Defense wasn’t the Las Vegas Raiders’ biggest problem in the Week 2 20-9 loss on Monday Night Football against the Los Angeles Chargers. However, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert did manage to complete over 70 percent of his passing attempts (19/27) for 242 yards and two touchdowns, while the Raiders earned an ugly 43.4 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus.
While Herbert didn’t have many highlight throws, attempting just three passes 20 or more yards down the field and four in the 10-19 yard range, per PFF, he seemed to have an answer for everything that Las Vegas’ defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was throwing at him.
How did that happen? Let’s flip on the tape and take a look.
Herbert catches the Raiders in Cover 3 here, and the Chargers have a good playcall for the coverage.
Ladd McConkey (No. 15 at the bottom of the screen) motions into a bunch formation with Quentin Johnston (No. 1) as the receivers switch release post-snap, meaning McConkey goes inside off the line of scrimmage and Johnson goes outside. Then, Johnston runs a deep corner route and since Las Vegas is playing Cover 3, cornerback Eric Stokes has to carry Johnston down the field.
But one of the big problems here is that safety Isaiah Pola-Mao is favoring the single-receiver side of the formation for some reason. Against a three-by-one set, the corner across from the single receiver is locked in man coverage, which Kyu Blu Kelly (top of the screen) does here by lining up in press coverage with eyes on his man post-snap. The reason for that is so the safety can cheat to the passing strength pre-snap, but Pola-Mao is doing the opposite.
That becomes significant because the safety can’t help on the deep route since he’s lined up on the opposite hash mark, forcing Stokes to carry Johnston down the field. As a result, the corner is put into conflict and can’t get to the out route from McConkey, allowing an easy pitch and catch for a 25-yard gain.
ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky did a good job pointing out the play above on the broadcast, as the Raiders get caught in Cover 3 again.
Despite the Chargers being a three-by-one formation, Kelly is just covering the deep third of the field this time instead of being locked in man coverage. So, when Johnston starts driving toward the middle of the field on what looks like a deep over route initially, Kelly tries to pass the receiver off to Pola-Mao — who cheats to the three receiver side post-snap this time — and pick up McConkey on the crossing route.
However, Johnston runs a pylon route instead of the deep over, reversing toward the sideline rather than continuing his route across the field. With Pola-Mao moving toward the other side of the field and Kelly no longer working for depth to pick up McConkey, Johnston has a lot of open space to work with and Herbert lets it rip for a 60-yard touchdown.
This time, Las Vegas runs Cover 2 against a two-by-two set from Los Angeles, where the outside receiver at the top of the screen runs a go route and the slot receiver has a short curl.
With the running back releasing on a swing route to the other side of the formation and Darnay Holmes in position to take away the curl route, Stokes has no threats to his area and just has to continue working for depth to help Pola-Mao on the go route and take away the hole shot.
However, Stokes tries to drive on the curl route that’s already covered and leaves Pola-Mao out to dry. So, the hole shot is open, and Herbert makes a back-shoulder throw to the receiver for a 24-yard gain.
The Raiders’ other big issue defensively on Monday night was that the defensive line was struggling to win on passing downs as Herbert was only pressured on 25 percent of his dropbacks (sixth-lowest rate in Week 2), per PFF.
So, Graham decided to blitz more often. The problem is that Herbert is historically good against blitzes and found the soft spots in Las Vegas’ defense all night, completing eight of 10 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown when Graham dialed up the heat, according to PFF.
The clip above is a good example, as the Raiders run a fire zone where Jamal Adams and Devin White rush the passer. But Keenan Allen (No. 13, the slot receiver) runs a short curl route right where the linebackers were, and Herbert is quick to find Allen before the pass rush can get there for an easy pitch and catch. The result is a nine-yard gain on first and 10 that keeps the offense ahead of the sticks.
This time, Las Vegas is at a disadvantage because it runs Cover 0 against a three-by-one formation. The unbalanced look from the offense makes it difficult for the defense to disguise the blitz since safeties have to shift over to the passing strength. Anytime a safety is lined up behind the nickelback, that’s the offense’s/quarterback’s indicator that the nickel is blitzing.
However, the Raiders stay in a two-high look with the safeties on opposite sides of the hashmarks as if the Chargers are in a two-by-two formation. That could be an attempt to disguise the blitz and create some confusion for the quarterback post-snap. The problem is that Herbert isn’t fooled and recognizes that the defense has just two defenders to cover three recievers at the top of the screen since Holmes rushing off the edge.
This also could be a situation where Graham is expecting his defenders to check out of the Cover 0 call against a trips formation, or give up on trying to disguise the blitz by having Jeremy Chinn cheat toward the passing strength instead of lining up over the center. Regardless, Las Vegas was beaten by a simple numbers advantage on this rep.
We’ll wrap up with another Cover 0 call, and again, Las Vegas isn’t in a good pre-snap look against the three-by-one formation with the safeties on opposite sides of the hash marks. On top of that, Chinn and Pola-Mao both stay about 10 yards deep against a couple of slant routes from the slot receivers. So, it’s an easy pitch and catch combined with a bad angle from Pola-Mao that turns second and 10 into third and short.
Long story short, Herbert and the Chargers’ passing game got the best of Graham and the Raiders’ secodary on Monday night.
0 CommentsSee More:
