McDaniels on Raiders Defense Forcing Turnovers

There is no doubt that the Las Vegas Raiders' defense struggled to force turnovers and make plays during the 2022-23 NFL season.

By signing many free agents and drafting rookies capable of making defensive plays and forcing turnovers, the Raiders plan to improve in the category for this NFL season.

Coach Josh McDaniels is entering his second season as the Silver and Black's head coach, and he, too, knows the Raiders defense struggled in making plays and forcing turnovers last season.

McDaniels had the chance to share with the media what he has seen on the Raiders' defense, making plays and forcing turnovers so far during training camp and improving on it for the start of the regular season.

"We've talked since the beginning of the offseason about creating more explosive plays defensively in turnovers or negative plays," McDaniels said. "And I think, if you practice it and practice it, and it becomes kind of part of how you play on every play, you're hoping that it's going to carry over because you can't just not work on something, and then the games start and say: ‘OK, let's just force turnovers.’"

McDaniels continued: "You have to be able to try to do that in practice and work on the skills and techniques that are required in order to do that. So, I see our defense really challenging the offense in many ways. I think we have drills you guys see us run every day focused on trying to get the ball loose or out. I think we've had a number of guys who have gotten closer to the football or gotten their hands on the ball and caught the ball."

While McDaniels isn't ready to call the 2023 Raiders defense the 1995 Chicago Bears, he is excited from what he has seen early.

"That's a good part of training camp to be able to build those fundamentals and start to gain some confidence in your ability to do that as a unit," McDaniels said. "Obviously, nothing provides more energy to the defense than when it take the ball away. So, good to see in that regard. And offensively, we're trying to do a good job as best we can to try to keep it away from too, so it's a good battle.”

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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