The outlook was looking grim for the Las Vegas Raiders in their Week 3 matchup against the New Orleans Saints. The Raiders began the fourth quarter down by five, and the Saints had the ball in scoring territory with about 13 minutes left on the clock.
Then, defensive end Malcolm Koonce came up with a big strip-sack that led to a Las Vegas touchdown and a one-point lead after a failed two-point conversion. On the next possession, Koonce had a quarterback hit that resulted in New Orleans’ quarterback Tyler
Shough’s pass floating up in the air and falling into the arms of cornerback Hezekiah Masses for another turnover. That set up an additional Silver and Black touchdown and what would be the final score in the 35-27 victory.
In total, the edge rusher left the Big Easy with six pressures on 21 pass-rush snaps to earn the second-highest Week 3 pass-rush grade (pre-Monday Night Football, 91.6) at his position, per Pro Football Focus. He also had a pair of ‘defensive stops’ against the run, including stuffing an Alvin Kamara rush right at the line of scrimmage in the final frame, to be more than worthy of this week’s breakdown.
While Koonce made his biggest impact as a pass-rusher last Sunday, he had a handful of quality reps against the run, too. This first clip doesn’t come from the fourth quarter, but it does serve as an example of how he affected New Orleans’ running game.
The Saints come out in an I-formation with the tight end on the short side of the field. With Kwity Paye not being 100 percent while battling an illness in the days before the game, the Raiders were pretty consistent about putting Maxx Crosby on the strong side. New Orleans likely picked up on that and wanted to run at Koonce since he’s known as more of a pass-rusher, hence the formation.
On top of that, the offense motions a wide receiver across the formation to get the linebackers to flow away from the play call, as they run inside zone to the weak side. That gets Nakobe Dean out of the B-gap, and the receiver in a reduced split is able to get inside positioning or cut off Taron Johnson (the nickelback), creating a rushing lane for the running back.
However, Koonce does a great job of keeping his hands tight at the point of attack to get them on the left tackle’s chest. Then, he manages to get extension on the block with a long arm to cross the tackle’s face and make the play in the B-gap. While the Saints gain four yards on this play, it could have been much worse with no immediate defenders in the rushing lane.
Here’s a look at the run stop against Kamara referenced above, and it’s a similar rep to the one we just dove into.
The Saints are in the shotgun this time, and while he’s in a wide receiver stance, they put tight end Noah Fant on the short side of the field to dictate where Crosby lines up and run away from Crosby. Also, they’re running inside zone again, where Koonce is on the front side of the play and takes on a base block from the left tackle.
While his hands aren’t as tight at the point of attack this time, I’ve been watching the 2021 third-round pick for his entire career and can’t remember a more violent or just overall better block shed from him. He uses his inside hand to execute a hump move and beat the tackle across the tackle’s face again, winning cleanly and meeting Kamara in the hole for no gain on third and one.
Also, this was with about three minutes to go and the Raiders protecting an eight-point lead, and the very next play was Jermey Chinn’s strip sack that led to a turnover.
Moving onto Koonce’s pass-rush reps, we’re going to step outside of the fourth quarter again, diving into another impactful play that came late in the third quarter.
It’s third and 10, and Shough has been the best deep-ball thrower in the NFL to begin the season. So, Kellen Moore dials up a shot play, and wide receiver Devaugh Vele has a step on Johnson.
Meanwhile, Rob Leonard tries to scheme up a one-on-one opportunity for Crosby by running a simulated pressure out of a five-man front, where three down linemen are on Crosby’s side of the line. However, the Saints weren’t allowing him to have those opportunities, motioning the tight end inside to chip block Crosby before releasing on a flat route.
The problem with that is it leaves their backup left tackle isolated against Koonce, with Dean blitzing and Kwity Pay dropping into coverage on the other side of the line. This is a situation where Koonce has to win his one-on-one matchup, especially against a shot play from the offense, and he does by turning speed into power to get pressure.
Also, Dean does a great job of beating the running back to collapse the pocket. With two pass rushers at his feet, Shough can’t quite finish his throw and leaves it a little bit behind Vele, inviting Johnson back into the play to break up the pass for the third-down stop.
This time, Leonard schemes up a one-on-one opportunity for Koonce, and the pass-rusher justifies the coach’s decision/play call.
The Raiders come out in a six-man front with linebackers Quay Walker and Dean walked up on the line of scrimmage. They have four pass rush threats on the right side of the line, forcing four out of five offensive linemen to slide right while the running back inserts into the B-gap to pick up Dean. That isolates the left tackle, who is filling in after starter Kelvin Banks suffered an injury the week before, against Koonce.
Post-snap, Walker and Dean blitz, while the two defensive tackles (Tonka Hemingway and Adam Butler) drop into coverage and Johnson is the free rusher in the B-gap. Additionally, Koonce gets a quick win with a cross-chop and shows off his bend to take an efficient path to the quarterback, nailing Shough from behind as Shough rears back to throw for the sack fumble.
We also found out that Crosby likely didn’t play much baseball growing up (or at least wasn’t a good infielder) as he struggles to pick up the fumble! But hey, no harm, no foul, as he still recovers for the turnover off an excellent rep from his running mate.
We’ll wrap up with the pressure to interception that led to Vegas’ eight-point lead, and I included the sideline angle to highlight a good rep from Masses, too.
Leonard does a good job of disguising the coverage by having Johnson follow Chris Olave across the formation when Olave motions, giving the indication they defense is playing man. Additionally, the Raiders are in a single-high or Cover 1 look pre-snap. However, they rotate into Cover 2 post-snap, where Johnson bluffs being the Tampa droper to get the quarterback to come off the seam route while the safeties widen into the deep halves.
Meanwhile, Masses gets a quick jam on the receiver to force the receiver wide and disrupt the timing of the route. Additionally, he recognizes that there are no threats in the flat and continues to sink to help defend against a hole shot. Then, he simply tracks and adjusts to the ball in the air, coming down with the pick. However, if he’s going to get all of these interceptions, he might need to get with the running backs and work on some ball security!
The breakdown in the trenches is pretty simple. Koonce gets another one-on-one opportunity against the backup left tackle with the five-man front and three down linemen on his side of the line. Also, this is where playing opposite Crosby helps, as the back chips Crosby when Dean drops into coverage. Finally, Koonce does an excellent job of collapsing the pocket and winning with a long-arm move, getting a quarterback hit as Shough lets the ball go to give Masses the opportunity for the interception.
Obviously, the big factor moving forward is if the six-year veteran has actually turned the corner or was just able to take advantage of going up against a backup tackle. That remains to be seen, but he did show signs of getting back to full health in the first two weeks of the season with five pressures and 1.5 sacks in those contests combined. He was just on a different level in New Orleans.
