The Las Vegas Raiders were able to do something no one thought they could in 2023 - they had a top-five defense after years of having a bottom-five unit on that side of the ball. What happened to make the defense flip, though? Well, a few things.
Firstly, Patrick Graham, one of the league's better defensive coordinators, coordinates the defense. However, Josh McDaniels controlled him a bit, even on that side of the ball. It was all up from there once McDaniels was fired, and Graham could run his defense as he wanted.
When that happened, the defense started going off at all three levels. The other reason is that the Raiders established a camaraderie and chemistry between themselves, especially on the defensive line.
"We all were so tight-knit, and we did everything together," Maxx Crosby said on his podcast The Rush. "We had our D-Line dinners every Thursday. It was something we focused on from day one; we were going to be tight-knit. We're going to get to know each other, we're going to spend time with each other, and the s--- was competitive every single day in everything we did.
"We would be going back and forth, arguing, whatever, but at the end of the day, we built that trust. I feel like that took our D-Line to a whole other level, and people got to see that on Sunday."
At the beginning of the season, it felt like Crosby was the only one on the defensive line doing anything. He was dominant in the run-and-pass game, yet they were still losing games because of both the defense and the offense. When the locker room got better because of Josh McDaniels's firing, the chemistry on the defense also got better, which means the chemistry of the defensive line got better.
When they beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day. You could tell they were playing with a chemistry that is hard to find. They were having fun and playing together. The best part, though, is that they are bringing back pretty much the same defensive line for next year but adding a top-five defensive tackle in the league in Christian Wilkins. It's going to get scary.
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