Kubiak Stands Behind Defensive Coordinator As Struggles Continue

The Las Vegas Raiders can’t stop anyone and they give up touchdowns in waves, but that didn’t stop coach Klint Kubiak from giving the dreaded vote of confidence to defensive coordinator Rob Leonard, according to a report from Ryan McFadden of ESPN.

Kubiak’s initial comments after the Raiders’ 38-17 shellacking at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday weren’t encouraging, but it didn’t take long after that for him to come to Leonard’s defense. The coach said he sees the Raiders doing the things the coach said they were going to do, but doing them better. 

He added that “the world wants someone’s head on a platter” every time things don’t go right, which is true to some extent. But there’s a big different between things not going right and putting a non-competitive defense on the field, and Leonard has been doing the latter after a strong 3-0 start that looked like a possible complete turnaround. 

The metrics and stats since then have been abysmal, and that might be kind. The Raiders are near the bottom of the NFL in nearly every statistical category, with McFadden quoting Las Vegas  as being last in points allowed (35.7 per game), rushing yards allowed (168.7) and defensive efficiency (17.54). The Raiders are 17th in pressures (63) and tied for 29th in sacks (9).

It’s not hard to see what’s happening here. Leonard supposedly blew Kubiak away in his initial interview, which led the new coach to promote him from defensive line coach to coordinator. 

Leonard preached having an attacking defense focused on being physical and forcing turnovers, but that means gambling at times, and once opponents figured out the approach and saw what was happening on tape, they were able to counter by focusing on ball protection while exploiting mismatches. 

There are plenty of those to go around, too. The Raiders have a mostly-young defense with players who don’t have the experience to implement Leonard’s approach, and some of the veterans have underperformed badly as well. 

The biggest disappointment lately has been cornerback Eric Stokes, who was exposed badly by the New York Jets and had his troubles against the Niners, too. Edge rusher Kwity Paye has been mostly invisible after a solid start, and some of the big runs against the Raiders have happened when he failed to set the edge properly. 

Kubiak said he’s seen Leonard’s approach work, but “just not for four quarters.” That needs to happen soon, or Kubiak will almost certainly make a change after the season.