1 Mistake from Last Season the Raiders Must Eliminate

The Las Vegas Raiders made more than a few offseason changes. However, as the third game of the season approaches, Las Vegas must be sure to stay focused.

Raiders Must Stay Disciplined, Play Complimentary Football

Week 1 gave hope for a new dynamic between the Raiders' offense and defense playing complimentary football.

They have not done so much over the past two seasons and reverted back to their old ways in Week 2, with a solid defensive peformance during a subpar offensive performance.

This is a trend the Raiders must end as soon as possible.

In Week 1, the Raiders dialed up the pressure on Drake Maye. They tried their best to put pressure on Justin Herbert in Week 2, with mixed results. In Week 3, must find a way to successfully get to the quarterback and make plays in the defensive backfield and the run game.

On Thursday, Raiders Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham explained some of the difficulties that comes with trying to stop a solid Commanders offense.

"Well, Coach [Kliff] Kingsbury, he does such a good job of putting, I would say, the intermediate defenders in conflict and the edge players in conflict. So, that's like, when I describe the offense, I'm sitting there, like, 'Listen, you're going to be in the kitchen. If you're a hook player, you're going to be in the kitchen somehow, some way, whether it's eye candy, whether it's a run-pass conflict, whether it's formationally.' So, they do a real good job with that," Graham said.

"And then the fact that they have the young quarterback who is dynamic, but has great poise and great control and can see things out there on the field, or [Marcus] Mariota, who's done it for a long time. And then you add the element of them to be able to move. I mean, then they start to pull those hook players, or they start to pull those edge players. It's just a lot of conflict going on while they have the vertical passing game too. It's just, it's tough, it's tough, it's tough." 

Las Vegas' defense has played well so far this season. The unit has only allowed six combined points in the second half of Week 1 and Week 2. Graham has his defense playing at a high level, whether the Raiders' offense does or not.

Still, the defense can only hold for so long without help from their teammates on offense.