Familiar problems haunt Raiders defense despite coaching change

Rod Marinelli made his debut as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator Thursday against the Los Angeles Chargers.

For much of the night, it looked like the same unit that got Paul Guenther fired Sunday.

Blown coverages and penalties again were the norm of the depleted Raiders’ defense, but it had one final chance to make a stop and save its season.

It didn’t happen.

Rookie quarterback Justin Herbert led the Chargers down the field and scored on a 1-yard sneak late in overtime to give them a 30-27 victory at Allegiant Stadium.

The game-winning drive was aided by the same self-inflicted wounds that have plagued the Raiders’ defense all season and has them all but out of the AFC playoff race.

Jalen Guyton got Keisean Nixon, who was pressed into extended duty at cornerback with Damon Arnette and Nevin Lawson out for the game, to bite on a route and found himself all alone in the middle of the field for a 53-yard completion to the 2-yard line. The big play came one snap after Trayvon Mullen committed his fourth penalty of the game, and third pass interference, to jump-start the drive.

Mullen was called for 58 yards in penalties, including a pass interference and personal foul on the same play in the third quarter.

“I think the penalties, obviously, we have to eliminate,” coach Jon Gruden said of Mullen’s play. “They have a lot of good receivers. They’ve done a nice job collecting those athletes there, and they made some plays. But the penalties were very hurtful. We’ve got to clean it up, no doubt.”

Marinelli, also the defensive line coach, didn’t have much time to put his stamp on the defense after getting promoted shortly after Sunday’s 44-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

He also had to deal with a defense missing four starters and two other key role players Thursday.

But Gruden wasn’t interested in making excuses for his 7-7 team.

“I keep everything in mind, but I have a one-track mind,” he said. “That involves winning. This is going to help us in some ways, but it’s really painful right now to lose. We’ve had a lot of tight games go down to the buzzer, and this one was tough.”

It wasn’t all bad for the defense. After allowing two consecutive opponents to rush for more than 200 yards, Los Angeles managed just 96 yards on 29 carries for a 3.3-yard average.

The Raiders also came up with a rare sack in a key moment when Kendal Vickers chased down Herbert on a third-down play late in the fourth quarter to make the Chargers kick a longer field goal, which Michael Badgley missed.

It was their only sack, a deficiency that has showed up far too often as the team languishes near the bottom of that category again.

The lack of pressure helped the Chargers go 7 of 12 on third downs, as Herbert often had time to survey the field and find wide-open receivers.

“When you make mistakes and don’t get in the quarterback’s face, these guys are going to find open receivers and make you pay,” Gruden said.

Herbert did that far too often as he bounced back from a bit of a slump. In the previous three games, he had dipped to 5.15 yards per attempt. He was at 9.3 on Thursday.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.