Oakland Raiders: The good, bad, and ugly in preseason win over the Packers

Good: Defense

Yeah, yeah, yeah – the Raiders squared off against an Aaron Rodgers-less Packers squad. Yeah, Green Bay rested a lot of their starters. Even still, there were some encouraging signs, and solid things to take away from the game.

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Oakland’s defense – which, as we all know, has been a train wreck for years now – had a solid showing. They limited the Packers to 228 total yards of offense (155 passing, 73 rushing). They held Green Bay’s backups, DeShone Kizer and Brett Hundley to 51 percent passing, no touchdowns, and registered a very solid five sacks on the game.

They also limited the Packers to an average of 3.7 yards per pass – which is abysmal – three yards per rush, and an overall total of just 3.5 yards per play on Green Bay’s 66 total plays run.

The run defense, in particular, is looking like it could be one of the big strengths of this Raiders defense, with guys like Maurice Hurst, and P.J. Hall, providing some up the gut strength. But, with those five sacks on the night – giving them a total of 11 through three preseason games – the pass rush is looking like it could be very good.

And it will only be that much better, once Mack returns to the team.

Yes, this is the preseason, and you can’t put too much stock into what happens during these meaningless exhibition games. But, you can start to see some things that are beginning to percolate. In Guenther’s defensive system, the defense as a whole looks more energetic and vibrant than we’ve seen it in quite some time.

Throughout the preseason, Oakland’s defense has been aggressive and relentless – two things we haven’t seen in a while, and two things that can help make this a very strong unit this season