Silver And Black Pride
While the Las Vegas Raiders showed plenty of problems during the first two weeks of the season, defending the run wasn’t one of the team’s issues. The Raiders gave up just 141 yards on the ground and 3.2 yards per attempt against the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers. However, Week 3 against the Washington Commanders was a different story.
Las Vegas surrendered more than double the amount of rushing yards it allowed in the first two games combined, yielding 201 yards and 7.6 yards per attempt to Washington. As one might expect, that also led to the team’s lowest run defense grade from Pro Football Focus in the early stages of the season, posting an ugly 45.3 mark.
How did this happen? Who is to blame? Let’s take a look at a few examples and find out.
Here, the Commanders run a simple zone run. Linebacker Devin White initially does a good job of filling the gap, stepping into the playside D-gap, which gets the running back to cut up the field. That’s exactly what the defense wants since the other linebacker, Germaine Pratt, is in the backside A-gap and ready to make the play.
However, the playside defensive linemen, Tyree Wilson and Adam Butler, get sealed inside, and White gets set up by the running back. When the back starts to push downhill, White doesn’t stay disciplined and in his gap. Instead, he moves back toward the middle of the field and leaves his assignment.
That creates an easy block for No. 73 (the offensive lineman lined up at tight end), as 73 gets just enough of White to give the back an outside rushing lane. Also, Jamal Adams doesn’t set the edge against the other tight end.
All of that results in a 14-yard gain.
One common theme from Sunday is that the Raiders weren’t ready for what the Commanders were throwing at them.
In the play above, Washington comes out in an unbalanced line, which creates some confusion for Las Vegas’ front. Notice how Malcolm Koonce is pointing for the defensive tackles to shift over pre-snap. Also, the defense only has six defenders in the box despite the offense being in a wildcat formation with two extra blockers in the backfield, giving the Commanders a significant numbers advantage to run the football: eight against six.
Typically, the way the defense wants to line up against an unbalanced offensive line is to treat the right guard (in this instance) like the center. That means Butler (the 3-technique) lines up outside shade on the right tackle and Fotu (the nose tackle) is inside of the right guard. Then, the linebackers, Pratt and White, can slide toward the tight end/extra offensive lineman to account for the strong side gaps and the two potential lead blockers in the backfield, while Chinn comes into the box to protect the weak side of the formation.
To make matters worse, the Raiders’ issues go beyond just lining up incorrectly here. Butler gets...
