One more week has to be the maximum. And giving the Raiders’ defense one more chance, against the Tennessee Titans this time, may only be delaying the inevitable anyway.
The season is still young, but the Raiders are in obvious need of major changes. Giving up 1,035 yards in two games (should have) immediately shifted the paradigm about the defense. This isn’t a good defense with two bad performances. This isn’t about a couple players needing to step it up.
This is simply a bad defense. The question now is whether it can work its way to mediocre. That might be enough to prevent the most disappointing Raiders season in recent memory.
That’s what Sunday is about. One last test. But the challenge isn’t making the defense great. That will require an overhaul. The challenge is keeping the defense from ruining this should-be playoff season.
The Titans are a mediocre offense at best. Which is good for head coach Jack Del Rio, considering the Raiders could use some help. This is a full-on salvage mission. And Sunday is only valuable if it helps determine how the Raiders move forward.
And whether defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. is the one to move them forward.
The Raiders’ biggest problems are up the middle. These are core issues with no magic wand solutions, and the impact reverberates all over the field. Good defenses are good up the middle. The Raiders are not.
The defensive line has been holistically unproductive. Nose tackle Justin Ellis ranks 58th among defensive interior lineman, per Pro Football Focus, a noted website featuring detailed football statistics.
Defensive end Denico Autry is tied for 60th. Darius Latham, back-up nose tackle, ranks 92nd. Jihad Ward, the starting defensive end, ranks 101st. Dan Williams, the starting end, is tied for 108th on just 34 snaps this season.
The best lineman has been Stacey McGee, per PFF rankings. He is the only one who has been remotely viable in the passing game. One out of six players producing is a troubling ratio.
This leaves opposing offenses with one easy answer for one of the NFL’s bright young defensive stars: double Khalil Mack.
If Mack is the beast he is supposed to be, he will make it happen against the double teams. Without any push, Mack’s job is increasingly difficult.
In some ways, he and Bruce Irvin, the other edge rusher, have done at least one component of their job: occupying the offense. But none of the front seven is generating nearly enough pressure. The Raiders not only have just two sacks in two games, they have hit the quarterback just six times, which ranks 28th in the NFL.
By not getting to the quarterback, another major problem up the middle is exposed: the linebackers.
Malcom Smith and Ben Heeney simply are not cutting it. In coverage. Tackling. Stopping the run. They are both being preyed on by opposing quarterbacks. It’s a weakness that will have to be figured out, and may not be solvable simply by them “playing better.”
And the safety valves, the Raiders’ safeties, have been just as unproductive. Keith McGill and Reggie Nelson have been decent against the run but liabilities in coverage. With no pass rush, linebackers getting preyed on, and cornerbacks who can’t stick with their man, bad play from safeties is detrimental. They are the difference between breaking and just bending.
The Raiders are hoping rookie Karl Joseph can save them.
This season, and all its hope, hangs on the Raiders ability to turn this mess of a defense into something viable.
The pressure is on the offense to carry this team, to put up 35 points a night as a form of defense — which is definitely possible, given that talent on the side of the ball. But the defense has to show something. That means this is all riding on how well the Raiders can scheme to take advantage of their strengths and hide their weaknesses. How well they can milk something from the players who are struggling and develop the young players showing promise. How disciplined they can become.
Does Norton have the chops for this?
The answer, no, may already be obvious. But he has one more week to change it.
