Heading into Week 8, the Las Vegas Raiders face two concerning issues. Although they may not be able to address them before their matchup against the Cleveland Browns, they will have to do it sooner or later. One of them has to do with one member of their coaching the staff (you all know who we’re talking about) while the other is about a position that has become more of a liability rather than an asset for them.
Why is Paul Guenther still coaching the defense?
This literally boggles everyone’s mind, except for head coach Gruden, or at least it seems that way. This part of the article should just say ‘There is no reason”, but for fans who somehow believe Paul Guenther is a good coordinator, here you go.
The Raiders are currently at the bottom cellar of the NFL in pretty much every defensive category. Just to name a few, they rank 31st in points allowed, and 26th in both yards and first downs surrendered. At some point, we need to stop blaming the players and start demanding results from Guenther.
The problem is that it isn’t just the stats, the film will back it up. Opposing teams aren’t afraid of the Raiders defense. You could argue the stats are over-inflated. You could point out the Raiders have had a tough schedule. The problem with that is the Buccaneers themselves have played some pretty good teams too and their defense has been dominant in almost every game this year.
This defense has a lot of money and high draft picks invested in it. Guenther isn’t doing much with the talent in it and results have not been proportional to the resources the organization has allocated to the unit. This defensive coaching staff needs to be held accountable for their mistakes and it all starts with Guenther.
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The safety position has become a liability for Raiders
The Raiders haven’t had many difference-makers at the safety position in recent years and this season, it is no different. We won’t dispute the fact Nevin Lawson got beaten badly. However, he hardly had any help from the safeties. Multiple times, the ball would be in the air and the safeties would not provide any assistance.
The Raiders defense has been better when Abram is in. He should come back from the reserve/COVID-19 list this week. The problem is as talented as Abram is, he is still inexperienced. So far, he’s played in six games this year after missing much of the 2019 season. You shouldn’t shoulder such a burden on a player with only six games of experience, it’s foolish.
The Raiders’ biggest problems lie on the defensive side of the ball. It starts with Guenther, who isn’t putting his players in a position to succeed and it ends with the team’s brass not acquiring the right contributors. They need to fix these problems sooner rather than later if they want to contend. You don’t need a top ten defense to compete for a playoff spot, just one that generates stops when it matters the most.
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Top Photo: Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun