Has the Raiders’ defense turned a corner heading into game at Steelers?

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Dec. 23, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Neither the controversial Keelan Cole toe-tap touchdown nor the preposterous Chandler Jones “lateral damage” game-winning return happen last week if the Raiders’ defense doesn’t stiffen directly before to set the pair of plays up.

The Patriots had the ball leading 24-17 with three minutes remaining and could have sealed a victory at Allegiant Stadium with a few first downs. Instead, they didn’t gain any yards and were forced into a three-and-out after run stuffs by Jones, edge rusher Maxx Crosby and linebacker Luke Masterson.

The sequence may not have seemed like anything extraordinary but it’s exactly the type of situation the Raiders’ defense has failed to find its way out of throughout the season.

“I think it’s just taking a deep breath and just playing football, not trying to overthink things,” Crosby said. “It sounds simple but, at the same time, it’s really a majority of the game. Once you know your job it’s about playing with swag, playing with confidence and I feel like as a whole we’ve been doing that.”

No one is going to mistake the Raiders’ defense for the famed Steel Curtain going into a Week 16 game at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at Pittsburgh, but it’s shown long-overdue signs of improvement recently. Defense at least isn’t crippling Las Vegas’ chances anymore like it was during a 2-7 start to the season when it ranked dead-last in the league by a number of metrics.

Las Vegas’ three best games in terms of yards per play allowed have come in the last three weeks. The Raiders gave up 5 yards per play to the Patriots, 4.6 yards per play in a loss at the Rams and 5.2 yards per play in a win over the Chargers.

Throw in a Week 11 victory at the Broncos where it allowed 5.2 yards per play and the Raiders’ four best defensive performances have come in the last five weeks. They’re also up to 25^th in defensive expected points added per play after dropping to as low as 31^st.

“I think the more those guys get to play together, the more communication is between the same guys, the more comfortable some of them feel together,” coach Josh McDaniels said of the defensive improvement this week. “I think it's just continuing to try to get better at the fundamental aspects of playing it, and I think we've had some good days and some better days, and then we obviously have things we need to improve still."

Competition level is the concern hanging over all of this. There’s no disputing the Raiders’ defensive results have been better over the last month but they’ve also faced a mediocre-at-best slate of opposing offenses.

The Patriots, Rams and Broncos have three of the worst of eight offenses in the league by EPA per play (a category in which the Steelers notably also fall into). The Chargers’ offense is more around league average but they were significantly weakened against the Raiders without wide receiver Mike Williams and three starting offensive linemen.

The last time Las Vegas faced a legitimate above-average offense was in Week 12 where it took overtime to beat Seattle 40-34 in a shootout.

This is where Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings, which adjusts for strength of opponent and situation, can be a handy tool. The advanced metric’s verdict is that the Raiders’ defense has been better but perhaps not as much as the aforementioned conventional statistics imply.

DVOA has graded the Raiders with above-average defensive performances compared to the rest of the league only twice this season — against the Patriots last week and Chargers in Week 13. The Rams’ performance was only slightly worse than average, which makes sense given how the Raiders crumbled in crucial moments by allowing back-to-back touchdown drives in the final minutes to lose 17-16.

Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham specifically took a lot of criticism for running press man-to-man coverage on a 23-yard game-winning touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Van Jefferson.

“I thought that was best at the time,” Graham said this week in the first time he’s spoken to the media since the defeat. “Obviously, it didn’t work out. I’ve got to coach the situation better.”

Graham is known as a cerebral coach who’s constantly tinkering with his schemes so it’s possible the Raiders’ defensive upswing is a result of him finally finding the right pieces. Las Vegas’ defense does look dramatically different on every level than it did during its lowest point following a Week 10 loss to Indianapolis.

The Raiders afterwards claimed former first-round pick Jerry Tillery, who’s since played more snaps at defensive tackle than anyone on the roster other than Bilal Nichols. Linebacker Denzel Perryman has also played in every game since the Colts’ defeat after battling injuries earlier in the season.

He’s now leading the team in tackles (79) and is having an even better season than last year’s Pro Bowl breakout campaign by Pro Football Focus’ grading system.

In the defensive backfield, the Raiders have played better since releasing safety Johnathan Abram in Week 10 and deciding to never take Duron Harmon off the field. The cornerback group has gotten boosts from the injury return of Nate Hobbs in Week 13 and the elevation of Tyler Hall from the practice squad to the active roster in Week 11.

“There’s no secret,” McDaniels said. “There's no one thing that we can just say, 'Hey, if we do this then all of a sudden everything will magically be great'…So we’ve just tried to continue to focus on the things that fundamentally you have to do right.”

Jones’ breakout, which started with three sacks in the victory over the Chargers, might be the most visible reason for the Raiders’ changing defensive fortunes. He’s consistently pressured opposing quarterbacks for the first time this season, giving Graham and the Raiders the type of pocket-collapsing rush on both sides (with Crosby on the other) they envisioned building their defense around.

Jones has been at the forefront of the progress and it’s just a bonus that he got to make the biggest play in last week’s game.

“Hopefully we won’t need that this week,” Graham joked.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or