*The Raiders Defense* ALREADY LOOKS UNSTOPPABLE

The Las Vegas Raiders are going to have a top 10 defense in the league this coming season. But is that enough to make the playoffs? Look, we've talked to death about Aiden O'Connell, Gardner Minshew, Devontae Adams, Amir White, Alexander Madison. We got all these new offensive weapons. And yes, it should be better than it was last season. The offense should have a groove, a real play caller, yada, yada, yada. And we've added Christian Wilkins to a top 10 defense last year. The fact that I get to say the Raiders were a top 10 defense last year, it's pretty crazy but I've been thinking a lot about the defense lately and I've got articles pulled up here about how we did last year and then I want to compare what we did last year to other top defenses last year to see how far those teams made it into the playoffs and I want to talk about if we have enough already or if we need to make a move or if there's going to be players that live up to their potential regress blah blah blah there's a lot to discuss with this defense more than I think we're saying right now because we just think oh we had a top 10 defense last year, it'll be exactly the same. But you have to remember, we're the Raiders and the Raiders of the 21st century usually don't have a good defense. So more often than not, you're going to regress back to the mean. Let's talk about the Raiders defense. And real quick, before I get to the topic of the video, I got a bunch of new subscribers. 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If you watch a bunch of my videos and haven't subscribed yet, but you watch them all just subscribe we're trying to get the 10k smash that button let's get it okay so according to pro football focus the las vegas raiders had a top 10 defense in 2023 they also had a top 10 scoring defense it was actually ninth the ninth best scoring defense they said five raiders finished the 2023 season with high Pro Football Focus grades and it started with defensive and Max Crosby, Crosby finished with a 92 overall run grade, a 92 overall pass grade, you know there's a lot here to love about Max, they also touched on Malcolm Kuntz, they talked about people like Robert Spillane, they talked about people like Jack Jones and they talked about people like Trayvon Merrick and look, there's a lot to be excited about this defense but if you take a deeper dive into the top 10 defenses last year there were some good teams who made the playoffs and maybe made the Super Bowl and then there were some teams who did not make the playoffs So, I have right here the top 10 defenses according to Pro Football Focus. Number 10 was the Raiders. Number 9 was the Saints. The Saints kind of in a similar boat with us, ironically, with Derek Carr being their quarterback. Their offense was not great. Their defense kind of carried them to 9 wins. Number 8, the Patriots. So right now, 3 of the top 10 defenses did not make the playoffs. And the Patriots were pretty bad last year. But somehow still managed with Bill Belichick to have a top 10 defense. and now you get to the playoff teams, the Steelers came in seventh the 49ers came in sixth the Cowboys fifth the Chiefs were fourth then you have the Jets at three, the Browns at two and the Ravens at one, so four of the 10 teams, the Jets, the Patriots, the Saints and the Raiders four of the top 10 did not make the playoffs, now if Aaron Rodgers was fully healthy the Jets probably do make the playoffs but maybe that knocks the Steelers out I don't know who's to say for sure All I'm saying is this. Those teams in the top, the Cowboys, the 49ers, the Chiefs, right? These teams had great defenses and good enough offenses. Even Patrick Mahomes, who wasn't the best he ever was last year, didn't have great weapons, but was able to do what he could to help out his defense when the lights were shining brightest. So we have a top 10 defense. That's all well and good. that doesn't guarantee us a playoff spot it doesn't even guarantee us a winning season look at the jets look at the patriots the difference though between us and the jets and the patriots is that we do have significantly better offensive weapons and the saints are kind of middling they got some decent talent like a lot of it but then michael thomas what are they doing quarterback is an interesting thing over there for the saints i don't want to talk about the Saints. I want to talk about the Raiders. I'm not a Saints fan. Other people might, you know, talk about the Raiders and the Saints all the same. I'm going to leave it alone though. Did we do enough this off season to shore up the defense? Because yes, we got Christian Wilkins. That was huge. And yes, we got Jack Jones in the middle of last season and he was great for us. And Jack Jones has been saying, I want to be one of the premier corners in this league. I want to be a guy that eliminates half the field. He was great last season, but there were also times where he let up some big plays like it just is what it is he was a boom and bust type guy but the boom was more often than the bust can he be this shutdown corner because remember he was a guy who was cut and we grabbed him and Antonio Pierce seemed to get the best out of him and if you remember back in the day we had a guy named Nnamdi Asomugha who for his first two and a half seasons was terrible it wasn't until his third season that he skyrocketed into the best corner in the National Football League then he went to the Eagles on the dream team that didn't work out so well but these corners sometimes take a while to develop we got a guy like Jacorian Bennett who the Raiders seem to trust right now to be that CB2 if we don't trade for someone like Xavien Howard or the Cameron Richardson doesn't like the load off right because Jack Jones is going to be the one and you got Nate Hobbs in the slot is Jacorian Bennett ready to take the load on that's the question we have to ask and I think right now he probably is not I think we're gonna have to shade an Epps or a Merrick over to that side play some zone with him to make sure that we are ushering him in because he made some plays and he's a scrappy player and I like seeing him out there is he number zero I love that he's number zero it's so cool but for right now I don't think corner is our strength I think we have some decent linebacker play especially with Spillane now and Diablo and we got Eichenberg who seems to be doing okay in OTAs our line is absolutely one of the best offensive lines if not the best offensive line you've got Tyree Wilson you've got Christian Wilkins up the middle you got Koonce and you got Crosby on the edges and you've got two standout safeties and Trayvon Merrick and Marcus Epps who know what they're doing back there they refuse to get beat over the top they keep everything in front of them and they can both tackle I think the corner position is going to be massive for us. And the solution, I don't know if it's out there right now. We're going to have to see if these guys can develop. And another thing that makes the corners look good is if guys like Tyree Wilson and Malcolm Kuhn continue to develop. Because if the quarterbacks don't have time to throw the football, like a Patrick Mahomes, he's going to throw a pick six to Jack Jones and Jack Jones is going to turn in the Grinch for not giving a football to a little kid that was a misunderstanding i'm gonna move on from that too a top 10 defense does not guarantee the playoffs i feel like i've made myself clear on this which is why we are going to need the offense to score now look according to Pro Football Focus we were the 17th best ranked offense in the league okay five raiders finished the 2020 season grade with high grades they list guys like Colton Miller Davante Adams right greg van roten was actually pretty good he was the third highest graded guy Andre James was fourth highest and last season amir right so we got some people that can help us and 17 is not bad if we can get to 15 14 ish if we can improve from 17 to 13 right that could be the difference between making the playoffs and not winning the division and not competing for a wild card spot the fifth versus the seventh this could be the difference and the offensive line might be the key to all of this and this might be a separate video but for right now if three of our five top offensive players last year were offensive linemen that's good for the line but that's not good for a quarterback play for our skill positions we need people to step up offensively to carry the load to help Aiden because I do think Aiden is going to be the starter help him make his life extremely easy because if we can get from 17 to 14 or 13 right the upper half of the league in terms of scoring points. The defense, all it has to do is play exactly as good as it was last year, and some people think, most people think, logically, we're going to take a jump to be better. So here's basically what it comes down to. If the defense doesn't improve at all, it stays at 10, the offense needs to improve a couple slots. If the offense stays at 17, the defense then needs to improve a couple slots. Which one is more likely? The offense gets slightly better and the defense stays the same or the offense gets worse or stays the same and the defense gets better I think it's more likely that the offense gets better the defense gets slightly better but isn't exactly what we wish it could be because we lost a guy like Nate Robertson who was a very good cornerback for us as well there's also a scenario in which the offense gets better and the defense gets better I'm not saying we're gonna have top five both but if we can have a defense that's like eight and an offense that's like 11 look out because you have a team like the Chiefs who had a really okay offense and an absolutely amazing defense. Couldn't stop us, but an absolutely amazing defense. So I need you guys to comment below. Let me know. Do we have a top 10 offense in 2024? Do we have a top 10 defense? Which one is more likely to improve? Do they both improve? Do they both regress? Who would you trade for? I still think a trade for a corner could happen. Maybe a Jalen Ramsey. Just look out for that. I threw that out there a couple months ago when Honda was saying we're looking for a superstar to trade for. I think it could be Jalen Ramsey. If we make a trade for a corner, that could elevate us into the top fives of defenses in the league. Comment below. Let me know your thoughts. Please consider subscribing. We are so close to 10K. Let's get there before the season starts. Drop likes, drop comments. Please be sure to subscribe. I love you guys. I'll see you next time.