Raiders Defensive Line Starting to Click Together
The Silver and Black defensive line is starting to click together.
It happened at arguably the best time for the Las Vegas Raiders: Against their rivals.
During the 40-32 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, the Silver and Black defensive line applied pressure, and lots of it, to the Kansas City offensive line.
We’re talking about an offensive line that features the likes of left guard Kelechi Osmele and left tackle Eric Fisher.
Coming into Sunday's game, the Chiefs offensive line had allowed 10 sacks in four games this season. The Raiders added three by Maxx Crosby, Nevin Lawson and Chris Smith.
Perhaps more impressive are the five quarterback hits the Raiders were able to produce on quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The three mentioned above all had at least one QB hit, Crosby making a pair and linebacker Nicholas Morrow joining the action.
However, no matter how deep one looks at the Raiders stats, it’s not going to tell the true story of how the Las Vegas defensive line played.
Throughout the game and especially in the second half, the Raiders defensive line solidified. They consistently applied pressure on Mahomes.
The only reason stats won’t show this is because of how talented Mahomes is.
Give credit to the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl LIV. The man can escape out of any collapsing pocket in an instant.
The Raiders defensive line essentially played this well against the Buffalo Bills a week earlier. Josh Allen would be scrambling to find space let alone escape the pocket.
The Raiders' pressure alone caused Mahomes to throw his first interception this season.
The timing of the defensive line clicking couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Silver and Black is heading into its bye week with a winning record, a confidence-boosting win and Coach Jon Gruden was able to isolate what the team needs to work on during the bye week.
This off-week will be crucial for the Raiders and if the defensive line continues to play the way it did last Sunday, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be sweating a little extra next week.
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