Defense was far from the issue in the Las Vegas Raiders’ Week 10 10-7 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football. One of the Raiders’ best players on that side of the ball during the contest was safety Jeremy Chinn.
Not only did Chinn lead the team with nine total tackles, but he also made several high-quality plays by racking up three ‘defensive stops’ or tackles that resulted in a failure for the offense, according to Pro Football Focus. The safety had an especially impressive night in coverage, allowing just two catches on four targets for two yards to lead Las Vegas’ defense with a season-high 80.7 coverage grade.
With that, let’s flip on the tape and break down the veteran’s performance.
Chinn made a handful of good plays against screens on Thursday night. Here, he’s quick to read and recognize the play design, immediately moving toward the sideline post-snap. That allows him to beat Adam Trautman’s block, who is a blocking tight end lined up at slot receiver. Additionally, the safety uses his hands to take on the tight end’s block, making it easy to escape and force the running back out of bounds for no gain.
That showcases some impressive instincts, which was a common theme for Chinn in Denver.
The Broncos get flagged for offensive pass interference here, which is a combination of a heads-up play by Chinn and a good play call by defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
Denver is trying to get the ball out of Bo Nix’s hands quickly by running a halfback screen to the wide side of the field and a backside slant on the boundary. However, Chinn recognizes the running back motioning into the swing route and splits the two slot receivers to jump the screen.
Since the running back is taken away by the unblocked defender, Nix holds onto the ball and works to the other side of the field. But Graham calls a three-man rush where edge-defender Tyree Wilson drops in coverage to take away the slant. So, the quarterback has no choice but to scramble and throw the ball away, leading to flags coming out because the wideouts on the wide side of the field are blocking for the screen.
This time, Denver tries a trick play where they throw a backwards pass to their No. 1 wide receiver Courtland Sutton and have the offensive line sell the screen. Also, the single receiver at the top of the clip above runs a dig route to influence the defense/secondary toward the three receiver side of the formation or toward the fake screen. That’s set up for the running back to be wide open on a wheel route for an explosive play or touchdown.
However, Chinn isn’t fooled, stays home and picks up the running back to carry the back down the field. As a result, the trick play is neutralized, and Sutton has no one to throw to, creating a coverage sack for Charles Snowden.
While the six-year pro stood out the most in coverage, he also made a few quality plays as a run defender.
Denver is backed up in its own end and runs power, but the front side of Las Vegas’ defense does a good job of plugging up the gaps. So, running back J.K. Dobbins tries to cut backside. However, defensive tackle Jonah Laulu and Chinn do great jobs of taking on their blocks with their hands and defeating the blocks to escape and combine to make a tackle for a short gain.
This time, the Broncos run iso, where the fullback and linebacker Elandon Roberts meet in the C-gap. Roberts does his job by creating a stalemate at the line of scrimmage, while cornerback Kyu Blu Kelly shows color in the hole, which gets Dobbins to cut backside.
Meanwhile, Chinn comes downhill but shows patience to avoid getting caught in the trash. So, when Laulu ends up on the ground, the left guard doesn’t have a clear path to the second level and the safety can easily defeat the block by using his hands and mirroring the running back. As a result, Chinn makes the tackle right at the line of scrimmage, primarily by being a smart football player.
While this season has been a frustrating/disappointing one for the Raiders, Chinn has been a solid starter for the defense, and Thursday night was arguably his best performance of the year.
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