Oakland Raiders: Norton Firing Long Overdue, May Be Too Little, Too Late

The Oakland Raiders finally shook up a coaching staff that badly needed it by firing DC en Norton Jr. – is it a move that comes too little, too late though?

Oakland Raiders fans around the world, are no doubt, dancing with joy and relief after hearing the news that HC Jack Del Rio shook things up. Finally.

After more than two and a half seasons on the job, Del Rio finally did what needed to be done and fired Ken Norton Jr.

It’s a move that comes on the heels of a disastrous showing in Mexico City, where the Patriots rolled right over Oakland’s defense like they weren’t even there on their way to a 33-8 win. In that game, Tom Brady had his way with Oakland’s defense and barely seemed to even be breaking a sweat as he carved them up.

Of course, that’s kind of been the recurring theme with this Norton-run defense – teams marching up and down the field on them. Even more ignominious is the long list of second and third-tier quarterbacks able to carve up Oakland’s defense like a Thanksgiving turkey.

Why, just this season, that list includes Josh McCown, Trevor Siemian, Tyrod Taylor, and Jay Cutler. Given the way the defense has played under Norton for the last two-plus seasons, most of us have little doubt that JaMarcus Russell could roll out onto a field, as is, and light this defense up for 300-plus yards and a few touchdown tosses.

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Of course, because Norton is a popular figure in the locker room, it’s a move that isn’t exactly popular with some of his guys.

Bruce Irvin and some of the other guys might not like the move, but make no mistake – it’s a move that’s long, long overdue. Personal relationships aside, the NFL is a results-based business. And if you’re not producing results, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong end of a pink slip.

Just ask players who’ve been cut. It’s no different for coaches.

And in two-plus seasons running the defense now, Norton has not produced. Even more damning is the fact that in his tenure at the helm of the defense, the defense hasn’t shown one iota of improvement. To really underline the point for Irvin or any other Norton apologists, just consider the following numbers.

• 2015: 364 yards per game (twenty-second ranked) / 25 points per game (twenty-second ranked)
• 2016: 375 yards per game (twenty-sixth ranked) / 24 points per game (twentieth-ranked)
• 2017: 367 yards per game (twenty-sixth ranked) / 25 points per game (twenty-first ranked)*
• *through ten games

To put it bluntly, the defense under Norton has been horrible. Even worse, it hasn’t shown any signs of getting better over his tenure.

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Norton’s defenses have been marked by a lack of creativity, a lack of aggression, and a lack of aggressiveness. Under Norton, Oakland’s defense ran very few blitzes, got very little pressure on opposing quarterbacks, had a ton of blown coverages, and gave up a ton of explosive plays.

Norton’s defensive schemes had all the complexity of that old Atari game, Pong.

But, now he’s out. Why Del Rio waited as long as he did to make the move is a mystery. This is a move that should have been made weeks ago. But – he finally pulled the trigger. And the next man up is John Pagano.

Pagano, unlike Norton, has some experience as an NFL Defensive Coordinator. He’s had some success and has run some very aggressive, very effective defenses down in San Diego. Pagano doesn’t hesitate to run blitzes and builds his schemes to enhance his player’s strengths while attacking an opponent’s weaknesses.

The question now though is, what can we expect with Pagano running the show?

With just six weeks left in the season, it’s hard to say. Pagano has been around the team all year long, but it’s unclear just how much influence and input he’s had into anything. Ostensibly, he’s been in charge of improving the communication on the back end of Oakland’s defense. And given how the season has played out so far, it’s hard to say those communication issues have been ironed out.

But again, the defense was running Norton’s schemes and plays – how much Pagano contributed is unclear.

With a game in less than a week now, we probably aren’t going to see wholesale changes to the defensive system. There just isn’t enough time to implement Pagano’s system.

But, we can probably expect to see some tweaks and wrinkles added in. We can probably expect to see some of Pagano’s trademark aggressiveness and a more attacking style defense than Norton ran. We should probably see more blitzes, we may even see some straight man coverage in the secondary.

With Pagano running the defense, we should see a shift in attitude and philosophy. Rather than sit back and react to what the offense is doing – a hallmark of Norton’s defenses – we can probably expect Oakland’s defense to take the fight to the offense and force the action.

If it plays out that way, it will be a very welcome sight for Raiders fans who desperately want to see a defense that’s aggressive and will put up a fight.

Expectations should be tempered at this point, though. The transition might have a few bumps and hiccups along the way as we shift from Norton’s philosophy to Pagano’s. And it might be too late for this season.

Firing Norton and throwing Pagano into the fire here in week eleven is like putting the proverbial Band-Aid over a bullet hole at this point. While we may see some improvement and perhaps a little more aggressiveness from the defense over these last six weeks, we need to be realistic enough to recognize that it may be too little, too late.

But, we should also recognize that Pagano is a vast upgrade over Norton. It’s just a shame it took Del Rio eleven weeks into this season to recognize that fact.

Norton’s firing was long overdue. All we can hope is that for the next six weeks, this lights a fire under the defense, Pagano better utilizes his personnel, makes the unit much more aggressive, and most importantly, makes them much more effective.

The playoffs and a division title are still, amazingly enough, still within reach. But, this defense is going to have to rise to the occasion.

Starting this Sunday at home against Denver, we’ll see what sort of heart, character and grit this defense truly has.