ALAMEDA – The Raiders have 13 sacks through seven games. That matches their total from the entire 2018 season.
Even those sipping glasses half to admit that's more about 2018 ineptitude than 2019's impressive play, though it's clear the Raiders are doing better up front despite the lack of a truly dominant player coming hot off the edge. They've been better of late, with eight sacks in their last three games.
"I just think we continue to push the pocket," defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. "There are times you can take chances in the pass rush and there is times where you got to kind of be disciplined in there depending on who you are playing and what the coverage structure is behind it, so I just think the more they understand that within each game plan, the better off we are going to be."
The Raider are still coming together as a defensive front, rotating heavily at all positions. Interior lineman Johnathan Hankins and fourth-round end Maxx Crosby have played the most, but everyone gets a crack at the quarterback.
Benson Mayowa leads the team with 5.5 sacks – yeah, that's equal to Khalil Mack – despite having the fewest opportunities of anyone heavily involved in the rotation. He has been efficient in six games – he was a surprise inactive for a Week 4 win over Indianapolis – with 15 pressures in 98 pass-rush snaps.
"He has been efficient," Guenther said. "That's the reason kind of why we brought him in here. We knew that he could rush the passer. You could see that early on in Arizona [in 2018]. He had a real strong start last year and then the guy came back, and he didn't play as much, so we are going to need him a lot on third downs this week for sure."
The Raiders have a golden opportunity to pressure Detroit Lions pocket passer Matt Stafford on Sunday at Oakland Coliseum. Facing such a player is welcome after dealing with mobile quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and DeShaun Watson in consecutive weeks, but Stafford's savvy and gets the ball out. The Lions have only allowed 16 all year.
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Despite improved sack totals, the Raiders still rank just 25th overall in that category. They're around the quarterback more thanks to some young guys finding form.
While Clelin Ferrell has struggled to win consistently and Arden Key must finish sacks, Crosby has been a bright spot on the line in the run and pass.
"His signature is effort," head coach Jon Gruden said. "Not many guys in the league play that hard, that long. There's a great player in Houston, J.J. Watt. I'm not comparing him to Watt, but I'm just telling you Watt plays with incredible down-to-down effort. It's amazing. It's his stamina, it's his conditioning and those are things that we love about Crosby. He plays as hard as he can play, and he can play a long time at that speed. And that's one of the reasons why he's getting to the quarterback. We'd like to see him get the quarterback down more and I think he will, but it's his stamina and his effort right now that is his strength and calling card and as he continues to improve his arsenal he's going to be a good player for the Raiders."
