Oakland Raiders: Keys To Victory Over Kansas City Chiefs

Nov 29, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) is sacked by Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack (52) during the first half at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Keep Up the Creative Defensive Play Calling

DC Ken Norton has taken a lot of heat over the course of the season – and in a lot of cases, rightfully so. But over the last few weeks, we’ve seen Norton throw in some wrinkles to his defensive game plan. He’s incorporated more blitzes and has had them coming in from different angles.

And those wrinkles have had a tremendous amount of success on the field.

Over the past couple of games, we’ve seen corners coming in on blitzes. We’ve seen twists and stunts, and we’ve seen a number of things Norton hasn’t show us before. And the result has been overwhelmingly positive – to the tune of 10 sacks in the last three games.

That’s pretty good production for a squad that had just 15 sacks over the first eight games of the year. He’s done a good job of sending his defense to harass the quarterback and it’s had some positive effects for the defense as a whole. The pass defense has gotten better and the run defense has gotten steadily better after getting absolutely gashed in back to back weeks against the Steelers and Vikings.

Next: Oakland Raiders Get Back To Being Offensive

Since allowing 458 yards on the ground in those two forgettable weeks, the Raiders allowed the Lions as a team, to rush for 109 and the Titans just 44 yards on the ground.

Norton has been creative the last few weeks and has given the opposing offenses some different looks. It’s provided a big boost to the defense and has translated into some successes on the field. Norton and the Raiders need to keep up that sort of creativity and production against the Chiefs.