Week Seven: Potential Matchups for the Raiders Defense

The Las Vegas Raiders defense has a chance to rebound on Sunday.

The Las Vegas Raiders have lost two games this season from struggling to maintain the lead and it has put the team in a difficult situation starting the season 1-4.

This Sunday, they are going against the Houston Texans (1-3-1), who are also coming off a bye week.

It comes to no surprise that the rebuilding Texans are last in the NFL and looking to lock the first overall pick, but for the Raiders, this season has been a bit more of a disappointment.

If the season were to end today, they would have the second overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft.

I don’t think that was the expectation coming into the season and I also believe that is not the end goal this season.

So in order to turn things around the Raiders defense will need to do a couple things to help the team pick up their second win of the season on Sunday.

Red Zone Defense: The Raiders rank dead last in this category. From the 17 trips allowed in the red zone, the defense has allowed 14 touchdowns (82.4 percent).

If the Raiders plan on winning this game, red zone defense will be key as the Texans ranked the 10th best red zone scoring offense (60 percent).

Pass Rush: Aside from defensive end Maxx Crosby’s six sacks, the Raiders pass defense has only generated a pair of sacks by Denzel Perryman and Nate Hobbs.

This can be an opportunity for defensive end Chandler Jones to breakout and pick up his first of many sacks.

The Raiders open up as a seven point favorite for their weekend matchup against the Texans and that game will kick off on Oct. 23 at 1:25 PM PT and can be seen on CBS.

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