Raiders Week 1: Pass rush feasting can drain the Chargers

Maxx Crosby, Christian Wilkins, Malcolm Koonce need to be relentless against the run and getting to Los Angeles QB Justin Herbert in season opener

Hard-nosed, smart, with equal parts mental and physical toughness.

That’s the type of football team Antonio Pierce and Jim Harbaugh are hoping to lead during their respective 2024 campaigns.

And it’s a perfect Week 1 matchup that sees Pierce’s Las Vegas Raiders head to Inglewood to go toe-to-toe with the Los Angeles Chargers in SoFi Stadium. Two AFC West foes with new head coaches (newish for Pierce) that want to instill the old-school swagger of a beat ‘em up tough football.

A big ingredient into the recipe for cooking up a violent football team that inflicts pain is by running the football. And, on the flipside, stopping the run. That’s long been a Harbaugh calling card (both Jim and brother and Baltimore Ravens head coach John) and it’s something Pierce wants in the Raiders’ DNA.

Thus, stopping the run is integral for Las Vegas’ defense.

Harbaugh speaks glowingly about running the football and Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham noted a run-first approach the Chargers are slated to have under their new head coach is a smart decision.

“Because if you can’t stop the run on defense, I mean, it’s going to be a long day,” Las Vegas’ defensive play caller said. “I mean, the coordinator could call anything, and that’s the worst fear as a defensive play caller. But I think it’s smart. And in order to be tough, you got to be able to run the ball and you got to be able to stop the ball. So, I know toughness is a big part of what they’re preaching and that makes sense to me, and he’s been successful doing it.”

The entire Raiders defense will need to be on point this Sunday in the regular season opener against the Bolts, but in particular, the defensive line needs win the line of scrimmage. And it’s not out of the question for the Silver & Black to do so.

The team boasts elite edge rusher Maxx Crosby and defensive tackle Christian Wilkins who are effective run stoppers as well as quarterback hunters. Las Vegas will be without the much-improved Malcolm Koonce from the other edge as second-year defender Tyree Wilson is slated to take his place. But the Raiders do have savvy veteran nose tackle John Jenkins who, when he’s not stopping tailbacks, he’s attracting double teams taking a blocker that could’ve been locked up with someone else out of the equation.

Yes, linebackers Robert Spillane and Divine Deablo, slot cornerback Nate Hobbs, and safety Marcus Epps will play a big role, too. but that aforementioned group of defensive linemen must be at the forefront of stonewalling the run in order to get to do what Crosby and Wilkins do best: Rush the passer.

You can’t pin your ears back and get after Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert if he’s handing the ball off and L.A. is moving the chains. Crosby, Wilkins, and Koonce must do their part in stopping the run and getting the opportunities to rush on passing downs.

“We have to understand that, and the first game is always weird,” Wilkins noted. “You don’t know what teams are and who they really are, so you kind of have an idea maybe, but you just have to be willing to adjust as the game goes on.”

In-game adjustments will be one of the myriad of things under the microscope for the Raiders.

One of those is not only keeping Chargers running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards at bay, but also keeping a keen eye on Herbert on not only scrambles, but designed runs. Harbaugh rejoined forces with Greg Roman and the head coach/offensive coordinator combo have experience dialing up plays for mobile quarterbacks.

“I mean, just refer back to the third down and nine last year, I mean, he took off. So, he looks pretty mobile to me,” Graham said of Herbert’s mobility. “So again, you all ask me this all the time. I factor in everything; I don’t have anything else to do. I mean, he can move, he can move, so we have to prepare for everything. I don’t know what they’re going to do. That’s the beauty of Week 1; a little angst, anxiety, nervousness, whatever you want to call it. But that’s the beauty of Week 1.

“Everybody’s going through it right now; the game tonight, they’re going through it. They don’t know what they’re going to do, but we get to play football.”

If the Raiders want to make a dual homecoming — Pierce coming back to the city of L.A. as a head coach and general manager Tom Telesco who served that same role for the Chargers last year — successful, the defense must not only contend with a Harbaugh-Roman run game, but stopping it to force Herbert to drop back and in the sights of the Raiders fearsome pass rushers.

Telesco noted this rendition of the Raiders was different from last year’s. And Pierce gave his own insight on how the Silver & Black differs from the 2023 version.

“The roster, the mentality, how we’re starting, the expectations. We expect to win,” Pierce said.

Time to prove it.