Oakland Raiders: With division in flux, the defense must lead the way

The Oakland Raiders need the offense to rebound from a sub-par 2017 campaign, but if they want to make a run to the playoffs, the defense must lead the way.

Not a whole lot went right for the Oakland Raiders in 2017. Though the cast of characters remained largely the same as the 2016 team that ended the team’s long playoff drought, enough changed that the pieces didn’t quite mesh the same and it all fell apart.

In 2016, the Raiders were able to get by on Derek Carr and an offensive group that simply overwhelmed opposing defenses. With Michael Crabtree, Amari Cooper, Seth Roberts, Latavius Murray, Jalen Richard, and DeAndre Washington all chipping in, the Raiders were deep, multifaceted, and electric on offense.

They got by on a strong offense and a less than stellar defense.

Oakland’s 2016 defense was – adequate. The defense made plays, created turnovers, and was opportunistic. Though adequate, in most ways, the power of the offense masked the deficiencies of the defense.

That wasn’t the case last season, when the offense suffered an extreme power outage. Although many of Oakland’s offensive stars regressed individually, most of the overall problems can be attributed to former offensive coordinator Todd Downing, whose mismanagement and incompetence led to many of the unit’s struggles.

For their part, the defense wasn’t nearly as opportunistic, created far fewer turnovers, lacked the ability to create plays, and were actually worse by most every metric.

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Suffice it to say, if your defense is so bad that you lean on the offense to carry the team, if that offense sputters and stutters, your team isn’t going anywhere. Which is exactly what we saw last season.

This year though, with Jon Gruden back at the helm, Oakland’s offense should rebound from the dumpster fire it was last season. Predicated on a strong running game led by Marshawn Lynch that will open things up for Carr and his receivers, Gruden’s offense should have plenty of aerial fireworks.

Scoring points shouldn’t be as much of a problem for this year’s offense as it was for last year’s.

Which means, if the Raiders are going to mount a serious challenge for an AFC West title and a playoff spot – let alone make some noise in the postseason – it’s up to the defense to pick up the pace. They’ll need to get back to at least the 2016 version, if not exceed it.

Most especially when it comes to the secondary. Last year’s group gave up a tick over 240 yards a game and was routinely burned worse than Chicago after Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over that lantern.

If Oakland is going to win the West and claim a playoff berth this year, the play of cornerbacks Rashaan Melvin, Gareon Conley, and safeties Karl Joseph and Marcus Gilchrist – among others – is going to have to be stellar.

The division is in a bit of flux, which could potentially work to Oakland’s advantage. Denver will have a new quarterback in Case Keenum, who certainly flashed in Minnesota last year, and Kansas City is starting over with second-year man Patrick Mahomes under center.

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Though all three teams have their fair share of weaknesses, one thing they all have in common is a pretty good receivers group that will push and test the Raiders secondary hard.

In Kansas City, the Chiefs have added big-play speedster Sammy Watkins to a pass-catching group Oakland has already had major problems with in Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. If Keenum plays like he did last year with the Vikings, rather than he did earlier in his career, he’ll be able to fully exploit the talents of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders – a pretty potent duo in their own right.

And then, of course, there’s Old Man Philip Rivers. You’d think that time would have to catch up to the guy eventually, but heading into his fifteenth NFL season, Rivers has shown that he can still play at a high level. And with explosive pass-catchers like Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Hunter Henry, among others, the Chargers passing attack will be dangerous once again.