The Raiders took a good amount of criticism in the offseason when they hired Bradley as defensive coordinator. Bradley’s trademark cover-3 scheme isn’t as trendy as it once was in the NFL and very few believed the Raiders could generate enough pass rush to be effective in such a straight-forward defensive scheme.
“They are at the bottom of the barrel [in the AFC West]. Good luck playing cover 3 against Kansas City. They are not going to be anywhere at the top fighting for the division,” ESPN’s Rob Ninkovich said of the Raiders prior to the season.
But 8 games into the season, the Raiders are tied for the AFC West division lead and Bradley’s defense has been a big part of the reason why.
Despite playing cover-3 on a whopping 61 percent of their defensive snaps this year, the Raiders rank top-10 in the league in yards against and top-15 in the league in points against. If anything, the Raiders’ three losses this year have been more related to an offense that has sputtered on occasion – averaging 13.0 points in losses to the Chargers, Bears, and Giants.
According to Pro Football Focus analytics, the Raiders employ the cover-3 at a 15 percent higher rate than the next closest team in the league. There isn’t a defense in the NFL comparable to the Raiders – which is a statement that has been true for years, but for once it can be said as a compliment.
As for the aforementioned comment from Ninkovich…
The Raiders (5-3) host the Chiefs (5-4) this week on Sunday night. The game will have huge AFC West ramifications and it will be interesting to see how Bradley’s defense holds up against a Chiefs offense that hasn’t been as prolific this year, but can still be incredibly explosive.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Ninkovich? Wasn’t he a Patriot?
Garanteef to fail as long as Derek Carr is the qb.He is a proven looser,I keep telling raider fans that until i turn blue in the face,but as usual stupid,ignorant,thieves liars,convicts,never listen,your team wad great in the early 80’s quit living in the pasr,move on from Carr
Question
Did Carr single handily lose the game sunday?But you all will say oh its one game he did bad,in the plyoffs that one game sends you home,if you can actually geto the playoffs,but be prepared for failure,as long as you have Carr considering 90% of the raider fan are used to loosing thats not that bad
If you’re going to call someone stupid, at least I know the difference between loser and looser… #NATION
Ninkovich is a nincompoop.