The Raiders have been one of the NFL’s biggest stories through the first two weeks of the season, and while head coach Klint Kubiak has done a remarkable job resurrecting the offense, his defense is giving up only 13.5 points per game and is tied with the Vikings and Dolphins for the league lead in sacks (8).
From the outside, it looked like a gamble when Kubiak hired Rob Leonard to be his defensive coordinator. The two had no history together, and Leonard had no experience as a defensive coordinator.
But through two games, Leonard has exceeding expectations, probably even within the organization, and the first-year defensive coordinator seems to have cracked the code to creating pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Going into the season, just about every insider covering the team said they expected Leonard to blitz at a higher rate than previous coordinators, and Jesse Merrick talked about that dynamic on his podcast in July.
“I think we see them bring the heat next year and blitz over 30 percent of the time,” Merrick said on his Silver & Black Sports Network podcast.
“Here’s the rationale… We know the background on Leonard in terms of learning from guys like Steve Spagnuolo, Brian Flores, Patrick Graham, and Mike McDonald. Like I’ve said on the show, I think we see pieces of each of those guys, but in particular, Flores and Spagnuolo are known for blitzing a ton,” Merrick continued.
“Last year, the Vikings led the league in blitz rate at 48 percent, and the Chiefs were fourth in the league at 31.4 percent. For reference, the Raiders’ blitz rate was 21.7 percent last year. So, I’m calling for a jump of about 9 percent. We’re approaching the 10 percent jump range there, which would put the Raiders in the top six or seven in the league in blitzing very likely next season.”
Raiders pressuring QBs without excessive blitzing…
There are still 15 weeks left in the season for Leonard to adjust his approach, but so far, the Raiders are near the bottom of the NFL in blitz rate and as league analyst Jon Ledyard pointed out this week, Leonard’s formula hasn’t necessarily been getting to the quarterback quicker.
From his Substack column on Wednesday, Ledyard explained how the Raiders’ coverage schemes deserve a lot of credit…
“The Raiders are currently first in the NFL in pressure rate per Next Gen Stats. And they are doing it despite being just 24th in blitz rate (23.5 percent)! Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard doesn’t blitz often, but when he does he makes it count. Per Sumer Sports, the Raiders are currently generating the highest rate of pressure in the NFL on blitzes, even above the Vikings…
One might expect that Maxx Crosby has simply dominated, and that’s how we got here. Crosby has been excellent, but the reasons for the Raiders defensive resurgence go beyond his play. Leonard has some very cool designs in his pressures that are confusing protections and confusing quarterbacks. Let’s look at an example or two of both situations.
The Raiders have done lots of things to disrupt timing, change up coverages and force quarterbacks to hold the ball longer than they want to. Las Vegas is first in pressure rate as previously mentioned, but they are only 25th in time to pressure this season. Substantial credit belongs to their coverage schemes for how they’ve forced turn-downs and caused quarterbacks to double-clutch more than they want to. Two weeks into the season, only three defenses have a slower time to throw against them than the Raiders do.”
Narratives can change quickly in the NFL, but Kubiak’s decision to take a chance on the 41-year-old Leonard is looking like one of his best decisions of the offseason.
Looking ahead, the Raiders face some of the better offenses in the league next month, so it will be interesting to what Leonard’s defense is able to do against the Chiefs, Patriots, Bills and Rams in October.
x: @raidersbeat