Big Blue View
The New York Giants have a real chance to come away from this Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders with their third victory of the season.
Whether that would be in the long-term interest of the franchise is a matter for debate amongst fans, but the potential is there against a Raiders team that has struggled even more than the Giants have this year.
That said, the Giants can’t afford to take the Raiders lightly. Las Vegas is coming off of a game in which they very nearly pulled off the upset against the Houston Texans. Houston doesn’t feature a particularly complex defensive scheme, but they are exceedingly well coached and seldom have communication or assignment breakdowns. And yet, the Raiders were still able to move the ball and score points.
The Giants should have the advantage from a personnel standpoint. But what can the Giants’ defense expect from the Raiders’ offense?
The Giants have had the worst run defense in the NFL this year — that isn’t really up to debate. Even when they perform well-enough on a down-to-down basis, their defense has had a tendency to shatter and give up massive plays in big moments.
They played better against the Minnesota Vikings, holding them to 3.7 yards per carry on 31 rushing attempts last week. The Giants’ defensive line did a better job of disrupting behind the line of scrimmage, while the second level players did a good job of coming up to fill gaps and make tackles.
However, we should also note that the defense still gave up big plays on the ground, with runs of 15 and 12 yards. In those cases we saw the familiar problem of individual defenders put on an island while other defenders were either out of position or too far away to rally to the ball.
It would make quite a bit of sense for the Raiders to go run-heavy this game. After all, Pete Carroll is noted for his affinity for the run game, they drafted Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick, and the Giants struggle to consistently defend the run.
On the flip side, however, is the fact that the Raiders have the worst running game in the NFL. They’re 32nd in rush attempts (21.1 per game), 32nd in yardage (75.7 per game), 32nd in touchdowns (5), and 32nd in EPA added on the ground (-51.05).
The Raiders’ rushing frequency makes a certain amount of sense given how poor their offense is overall. They’re 32nd in scoring (14.5 points per game), and are also only 21st in pass attempts (30.6 per game) despite rarely running the ball. The Raiders are 32nd in first downs (23o total, 148 passing and 57 rushing, and 25 by penalty), so they also struggle mightily to sustain drives.
Schematically, the Raiders seem to favor outside zone runs, as well as make use of pre-snap motion. They also like to use sweeps to scheme carries for their wide...
