Best Unit for the Raiders is Flying Under the Radar

The Las Vegas Raiders defense has dealt with injuries all season. It has not stopped them from being the best unit for the Silver and Black.

Oct 20, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Nate Hobbs (39) celebrates intercepting a Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (not pictured) pass during the third quarter at SoFi Stadium. Left is Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Jakorian Bennett (0), right is defensive end Maxx Crosby (98). Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

With all the recent changes with the Las Vegas Raiders, all the talk has been about the offense. But how does one forget about the best unit of the Raiders so far? Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and his defense is flying way under the radar.

Since becoming the Raiders defensive signal caller, Graham has made the Raiders defense better each year.

The way Graham has them playing considering all he has been dealt, is not common.

Early on in the season, the Raiders did not just lose any defensive player to injuries, but key starting players on the defensive side of the ball. The Raiders have lost their starting safety, defensive end, and defensive tackle all before the second half of the season.

Our Hondo Carpenter and Ezekiel Trezevant talked about the Raiders defense on a recent episode of the "Las Vegas Raiders Insider Podcast."

"Patrick Graham. This is a guy whose defense you know has not gotten a lot of help from the offense. It has been battered, with major massive injuries at every level," said Carpenter. "When you look at Christan [Wilkins] then you turn around and you look at Marcus Epps, [Malcolm] Koonce. I mean just injuries. This guy has done an under-the-radar job. But as usual a good job."

"I like the fact that Patrick to my knowledge, he has never once even alluded to an excuse of any kind because of the injuries," said Trezevant. "In my opinion there is excuses and then there are legitimate reasons why something is not going the way that you thought it was going to go. And when you lose your 100-million-dollar defensive tackle, when you lose your safety, you lose your starting defensive end. Go down the line, Divine Deablo missed some time, right? They are not just losing pieces that you can easily replace. They are losing their biggest and most important people. That is already a big deal, but it becomes a bigger deal when you lack the depth that the Raiders lack ... Patrick Graham has a tall task, but it seems like the defense answers the call almost every time, you would reasonably expect them to answer."

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