Silver And Black Pride
While there isn’t much room for optimism when it comes to the 2-9 Las Vegas Raiders, especially after the Week 12 24-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, cornerback Eric Stokes has been one of the few bright spots on the Raiders’ roster.
According to Pro Football Focus, Stokes has surrendered just 203 yards in coverage this season, which is tied for 11th among all cornerbacks with at least 240 coverage snaps. On Sunday, the Browns targeted him twice and both passes fell for incompletions, marking the third game that the free-agent signing gave up zero yards this season. That resulted in his highest PFF coverage grade of the campaign (74.4).
Since the Raiders’ goal for the rest of this season should be figuring out which players should be part of the team’s future plans, let’s check out the tape of the 26-year-old (turns 27 in March) impending free agent’s performance against Cleveland.
We’ll start by looking at both times Stokes was targeted, and there’s a common theme in the two of them.
It’s third and 16 where the Raiders show a two-high coverage or Cover 4 pre-snap before rolling Cover 3 post-snap. Given the down and distance, Stokes is playing off coverage and does a good job of staying on top of wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, who is running a go route. As a result, Jeudy doesn’t think he’s going to get the ball and gives up on the play by jogging at the top of the route.
However, quarterback Shedeur Sanders throws it to Jeudy anyway, and the pass falls well short of the intended target. So, while Stokes does a good job of cutting off Jeudy’s route, this is really more about the veteran corner taking advantage of the situation and a rookie quarterback forcing the ball down the field.
Here, it’s a similar situation where Cleveland is behind the sticks in third and forever, while Las Vegas has its cornerbacks in off coverage for a three-deep zone. Granted, the defense’s play call is slightly different since they’re running a five-man pressure with the fire zone call to help speed up Sanders’ internal clock.
Meanwhile, the cornerback and wide receiver play is almost the same as the last one, where Stokes stays on top of the vertical route and the receiver pulls up, likely expecting a back-shoulder throw. However, Sanders tries to throw over the top of the defender, putting the ball in a position where Stokes could and should come away with an interception, but the pass falls right between his hands.
While he doesn’t get thrown at, this was Stokes’ best rep of the game.
It’s third and long and the Raiders are in Cover 3 again, while the Browns are worried about the blitz and run max protection with the right tight end and running back staying in to pass protection, and the other tight end chip releases on the check down. That leaves Stokes on an island against an out-and-up route from Jeudy.
Sanders...
