A spotlight on the Raiders defense
Through two games, the Raiders defense has performed up to par.
In two games, they’ve allowed an average of 16.5 points and 70.5 rushing yards to opposing offenses. They’ve held both of their opponents to a field goal in the second half of those games while also holding them to 2-for-6 (33.3 percent) in the red zone.
“The guys are doing a good job at halftime, coming in recognizing what the team is trying to do in the first half,” defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “And really, they and the coaches have done a great job of adjusting the game plan to attack whatever strengths they had in the beginning part of the game, and the guys have had the discipline to stay with it throughout the second half. So, that’s been a positive, something to grow off of.”
Pro Bowl receivers Terry McLaurin and Deebo Samuel Sr. will pose a threat to a young Raiders secondary. McLaurin had a career-high 13 receiving touchdowns last year with Kliff Kingsberry as offensive coordinator while Samuel currently leads the team in receiving yards (121) and receptions (14).
“Coach Kingsbury, he does such a good job of putting, I would say, the intermediate defenders in conflict and the edge players in conflict,” Graham said. “So, that’s like, when I describe the offense, I’m sitting there, like, ‘Listen, you’re going to be in the kitchen. If you’re a hook player, you’re going to be in the kitchen somehow, some way, whether it’s eye candy, whether it’s a run-pass conflict, whether it’s formationally.’ So, they do a real good job with that.”