Pete Carroll is known for his defense. While he never called plays as the Seahawks head coach, Carroll was the mastermind behind the Legion of Boom defense, which brilliantly adapted Monte Kiffin’s Tampa 2 scheme to the modern day league. Aided by generational talents like Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, and others, Carroll built a dominant team on the strength of his defense.
So when the 74-year old coach came out of quasi-retirement to coach the Raiders, fans of the silver and black felt they knew what to expect on defense. Then Carroll threw them a curveball, opting to retain defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who had previously never worked alongside Carroll.
The move made Graham a rarity, as he’s now survived through two different coaching staff upheavals. Initially brought in by Josh McDaniels, Graham was retained when interim head coach Antonio Pierce got the full time job. And when Pierce was replaced by Carroll, Graham looked to be on his way out until the surprise decision.
Graham cut his teeth in the school of a very different defensive wiz in Bill Belichick. He spent seven seasons as an assistant for the Patriots, and later spent a year as the Dolphins defensive coordinator under Brian Flores, also a Belichick acolyte. He also had stints as a coordinator for Joe Judge’s Giants and, as mentioned, McDaniels’ Raiders, with both Judge and McDaniels also hailing from the Belichick coaching tree.
That background informs much of Graham’s own philosophy, which is to truly be multiple. Lots of defensive coaches talk about being multiple and tailoring their scheme to fit their personnel, but Graham has proven to be fairly agnostic when it comes to specific tendencies as a play-caller.
The one calling card for Graham that has remained constant is his schematic complexity, or rather, the appearance of complexity. Graham has oscillated between being blitz-heavy and not, zone-heavy and not, and changes up just about everything else you could think of. But his defenses always make it intellectually challenging for the offense, whether it’s disguised coverages or simulated pressures or well-timed blitzes. Graham’s MO on a fundamental level is to keep you guessing at every turn.
That’s very different from Carroll’s approach, which effectively boiled down to alternating between Cover 1 and Cover 3 and picking their moments to blitz. Carroll’s philosophy was similar to that of Matt Eberflus, himself a Tampa 2 disciple, in that he wants his players to do less thinking and more flying around the field.
Graham spoke to that influence from Carroll earlier this year, revealing how his new head coach is trying to simplify things defensively.
“If one thing I’ve learned from Coach, it’s to make sure to simplify the message and just keep giving it to them. It doesn’t have to be 20 buzz words, or some big paragraph or anything. We’ve got to play with great effort. We’re building the foundation for being a physical team. We’ve got to play smart.
“So, those are the things in terms of what we want the defense to look like, and then make the offense earn it. No easy plays, we’ve got to take away seams, got to take away posts. Can’t let them run the ball around the edge.”
So far this season, it’s been a mixed bag. The Raiders are 19th in EPA/play allowed, 16th in success rate, and 11th in defensive DVOA. They’re 30th in pressure rate despite having Maxx Crosby on the defensive line, and the only defense giving up more yards of separation at the catch is, well, the Cowboys.
That said, the Raiders are also one of the best in the league in limiting yards after the catch, and they’re third in both percent of runs stuffed and in yards before contact per attempt. Of course, it doesn’t help that they’re usually playing under severe pressure due to a Raiders offense that’s been near the bottom of the league in virtually every metric.
Put another way, the Raiders have held their opponent to 20 or fewer points in four of their five games this year. They’ve twice given up 40 points, both times coming on the road. In short, this is a defense that has flashed promise but they’re unproven against the league’s elite offenses.
It’s been a minute since the Cowboys offense looked elite, but we know they have the weapons and the potential to eat up a defense like this one. Graham will surely throw the kitchen sink at Dak Prescott, but it may not be enough.
