Oakland Raiders: A Few Keys To Victory Over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Communicate And Play As A Cohesive Unit

This goes for both sides of the ball. The Raiders have had their fair of difficulty in looking like a team that’s on the same page at certain points of virtually every game this season. But given that the offense seems able to slip into a rhythm more easily – and puts up a lot of points very quickly — the lack of cohesiveness seems more readily apparent on the defensive side of the ball.

Though Oakland still ranks at the very bottom of the league – thirty-second out of thirty-two teams – in terms of average yards given up by the defense per game, we’ve seen some incremental progress from this defensive unit.

Against the Chiefs, Oakland held Alex Smith to just 223 passing yards – and did not allow him to throw a touchdown. But they negated that strong effort in the passing game by allowing 183 yards on the ground.

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Last week, they held Jacksonville to 344 total yards of offense – almost 100 yards better than their season average. Even better, much of Jacksonville’s yardage came late in the game when there was little doubt about the outcome.

Of course, some have said it had more to do with Jacksonville’s ineptitude rather than any improvement by the Oakland defense – but as they say, the haters are going to hate.

Perhaps, it’s a product of having so many new faces on the defensive side of the ball. When you throw that many new players into the pot, it may well take time to come together. Perhaps, as some suggest, it’s Ken Norton Jr trying to be too cute with his personnel rather than utilizing their strengths to their full advantage. Perhaps, it’s a mixture of both.

What we do know is that this defensive unit got better over the course of the second half of last season. They finished the year strong and took some tremendous strides. Those improvements have been missing so far this year, but we have seen some signs of life in recent weeks.

What we also know is that this defense needs to step it up, communicate better, and get everybody on the same page. They need to play as one cohesive unit. Until they do, this team will continue to struggle.

So, here’s hoping they can begin righting the ship down in Tampa.