Safety Jeff Heath – Making His Mark

This past weekend against the Denver Broncos, a few underdog players were stand-out players for the Las Vegas Raiders.

In the final edition of this mini-series, I have been highlighting three underdog players who played in Week 10 and how they could turn out to be one of the keys to a successful post-season run for the Raiders.

Today, we’re talking about safety Jeff Heath.

Safety Jeff Heath – Making His Mark

As a backup safety in the NFL, every opportunity that is provided to them must be taken advantage of.

Safety Jeff Heath managed to do exactly that against the Broncos on Sunday.

On what was a spectacular day for Heath, he intercepted the ball twice against the Broncos.

The second interception came at a crucial point of the game in the second quarter. With seconds remaining in the half, the ball on Las Vegas 10-yard line, Heath intercepted a pass intended for wide receiver Jerry Jeudy at the goal line.

The score was 10-6 in favor of the Raiders at the time. Disallowing a touchdown, even a field goal is a major momentum shift going into the locker room.

“Yeah, that was big!” Head coach Jon Gruden said after the game on Sunday. “It took points off the board, and we got three points to start the third quarter. We try to double up when we can. That wasn’t the conventional double-up way, but Jeff [Heath] made a big play that ignited us against the Chiefs, and boy we’re going to need him next week because we have a great team coming to town.”

Meanwhile, Heath gave credit to his coaches for preparing them for situations where he could make interceptions

“Yeah, I got to give credit to the coaches for having us prepared,” Heath said. “We had a lot of good tips this game. Yeah, I just saw the formation, read what the No. 2, I think it was the running back, read his route, and just a great job of the coaches letting us know what was coming and just being able to capitalize on the play.”

His only other interception this season came against the Chiefs the first time around when he picked off a ball intended for tight end Travis Kelce deep down the field.

The score was 33-24 in favor of Las Vegas at the time and the Raiders went on to defeat the Chiefs, 40-32.

Heath, while not a starter for the Raiders defense, can and does make a significant impact in the secondary, stepping up when necessary.

Depth in the secondary is never a bad thing. A player like Heath might add the extra threat the safeties need in order to help the Raiders make the post-season.

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