It’s been a difficult year for Pete Carroll and the Raiders, and while the future Hall of Fame head coach has done some things well in his first year with the team, he has also made decisions that have been difficult to explain.
The team’s issues on offense have been well documented, but Carroll’s influence on the defense hasn’t necessarily been a positive development either.
It has been reported that Carroll has tried to blend his defensive scheme to what defensive coordinator Patrick Graham had been running in Las Vegas for the last three years, but the results have been underwhelming through the first 12 weeks of the season.
Proof of Carroll’s influence on the defense is in the numbers and a report this week said the Raiders have run Carroll’s trademark Cover 3 defense on a whopping 55 percent of pass plays in the last six weeks.
The next closest team to the Raiders in terms of Cover 3 use is 11 percent behind the Raiders and Carroll was asked about that dynamic at his Friday press conference.
“There’s still a good amount of Cover 3 played around the league,’ Carroll told Jesse Merrick of the Silver & Black Sports Network.
“We’re just trying to get really good at some basics and some things that we really count on. We mix our variety of things throughout. We don’t want to be really predictable, but yet we also want them to have to beat us. So we’re trying to learn how to play that way.”
In fairness to Carroll, the next closest team to the Raiders in Cover 3 usage is the Carolina Panthers and they have held 3 of their last 6 opponents to 20 points or less and posted wins over the Packers, Falcons and Rams.
Additionally, only three teams in the league have leaned on Cover 3 fewer than 25 percent of their coverage snaps – so Cover 3 is by no means dead in the NFL.
The biggest issue for Carroll is that his team has not been great on defense over the last six weeks, and until the defense shows improvement, it’s going to be hard for Carroll to convince his critics that mixing his scheme with Graham’s is a decision that is going to pay off.
x: @raidersbeat
Kenny Pickett just won the starting job today against the broncos!!!!!!!!!!!
pete wont allow that.. i agree with you but it wont happen.. pete wants to lose out for the top pick and higher picks… playing geno and that horrible defense will pave the way..
Lol. 10 points during garbage time?! I guess he technically WON the gig due to injury, because there is no way Pete benches him handpicked QB.
Special teams still suck and the offense no different. Carroll got to go.