes, that defense.
Fittingly, D.J. Hayden was covering on the fourthdown incompletion that sealed the win. Hayden, a former first-round pick who has for years been a magnet of criticism, was on his game Sunday. He made several good plays, including two on third down — a tackle in the open field and a deflection — to get the Raiders defense off the field.
The Ravens, on the field for nearly 35 minutes, finished with 27 points and 393 yards. But they ran 80 plays thanks to the early struggles of the Raiders offense: that’s an average of 5.2 yards per play. That’s a significant drop from the 8.2 yards per play against the Falcons or the 7.8 against the Saints.
“I’m pleased with the way we’ve continued to work at it,” head coach Jack Del Rio said after the game. “We’re going to continue to improve throughout the year. Our guys were very gritty. Good effort throughout. Guys were battling and where we’re coming up a little short we’ll improve. But we’ve got a good group of guys that are really prideful.”
This is certainly a feather in the cap of Del Rio, who took more control of the defense after the first couple of weeks. There is some life in this defense now.
Some of that is due to personnel changes. Linebacker Cory James and safety Karl Joseph, both rookies, have made a noteworthy impact. Enough of an impact to wonder why they weren’t on the field in the first place. James, who replaced Ben Heeney in the rotation, finished with 12 solo tackles. Joseph epitomized the physical, flying-around-the-field tenor of the Raiders defense.
Some of it is the aggressiveness of the play calling. The Raiders are being creative about getting after the quarterback and it’s working even though the sacks aren’t piling up.
Flacco wasn’t at all comfortable like Drew Brees and Matt Flynn. That has something to do with Baltimore’s offensive line. But it also has something to do with the Raiders’ use of blitzes and stunts. On a few occasions, Joseph came speeding down the middle to at least give Flacco something to think about. The comfort and ease of facing the Raiders defense has diminished significantly the last two weeks.
Let edge-rusher Bruce Irvin explain, it was just a matter of time.
“People act like we just got a great defense over night in Seattle,” Irvin said after getting his third forced fumble of the season. “It takes time. We took our lumps, too. But we stuck with it, we kept playing together and became one of the best defenses in history. That’s what I tell the guys. It takes time. We have guys that are willing to work, so it was no question we were going to improve.”