The Raiders defense is rolling right now and a lot of their newfound success is directly related to their improved secondary.
Going into the offseason, all eyes were on Trayvon Mullen and Damon Arnette to elevate Gus Bradley’s defense at cornerback. But Mullen and Arnette have both battled injuries and the Raiders have had to rely on a few new faces in their secondary.
Everyone knows about the resurgence of Casey Hayward, but there has been a new star emerging alongside Hayward in recent weeks.
Brandon Facyson played his first game with the Raiders just two weeks ago in Denver. Against the Broncos, he recorded one pass breakup and the first interception of his career. This week, the Eagles targeted Facyson 9 times (no one wants to throw at Hawyard, apparently) and he gave up a respectable 5 receptions for only 49 yards. Facyson had 3 pass breakups in his second game with the Raiders and was PFF’s highest-graded member of Bradley’s secondary in the game.
There is a lot of football left to play this season, but Facyson also has a lot of football left in his career. He’s only 27 years old and his combination of length, athleticism, and familiarity with Bradley’s system already seems to be paying off. In fact, everyone that the Raiders bring in at cornerback seems to be thriving in Bradley’s scheme.
In a related note, the Raiders also seem to have found a massive coaching upgrade in new defensive backs coach Ron Milus. Bradley and Milus have transformed the Raiders secondary in a matter of months… and resurrected a few players’ careers in the process.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Estos son los Raiders pura sangre no vomo las divas que piden micho dinero y no dan resultado veanlo en la ciudad de los vientos
That’s good to know since when it’s been good, it gets bad. But any way you look at it, it’s still the house that John G built. I think they are on the edge of greatness. But they’ve broken my heart before. Like moving. I do blame the City of Oakland for getting greedy and then they ended up with nothing.
Having a good defensive backfield and poor tackling have a long time problem.
Yes. Bradley has brought in a system that is stable and has brought confidence to the players.
Playoff,GO NATION
No question, there’s marked improvement, but the jury is still out on the secondary and the defense as a whole. The real test will be how the Raiders perform later in November during a 3 week stretch that includes consecutive games against : MaHommes & KC ; Burrow & Cincy & ( 4 days later) Prescott & Dallas . It doesn’t take superior talent to defend against Teddy Bridgewater, Jalen Hurts & Jacoby Brissett. Bottom line: the month of November will be the true test of just exactly how good our defense is.
To be fair the 1st game of the season against Lamar Jackson was a good test right off the bat. And yes we have played two inferior teams the past two weeks but those are still NFL teams that might upset other ones down the road. The defense is still gelling and building good chemistry. Even if we finish top 20 with the way the offense is playing that’s still a win
Good comments….totally agree!
I think, everything that has been going on with Gruden is probably a blessing in disguise. Our defense is getting better. The offense is playing faster. They are coming together to play as a team.
I love what’s going on. I said long before this that Gruden was overrated. The fact the we were a lucky 3-0 covered up his poor coaching. It seems we have better focus, better play calling and better leadership at this point. Let’s hope it continues and Derek Carr came and spoke to my 2015 baseball team that won state and he’s the real deal, on and off the field!! Go Raider Nation!!!
1 reason the DB’s have been so good has been the improvement of the pass rush. The 2 go hand in hand
Don’t forget Nate Hobbs, everyone else in the NFL appears to have been asleep at the wheel