Silver And Black Pride
The CBS broadcast crew aptly described Pete Carroll’s and Patrick Graham’s Las Vegas Raiders defense during Sunday’s broadcast.
“They’re a softer defense this year,” the crew of Andrew Catalon, Charles Davis, and Jason McCourty noted early while broadcasting the Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers tilt.
The crew noted this is a result of Graham — the Silver & Black’s defensive coordinator — marrying his concepts with that of the head coach, Carroll, who is a defensive-minded lead man. The broadcast qualified the statement of “softer defense” with Graham being a traditionally aggressive play caller who creates chaos. But in 2025 and with Carroll as his boss, it’s a “keep the plays in front of us” and tackle-type defense.
What we continue to see is a Charmin soft coverages and scheme where teams are simply having their way with the Raiders. Try this one on for size: The Bolts finished 12 of 17 on third-down conversions as the Raiders defense couldn’t get off the field in 31-14 shellacking at the hands of the Chargers.
That play above, Chargers wide out Quentin Johnson beating linebacker Devin White and pinballing off safeties Lonnie Johnson Jr. and Isaiah Pola-Mao, was yet but one of a myriad of examples of the Raiders’ ineffective defense. After Johnson hauled in the pass, White eased up as he saw two of his teammates there to deliver a hit and Los Angeles’ wide receiver split Johnson and Pola-Mao for the hop-in touchdown.
We’re in Week 13 of an NFL season and the Raiders (2-10 overall) are still making fundamental mistakes that are usually reserved for preseason or the initial weeks of the regular season. I know NFL practice parameters focus on player health limiting the physical contact teams can endure prepping for games. But, one can question whether Las Vegas practices proper tackling technique.
Another example of the Raiders’ shoddy defensive technique was on full display in the third quarter. With the game knotted at seven, Chargers’ running back Kimani Vidal electrified the Bolts (8-4) and left the Raiders thunderstruck on a 59-yard sprint to the end zone.
It was a comedy of errors for Las Vegas as White couldn’t get to him, rookie cornerback Darien Porter got walled off on a block, Johnson got juked coming downhill from his safety spot and touchdown. In between that was both linebacker Jamal Adams and safety Jeremy Chinn both hitting the turf taking them out of the play. That ignited the Chargers to three-straight scoring drives.
“The big toss play, we just screwed it up, I think we had three guys there that could make the play,” Carroll said after the game. “It winds up being a 60-yard touchdown play. That was a backbreaking play in the game. And then we needed to respond, and we didn’t have it to respond, and so they get up by a couple scores, and that plays into their hands. They know how to play with a lead like that, and they did a...
