Raiders Defense to Face One of the NFL's Best Offensive Minds: Shanahan

Kyle Shanahan has had as much success as both a coordinator and head coach as any NFL coach in recent memory.

From leading the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl in the 2016-17 season as an offensive coordinator, to guiding San Francisco to Super Bowl LVI and last year's NFC championship game as head coach of the 49ers, Shanahan has proven to be one of the greatest offensive minds this league has ever seen.

"I don't know if this is a proper term or not, but [Shanahan is] like a natural play-caller," Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said during his Tuesday press conference. "He's just really good. He's really good at calling it. I know there's different branches from his tree and from his father's tree. And there are some similarities, I think, with the Kubiak tree. But in terms of just how he calls the game, I think it’s unique. We're blessed to have Josh [McDaniels], who's one of the best that I've ever been around. And then you watch Kyle, just in terms of the times I’ve gone against him, it's just really hard to get a beat on what he's doing. You know he's going to run the ball; you know they're going to do some play action, you know they're going to give you some window dressing. But in terms of the natural ability to call within the game, have a good feel for it, know how to use his players.

"Because again, it's about personnel and he knows how to use those guys and he knows the right situations. He presents a lot of challenges because of just his natural ability to call the game, I guess. I'm not trying to come up and be all philosophical about it, but I mean, he's just really good at calling the game and keeps you off balance and does a really good job. I'm always impressed with what he does with his offense no matter who's out there. And it comes down to the players, they've got really good players, but he does a good job of calling the game."

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