Rattling Raiders QB Derek Carr will be focus for Chiefs’ Dee Ford
A month-and-a-half ago, Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden and quarterback Derek Carr looked to be at odds when cameras caught a heated sideline exchange between the two frustrated faces of that franchise during a game against the Arizona Cardinals.
From afar, they looked one sternly worded phrase away from getting nose to nose in the posture of combatants at a weigh-in leading up to a boxing or mixed martial arts match.
In recent weeks, the Raiders seem to have found their footing on offense. They’ve averaged 25 points per game in their past four games, and they’ve won two of their past three games. Carr has completed 69 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and no interceptions during that same stretch.
The Chiefs (11-4) will take the field against their bitter rivals the Raiders (4-11) at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. The Chiefs are one win away from securing their third consecutive AFC West title as well as the top seed and highly coveted homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Things are apparently operating much more smoothly for the Carr-Gruden marriage, and Chiefs outside linebacker Dee Ford and his cohorts on defense simply can’t have that. Eliciting panic and paranoia from opponents while applying pressure and wreaking havoc on an offense — that’s more their style.
“We have an ultimate goal in mind, and we really want to get there,” Ford said on Friday. “When you speak on pressuring the quarterback, I’m into that. I’m into that, you know what I mean. That’s what we do. Sacks are going to come, but at key times of the game if the ball is going to come out quick — all we can do is disrupt that throw.”
Ford, who has collected a career-high 12 sacks this season and earned his first Pro Bowl selection, held court in the locker room and explained to reporters that the goal for himself and his fellow outside linebacker Justin Houston isn’t sacks.
Their aim has more to do with making life miserable for the quarterback than anything else.
“Obviously, you want the sack, but you’re not going to get a sack every play,” Ford said. “You can’t rush with the mentality that I want a sack every play because you could be hurting the defense. So getting pressure on the quarterback is disrupting the timing of his throws — he can’t step through on certain throws. That takes different types of rushes and you knowing how to do that every play.”
The Chiefs defense has given up points and yards by the bushel this season — fourth most points allowed (28.8 per game) and the second most yards (413.1) — but they’ve consistently pressured the quarterback.
Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones leads the AFC with 15.5 sacks, and he continues his NFL-record sack streak with 11 consecutive games with at least one sack, but he’s not a solo act. The Chiefs’ 49 sacks ranked second in the NFL, one behind the Minnesota Vikings entering the weekend.
Ford and Houston accounted for 19.5 of those despite Houston having missed four games with a hamstring injury.
“(We see) the quarterback getting rid of the ball quicker and getting off of his spot, and not just our outside guys but our inside guys are doing a great job,” Chiefs outside linebackers coach Mike Smith said.
“The ball comes out quick these days, especially against us. It’s almost record timing every time we play them. Then they’re adding chips with a tight end, running back, now you’re keeping guys in, so it affects an offense. They have to prepare every week for what we have.”
Smith claimed he didn’t even know how many sacks either Ford or Houston had. Instead, he said, he looks for one metric every week to measure pass-rush productivity. Statistical analysis coordinator Mike Frazier compiles hurries, hits and sacks (with the number of snaps) for all rushers in the NFL.
Smith commits those numbers to memory each week, calling them “the most important thing” he looks at from a pass-rush standpoint. Ford (5.0 per game), and Houston (4.1 per game) ranked among the top five in the NFL in that category, according to Smith.
The Raiders run Gruden’s version of the West Coast offense, a system largely reliant on rhythm and timing. Carr has the league’s longest active streak, a club record, of pass attempts without an interception: 325.
While the Chiefs sacked Carr three times and hit him six in their earlier meeting, Carr also completed 29 of 38 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns on his way to his second-highest quarterback rating of the season: 123.2.
Decreasing Carr’s comfort will assuredly rank high on the Chiefs’ list of goals for Sunday. For Ford, Smith’s focus on pass rush productivity hits home because it directly relates to how the defense has affected the quarterback which in turn impacts their ability to win games.
“I can carry individual stats with me when I’m done, but what we do as a team — that stands forever,” Ford said.
This story was originally published December 28, 2018 at 6:56 PM.
