Silver And Black Pride
Through the first five games of the season, the Las Vegas Raiders struggled to get pass-rush production outside of star defensive end Maxx Crosby. Pro Football Focus credited Crosby with 19 pressures and Malcolm Koonce was the only other defender to crack double digits with 11 during that timeframe. However, Week 6 against the Tennessee Titans was a different story.
Crosby still did his thing with a team-leading six pressures and two sacks, but the rest of the unit also contributed as the Raiders logged more than 11 pressures for the first time since the season opener, racking up 21, per PFF. Additionally, Cam Ward was sacked six times by four different defenders, five players recorded multiple pressures and nine had at least one.
This was the type of performance Las Vegas has been looking for over the last month, so let’s flip on the tape and see how it happened.
This is the best pass-rush rep of Jonah Laulu’s young career and it might be the cleanest win he’s ever had.
He sets up the outside spin move perfectly by stemming his initial path inside, which gets the right guard to redirect and helps widen the lane in the B-gap. Then, the defensive tackle puts his athleticism to work, spinning and clearing the guard in the B-gap before using his arm with what’s called an “ice pick” to pin the guard’s outside arm and keep the guard from getting hands on his chest.
Finally, Laulu finishes the rep by grabbing cloth and bringing Ward down for the sack.
The play that gave the Raiders all the momentum; Devin White’s strip sack.
Las Vegas comes out in a five-man front with both linebackers walked up on the line of scrimmage. Also, Jeremy Chinn is in press coverage against a wide receiver in a reduced split (near the offensive line). That makes it more like a six-man front because the offensive line now has to account for Chinn as a blitz threat.
So, the Titans slide their protection to the left or toward Chinn while the right tackle sticks to account for Maxx Crosby on top of getting help with the chip block from the tight end. That leaves White unblocked as a free rusher, and he capitalizes by wrapping up and poking the ball out, while Tyree Wilson gets just enough pressure to fall on the ball for the turnover.
This is a great playcall by Patrick Graham and even better execution from the players.
Graham calls a green dog blitz, which means both linebackers and Chinn are going to rush the passer initially, but Chinn peels off to cover the running back who works across the formation on a swing route. That puts the back who stays in pass protection in a bind because he has to eye Chinn initially and then pick up White when the safety drops in coverage. As a result, the linebacker gets another win as a blitzer.
Additionally, both defensive tackles pinch toward the...
