Few teams have dialed up the pressure over the first two games of this season better than the Raiders. In the opener, they were in the Ravens’ backfield seemingly all day. Their highest pressure rate in any game in five years according to Next Gen Stats.
The #Raiders pressured Lamar Jackson on 54.5% of his dropbacks tonight (18 pressures on 33 dropbacks), their highest team pressure in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).#BALvsLV | #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/K4CCzz54Su
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 14, 2021
Those pressure numbers yielded three sacks and numerous QB hits. The sack leader in the opener was Crosby with two. Carl Nassib had the other while Yannick Ngakoue made a significant impact in the pass rush as well.
Crosby and company didn’t slow down last week against the Steelers either. Crosby added five more QB hits while defensive tackle Solomon Thomas got into the act with his first-ever two-sack performance.
This week the Raiders face the Dolphins and based on what we’ve seen from them the first two games, the Raiders pass rushers have got to be smelling blood in the water.
Only two teams have allowed QB pressure on more than 50% of their dropbacks through Week 2, per @PFF:
New York Jets (52%)
Miami Dolphins (55%)— Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) September 21, 2021
No team over the first two weeks of this season has allowed more pressure than the Dolphins, according to Pro Football Focus. At 55%, that’s even higher than the Raiders had in the opener when they looked like they were living in the Ravens’ backfield.
The Dolphins have had two different quarterbacks and the result is the same. Last week Tua Tagovailoa played just nine snaps and was sacked twice. Backup QB Jacoby Brissett played the rest of the way and he was sacked four times. With the two times Tua was sacked in the opener against the Patriots, that makes eight sacks on Dolphins’ QB’s already.
All this could make for a big day for Raiders pass rushers.
