Soon after he was hired by the Raiders, head coach Jon Gruden picked up the phone and made official the offer that he had extended to Paul Guenther during an earlier conversation to be the team’s defensive coordinator. Therefore, it’s understandable that Gruden has been extra patient as Guenther struggles to recapture the success he
Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther yet to receive passing grade
I found this interesting, these are from tweets from Josh Dubow:
According to Over The Cap, here are #Raiders ranks in cap money spent on offense and defense from 2017-20:
2017: 2nd most on offense, 23rd on defense
2018: 2nd on offense, 31st on defense
2019: 6th on offense, 31st on defense
2020: 2nd on offense, 15th on defense
And here are where the #Raiders ranked in scoring on offense and defense those years:
2017: 23rd O, 20th D
2018: 28th O, 32nd D
2019: 24th O, 24th D
For those who prefer @fboustiders DVOA:
2017: 13th O, 29th D
2018: 25th O, 30th D
2019: 9th O, 31st D
Based on these numbers, the offense should have been much better at keeping the defense off the field. Guenther takes a ton of grief, but based on these numbers (and these numbers alone), Gruden doesn’t seem to be carrying his weight, either despite having considerably more talent to work with.
That said, the coaches appear to finally have most of what they want on the roster. Gotta get the Wins, no other stat really matters.
Yes, those are illuminating stats, courtesy of Josh. It’s why I pointed out that Gruden and Mayock committed more than they did the past two seasons this offseason. Also, it drives home the point why Derek Carr hasn’t achieved at an acceptable level. He is being paid $25 million per season, on average, to help overcome, as you say, defensive shortcomings, Michelle.
Overcoming “defensive shortcomings” makes it sound like the Raider D has been adequate in some ways. It hasn’t. Not even close. Plenty of articles calling out Carr, let’s leave him out of this one.
Just my opinion but anyone who thinks Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, etc. would be winning lots of games with the Raider D of the past 6 years is delusional.
To be fair, MadStork, the defense did make plays last season that gave the ball back to the offense which then went three and out. You are right, the defense was not very good, but they had moments. When the defensive side of the ball is THAT BAD, the other phases need to do more.
I would hazard a guess that Tom Brady/Bill Belichick and Patrick Mahomes/Andy Reid would win more games than the Raiders offense with the Raider D of the past 6 years.
Dare I say Belichick/Carr and Reid/Carr would have won more games in the past 6 years too?
Marinelli is the defensive coordinator in waiting, if Guenther doesn’t get results.