The Raiders rank dead last in the NFL in total defense through two weeks of the season, giving up a whopping 517.5 yards a game and becoming the first team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to give up more than 500 yards in each of the first two games of the season.
Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. admits the blame falls on his shoulders.
“I’m accountable for it,” Norton said, via the Bay Area News Group. “We’ve got to work harder, work better and we expect to come out of this. I’ve been around a lot of good defenses, a lot of good coaches and a lot of good players and this fits right up there with the good ones. No one said it was going to be easy. You’re going to have adverse times and we’re having those adverse times really reveal us.”
Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio has been a defensive coordinator before, and some have suggested that perhaps he should take over the defensive play calling. Norton acknowledged that Del Rio is the boss and has that authority.
“He’s the head coach. He can do what he wants to do. That’s up to him,” Norton said.
If it comes to that, it wouldn’t speak well for Norton. But if the Raiders keep giving up 500 yards a game, Del Rio has to do something.
