Despite Performances, Del Rio Believes in Raiders Defense

The Raiders defense struggled mightily at times in 2016, despite the franchise making the playoffs. So one of the focuses of the offseason was to bring in more help.

Yet as Oakland approaches its final exhibition game of this summer Thursday night vs. the Seattle Seahawks, it’s hard to judge if improvements have been made. Preseason games are a time for defensive units to play simple, vanilla schemes. And, many of the top performers get limited snaps. Top draft picks Gareon Conley (cornerback) and Obi Melifonwu (safety), for instance, have gotten little to no playing time and stars such as Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin rarely see the field.

Yet Raiders fans have voiced concern on social media this summer about the Raiders defense. Tweeted one fan Wednesday morning: “Fire the buffoon known as Ken Norton Jr.!”

For many, the Raiders secondary continues to show its flaws and they worry that coordinator Norton will make the same mistakes in 2017 that he made in 2016.

Head coach Jack Del Rio, however, believes in what the Raiders are doing on defense. Though opposing starting quarterbacks have had great success over the first half of the first three summer games – completing more than 76 percent of their passes – Del Rio has confidence that Norton and his staff and players will be ready to be better for Game 1 on Sept. 10 vs. the Titans.

“I feel really good about the work we put in,” Del Rio told Jerry McDonald of the Bay Area News Group. “I think structure-wise and system-wise and technique and fundamental-wise … there’s been a lot of bright spots for us. I know people want to look at numbers and specific things. For us, we’re looking at the development, the different packages and personnel and how we use them. I feel like we’ve made significant progress over the past several months.”

The secondary certainly could use a boost, and it may get it with the return to practice of Conley. So far, cornerbacks Sean Smith and TJ Carrie have been inconsistent and David Amerson is in the NFL concussion protocol after taking a hit to his head vs. the Cowboys this past weekend.