Defense reverts to its old ways in second half
So you were hoping the Raiders’ offseason quest to put a representative defense on the field would be paying dividends by now?
Not so much.
The Raiders, 2-1 following a 36-20 loss to the New England Patriots, are where they’ve been for the better part of the past decade-plus — near the bottom of the NFL defensive rankings, looking up at teams that mete out punishment on quarterbacks, running backs and receivers.
The first half of the Patriots game actually went well, with the Raiders trailing 13-10 mostly because of the failures of their offense and the defense more than holding its own.
Then it all came apart. En route to 250 yards rushing on 38 carries, the Patriots gouged the Raiders for 143 yards on 16 carries — including runs of 38
and 48 yards by Sony Michel. All against a team you likely won’t find in the top 10 in rushing by the end of the season.
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. In training camp, defensive coordinator Paul Guenther was pleased to finally be playing with something approaching a full deck in terms of talent. Defensive tackle Maliek Collins and end Carl Nassib were added to the defensive front and Cory Littleton and Nick Kwiatkoski as starting linebackers. The draft brought firstround pick Damon Arnette and second- year safety Johnathan Abram after missing all but one game of his rookie year in 2019.
That inf lux, combined with returnees such as defensive ends Maxx Crosby and Clelin Ferrell and cornerback Trayvon Mullen, would certainly elevate the Raiders to somewhere near the middle of the pack.
Instead, the Raiders are bottom feeders in most of the NFL’s most pertinent statistics. They’re still having trouble getting to the passer and generating turnovers, and they’ve regressed as a run defense.
Here’s how coach Jon Gruden addressed the Raiders’ issues Monday:
THE PROBL EM AGAINST THE PATRIOTS >> “We obviously missed some tackles, and when you miss tackles, that’s a hard thing. The yards add up. We had some guys out of their gaps. We lined up wrong one time, and we had a couple of times when we didn’t get in our gaps appropriately on blitzes. When you make mistakes in a one-gap defense
and you miss a few tackles, the yardage can add up and that’s what happened.”
THE PL AY OF COLL INS, CALLED ‘ KEY TO THE DEFENSE’ IN TRAINING CAMP >> “Maliek and I just had a meeting. He’s going to play better. I think he’s trying to do too much right now. I think he’s trying his best. I really like his effort. We expect a lot more, and I’m confident that we’ll get that from him. Our defense played extremely well in the first half. I’m disappointed in the outcome of the game and particularly some of the runs that hit us in the second half. Maliek Collins can play better and he will play better.”
LITTLETON’S IMPACT >> “We can all play better than we did. We had no preseason. We had very little time to organize our team on defense. We’ve got a lot of new faces. Littleton played very well in the first half. He can play better than he did in the second half, and I know he will.”
ABRAM AND MISSED TACKLES >> “I think you rewind it and say, ‘He should make that tackle,’ or ‘ The angle wasn’t appropriate.’ I think there’s a time and a place for going for the big hit and another time and a place for just coming to balance and trying to make an open-field grasp tackle. And that’s something we need to work on. We probably need to put him back there in the post more often and ask him to do that. But we can’t let these runners get up on our safeties one- on- one.”
THE INJURY FRONT >> Not a lot of specifics, as you would expect. Here’s what is known.
HENRY RUGGS/ BRYAN EDWARDS >> Ruggs was inactive with a hamstring strain.
Edwards hurt his foot after catching a 34-yard pass against New England.
“We’ve got a number of guys that are still being evaluated,” Gruden said. “We didn’t get back until late (Sunday), so we are concerned about both those guys. But I’ll remain confident until otherwise notified.”
TRENT BROWN/NICK KWIATKOSKI >> Since neither was put on injured reserve after Week 1, the Raiders were hopeful of having both back against Buffalo for Week 4. Maybe, maybe not.
“I’m hoping so. But as you know, some of these injuries are hard to be exact on in terms of the timetable,” Gruden said. “So we’ll keep our fingers crossed. Both men are improving, and we need ’ em back in the lineup.”
MARCUS MARIOTA >> T he backup quarterback, Mariota is eligible to be activated and begin a 21-day period when he can be evaluated. At the end of that period, he must be either put on the 53-man roster or put on injured reserve for the season.
”Marcus is close. There’s another guy that’s missed a lot of time. They tell me there’s a good chance we can bring him back to see where he is,” Gruden said.
( Note: Gruden was also asked about rookie Tanner Muse, a third-round draft pick who is also on injured reserve, but he didn’t mention Muse in his response.)
• Wide receiver Robert Davis was signed to the practice squad. Davis was a sixth-round draft pick by Washington out of Georgia State in 2017 and spent time on Philadelphia’s practice squad and one game on the active roster before going on injured reserve last season.