Film room: Hobbs shines under bright lights of LA

Cornerback hard arguably his best game of the season

While the Las Vegas Raiders suffered another disappointing loss in their 20-15 Week 7 defeat against the Los Angeles Rams, the Raiders’ defense played well and got key contributions from several players. One in particular who stood out was cornerback Nate Hobbs as he had arguably his best performance of the season.

Hobbs finished with a 79.9 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, which was the third-best on the team and ranked ninth (pre-Monday Night Football) among all cornerbacks for the week. A big reason for that is he yielded just 12 yards on three targets (two catches) and had his first interception of the campaign to earn an 83.4 mark in coverage, the latter also ranking ninth at his position.

Perhaps even more impressively, the fourth-year pro ended a streak of four consecutive games with a missed tackle and logged four ‘defensive stops’ which is tied for the second-most among corners.

So, let’s flip on the tape and break down Hobbs’ performance.

As a run defender, Hobbs had several reps where he timed up the blitz perfectly or read the play to make impact tackles near the line of scrimmage.

This clip is a great example as it’s fourth and 1. The Rams motion their outside slot receiver across the formation which allows Tre’von Moehrig to take care of the other slot receiver (No. 5 lined up on the hash mark) and frees up Hobbs to blitz.

Post-snap, Hobbs doesn’t hesitate and crashes hard downhill, attacking the backside B-gap against Los Angeles’ power run call. So, he’s unblocked and with some help via a strong rep from Adam Butler and the playside defenders, the running back goes down short of the sticks for the turnover on downs.

This is a good play call from Patrick Graham and even better execution from Hobbs.

This is a similar rep where the Rams motion a receiver across the formation, giving Hobbs the freedom to blitz off the edge. He crashes hard downhill again and stays tight to the line of scrimmage once he crosses the offense line. That allows him to make another tackle for a short gain, this time for about a yard and a half.

There were a few other reps just like this one that could have been included as Hobbs stood out as a blitzer on Sunday.

This next play may not go down as a “defensive stop” since the tackle was made several yards down the field. But make no mistake about it, this is a high-quality rep that gives the defense a good chance to get off the field on third down.

It’s second and 10 as Los Angeles runs an end around to the slot receiver while the running back is the lead blocker. The back does a good job of pinning the cornerback (Jakorian Bennett) inside and then picking up and widening the linebacker (Divine Deablo) to the sideline.

However, Hobbs is in man coverage and does an excellent job of avoiding the trash, meaning not getting blocked or picked by one of his teammates. To finish, he breaks down and makes a great open-field tackle to set the Raiders up with a third and medium situation. Had he not made that play, this is probably a first down or at least third and short.

We’re moving onto our subject’s plays in coverage but this rep is similar to the last one as it’s a short pass on second and long.

Las Vegas is in man coverage so Hobbs has to match the receiver’s path as the receiver runs a return motion. On top of that, Los Angeles has a good man-beater call here where the outside receiver is looking to pick the nickelback. However, Hobbs recognizes it and avoids the pick to converge on his man and at least give the Raiders a chance to get off the field on third down.

This isn’t a highlight play by any means, but it’s a solid rep against a good play call from the offense.

Here, Hobbs makes another good open-field tackle in a big situation that gives the offense an opportunity to win the game late in the fourth quarter.

It’s third and six as the Rams call a bubble screen with another wideout motioning across the formation to have two lead blockers. Hobbs recognizes the play design and takes a bit of a gamble by working underneath the wideout’s block instead of staying outside and forcing the ball carried to cut toward the middle of the field.

However, it pays off as he makes a good tackle short of the sticks to force a punt and give the Raiders a chance to score a touchdown and win the game.

We’ll wrap up by taking a look at the defensive back’s interception.

Graham has a good play-call, starting with the double A-gap look pre-snap. That makes Matthew Stafford think he has the short curl route open since the Raiders are playing Cover 0. However, Graham has two defenders on the line of scrimmage drop into coverage as low-hole players.

So, Spillane reads Stafford’s eyes and steps into the passing window to get a PBU. As a side note, this absolutely should have been a pick by the linebacker, but hey, we’ll take it!

Meanwhile, Hobbs adjusts his coverage with the pre-snap motion, recognizing that he’s responsible for the outside slot receiver (or #2) now. Once he sees the short route, he crashes on it and is alert enough to find the ball in the air and capitalize off Spillane’s tip. Finally, Hobbs has a great run back to set the offense up in scoring position.