Oakland Raider Defensive Progress Report: It's Better Than You May Think

by saint on Oct 10, 2009 5:47 PM PDT Comment 7 comments

We all know how GAWD awful our offense has been for 3/4 of the season, and we have beat J-Russ's dead hyde to DEATH, so let's get off the bad stuff and get onto the nitty-gritty defense.

Through the first 4 games the Raiders numbers stack up like this:

The passing defense is ranked 11th in total yards allowed, 23rd in passes attempted against (120), 18th in Passing Percentage Against (60.0), 7th in passing TD's allowed (4), 9th in INts (4), 12th in Sacks (9) and 10th in rating against (79.7).

The Rush Defense is ranked 28th in the League in yards allowed (585), 1st in rushing attempts against (147), 22nd in rushing touchdowns allowed (4), 13th in yards per carry allowed (4.0), have only allowed 3 runs over 20 yards and NONE over 40 and have forced two fumbles.

The key stat that quantifies all of these numbers is the time of Possession stat where the team ranks second to last. The Raiders have had the ball for an average of 25:38 minutes a game. They are ahead of ONLY Buffalo who has had the ball for 12 less seconds a game.

Time of possession is nowhere near the "End All Be All" of stats, the Colts are ranked 27th with a TOP of 27:21(Because they are the top offense in the League and score QUICKLY), but, for the raider defense, this has to be weighed in because the offense has been incredibly anemic.

What these stats tell me is what we already knew. Our defense is coming into it's own. I am especially impressed with the 4.0 yards per carry stat.

Last season the team allowed 4.7 yards a carry and in 2007 that number was a gaudy 4.8. (By the way, Rex Ryan's less fortunate twin brother has the Browns giving up 5.4 yards a carry!)

I believe that we can give our defense a solid B for it's effort, so far in 2009, and here are some of the standouts:

1) Michael Huff - Huff is second in the NFL with 3 interceptions, and he has also gotten his hands on plenty more as he, playing a part time role, is tied for the NFL lead in passes defensed. He is definitely the surprise of the 2009 season, for the Raiders, to this point.

2) Greg Ellis - Ellis is 7th in the NFL with 4 sacks, although he was not given credit for a half sack in the first game that was given to Seymour. He has been an outstanding pick-up from Dallas and I am sure that he has something special planned for Thanksgiving Day in the Big D!

3) The Law Offices of Morrison, Howard and BRANCH?- Howard and Morrison are tied for 17th in tackles with 31 and Tyvon is 5th among all safeties with 29 of his own. Morrison and Howard have really stepped up their games and are each tracking 124 tackles while Tyvon is proving to be one heckuva Fourth Rounder and is tracking 116 in his first full season starting in the NFL.

4) Richard Seymour 0 Seymour does have 2 sacks this season, but his leadership has been invaluable in galvanizing the front 4.

5) Nnamdi - The man with ZERO stats. As they once said, a long time ago, if your name is being called a lot and you are on the offensive line or the defensive backfield, it is NOT usually a good thing. So, Nnamdi is doing his Nnamdiest to stay out of the stat column but has made nearly every play that has come his way.

This defense is young and getting better, what do you think Raider Nation?

0 recs | Comment 7 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Thanks for moving on to something besides JaMarcus, saint.

I agree the defense has been better and I have high hopes for them to continue to get better.

I do wish they would mix things up a bit more and show some different looks at the offense they’re playing but that’s not going to happen.

I have to say that Tommy Kelly has played better than I thought he could this year and Greg Ellis has been a nice pickup (and he didn’t cost a 1st round pick)

Michael Huff has been the biggest surprise though and maybe he’s coming into his own as an NFL player. If we all remember back it took Asomugha a couple of seasons to figure things out as well so maybe history is repeating itself.

by sirbed on Oct 10, 2009 6:01 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Defense

It’s really our only hope of keeping things competitive against the Giants.

The Ultimate Opportunist

by Rated-R Superstar on Oct 10, 2009 6:39 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Crazy fired up about this D

If we get consistent help from the offense, we’re one of the best, most disruptive, most scary defenses in the league.

The last two quarters last week against the Texans were phenomenal. They got better as the game went on, and never gave up. The game the Texans were playing was protect the ball, limiting opportunities for turnovers. Take away the couple of blown assignments in some zone coverage, not one of the Raiders’ strengths, yet!, and they’d have held the Texans to field goals, and considering the field position they gave ‘em and all, it’s nothing short of spectacular.

Great post,Saint! We should remain focused on the positives, and keep the negatives to a minimum. We can still turn this thing around, and the team is much better than they’ve reflected thus far. Get healthy, get some continuity and chemistry, and we’ll look altogether different.

And as for the media, remember how quickly they changed their tune following game 1? Two games in a row like that, and some W’s maybe, and credit will be given where credit is due.

Lots of teams remain winless, so let’s stay unified for our team! GO RAIDERS!!!

by brhynno on Oct 10, 2009 6:56 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

You definately have the pieces

And arguably the best cornerback in the entire league. That should count for something. I think the defense could benefit from Marshall being promoted and a fresh face taking over, obviously the scheme would stay relatively the same but this young squad backed up by solid vets needs an injection of energy.

When your team starts winning the media will make a much stronger note of the prowess of Raiders D.

by Bro Namath on Oct 11, 2009 2:03 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

good posts

like it a lot but they still need improving Seymour can reek havoc even more if they start moving him around like they did in the monday night where he got those two sacks, and tommy kelly and the rest of the DT’s needs to show more, but it still needs to be the offense. if that defense is on the field to much those stats will become worst.

MEAT IS MURDER!! mmm tasty bloody murder.

by nationofblack on Oct 11, 2009 7:31 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

What do you think now?

After a complete melt down on defense! Do you think they look good now? They are the same garbage they usually are! How dumb someone can look just one day later,,.. HAhahahahahahahah!

by blackshark on Oct 11, 2009 3:14 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs