Andy Reid vs Rob Leonard
For the last 13 years, the Raiders have been tormented by the offense and play calling of Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Reid and the Chiefs have been to the Super Bowl five times, winning three. Making them the team of the late 2o-teens and early 2020’s. Additionally, winning nine straight division crowns.
Reid has been game-planning his players for career days for nearly 30 years. We’ve seen shovel passes, ring around the rosie, fly sweeps and screens. All kinds
of disrespectful plays that show a lack of regard for the rules of defenses. He’s had to do some of his best work lately with less talented players and aging stars on the roster. This week, Reid will need to be at his very best if he hopes to avoid getting shut out in the clutch, like Kellen Moore did on Sunday.
Rob Leonard has done amazing things in a short amount of time for the Raiders defense. He’s devised ways to engineer turnovers, attack offenses with proper timing and out-coach opposing offenses. Designing schemes to place players in positions to do what they do best when called on. Through three games, his defense has yet to surrender a fourth-quarter point, often making offenses look foolish.
The mighty Raiders defense is ranked first in pressure rate (50%), turnovers (9), forced fumbles (10) and interceptions (4). They are tied for fourth with 10 sacks, ranked fifth with 41 total pressures all while blitzing only 25% of pass plays. Leonard’s unit is playing team defense; communicating, doing things the Raiders haven’t seen in decades, if ever.
Spags vs Klint
Steve Spagnuolo, Chiefs defensive coordinator, has been a premier defensive mind with his exotic blitz packages for decades. He has developed elite-level talents and his defenses have, in fact, won championships in multiple locations. For the seven years he has coordinated defense in Kansas City, he has left Raiders’ offenses seeing red.
Screwing up pre-snap reads with disguised alignments, soft-shoeing receivers (playing man coverage at zone depths), and bringing blitzes from the second and third levels. These were just a few of the many tricks used to completely ground opposing passing games. Rushing attacks have been rendered stationary with run blitzes and the fundamentals he coaches up. and and too much laughing at the Raiders futility. That stops this year.
Klint Kubiak, the Raiders head coach and play caller, isn’t accepting flowers after three weeks. Winning isn’t foreign to Kubiak; last season he and the Seattle Seahawks offense won the Super Bowl with Sam Darnold under center. Kubiak has proven to be one heck of a play caller and an even better play designer. His attention to detail, game plan preparation and in-game adjustments have the Raiders offense ranked seventh in scoring offense and EPA per play.
Kubiak has been getting it done the old-fashioned way, with multiple tight end sets, a fullback and a run-heavy approach. Impressively, he is getting production from practice squad players in the red zone, stacking up 29.3 points per game and looking unbeatable with maximum efficiency. Doing it with the steely reserve of someone who has been there before. When adversity struck in a hostile environment, down 11 points, his team proceeded to score 19 straight points through the end of the third quarter until it was all over.
