Interim Defensive Coordinator Rod Marinelli: What Can He Do?

With Paul Guenther out, Rod Marinelli has taken over as the interim defensive coordinator for the Raiders

Paul Guenther is out and for now, Rod Marinelli is in as interim defensive coordinator.

It was no surprise to me that head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock opted to place Rod Marinelli as the interim defensive coordinator.

Prior to his arrival to Las Vegas, he has served as both the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach over in Dallas.

His defense consistently improved in total ranking every season between 2014 and 2018.

With Marinelli’s last stint with the Cowboys, he helped Dallas to three NFC East titles. He defenses finished top-10 in fewest total yards allowed three times between 2017-2019 and led the league in rushing defense in 2016.

While Marinelli has struggled to coach the Raiders defensive line successfully, especially with sacks, his new role as an interim defensive coordinator will give him more freedom to run the defense to his liking.

Gruden believes this will be a positive move for his defense as well.

“I think he’s one of the great teachers and great motivators and great people that I’ve met in this business,” Gruden said. “He looks forward to adversity, he thrives in it. I think he looks forward to these challenges of building this defense and putting it all together. That’s why we brought him here in the first place. It’ll certainly help if his soldiers get healthy up front, but he has great experience and has a great amount of experience in situations like this.”

With three games left in the regular season, we’ll see what Marinelli can do as interim defensive coordinator during that time.

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