Raiders' Defense Could Build Off Dominant Week 14 Performance

The Las Vegas Raiders' defense exploded last weekend against the Tampa Buccaneers. Could they have a similar performance on Monday night?

Dec 8, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Las Vegas Raiders defensive end K'Lavon Chaisson (44) recovers the fumble against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

The Las Vegas Raiders are last in the league in forced turnovers. However, after entering their matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with only five forced turnovers, the Raiders' defense forced three in that game alone.

Turnovers have been an area the Raiders' defense has struggled in two of the past three seasons. However, against Tampa Bay, something may have clicked for the banged-up Raiders defense.

Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce will not have to wait long to see if their three-turnover game against the Buccaneers was a fluke or not. On Monday night, the Raiders' defense will face Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, who leads the league i turnovers this season.

"Oh it's huge," Pierce said. "I mean, look at last week, down 14-0, then all of a sudden we got an opportunity to come back in, and we do, and we make it a close ball game,” Pierce said. “Each week is different. You can look at that quarterback, but we got to force and we got to take the ball off. We got to go hunt the ball, as Patrick Graham and Rob Ryan talk about all the time, the quarterback is the main one, touches the ball every play. So it's either forced fumbles, batted balls, interceptions, whatever we can do to get the ball off them, that's the emphasis each and every week, but obviously, if there's a particular player that's either leading league or has a high frequency of it, more of an emphasis." 

“Yeah, kind of similar to last year. We were in the same boat last year, before I took over, struggled getting turnovers, and then we had a couple games, and then, boom, five, three, two, one. It just kind of kept happening. But again, it's guys hunting for the ball, right? Having a purpose about it. No different when you tackle, right? Guys can make a tackle to make them go down, or you can tackle to get the ball off of them. And the way our team is going, the way our season is going, we need to get the ball back for our offense. We need to play half-court offense. Give them the ball in short fields to create more scoring opportunities."

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