Just three weeks ago, the Oakland Raiders were one of the hottest teams in football at 6-4 and had aspirations of making the postseason for the first time in three years.
That has all come crashing down with three poor performances against the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans though as Oakland has fallen to 6-7, essentially falling out of the AFC playoff race.
The defense, in particular, has struggled in recent weeks, giving up 34, 40 and 42 points to the three AFC opponents. After simply having no answer for the Titans offense in Week 14, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said that some changes will be coming on the defensive side of the ball to finish out the year, via Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area Newspaper Group:
“We’ve got to play better, and we’re going to play better, and there will be changes,” Gruden said Monday at his weekly press conference. “There will be changes. What happened yesterday will not happen again. I can’t allow it to happen.”
In addition to their 42 points, the Titans had 552 yards of total offense and covert 8-of-11 third-down plays. Gruden understands that isn’t good enough and hopes it will improve moving forward:
“It’s like getting punched in the stomach,” Gruden said. “It knocks the wind out of you. Any time a team takes the ball the length of the field that many times, it’s hard to do in this league . . . sometimes you’ve got to win the game of field position. You’ve got to force a three-and-out and we weren’t able to do that yesterday from the jump. Very, very concerned about it. We’re going to make some changes and get it right.”
The Raiders defense has been decimated by injuries all season, most notably to starting safeties Karl Joseph and Johnathan Abram. Additionally, middle linebacker Vontaze Burfict was handed a season-long suspension early in the year.
It is hard to say what changes Oakland will make on the defense side of the ball, but rookie cornerback Isaiah Johnson is a candidate to receive extended playing time.
Many have also called for the firing of defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, but considering how depleted the team is on that side of the ball, it is hard to see Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock going that route right now.
The Raiders have some easier matchups coming up, particularly against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15. So while their postseason hopes may be all but dead, they still have some time to get back on track and finish the season on a positive note going into 2020.
