Raiders need to tackle issues on stopping ball carriers

On top of everything else the Raiders did wrong Sunday, they had one of their worst tackling days of the season.

Their 13 missed tackles in a 30-12 loss at Chicago were a glaring issue for a team that essentially needs everything to go right to have a chance to win.

For perspective, that total equaled the missed tackles they committed in all three of their wins combined.

“We had been making some progress there, but (Sunday) was clearly not our best,” coach Josh McDaniels said. “And there’s going to be some things that we can see (on film) that will help us.”

In contrast to their crisp tackling in their victories, the Raiders have been bad in losses. That includes the 15 missed tackles against the Chargers, 10 against the Bills and eight against the Steelers.

Again, for a team with such a small margin for error and an offense that has yet to play up to par, not being able to get ball carriers to the ground at first contact presents problems.

“That’s not a mystery,” McDaniels said of Sunday’s tackling issues. “Gave up too many yards after we had an opportunity to contact the runner. We’re going to need to work on that and try to shore that up.”

That especially will be the case when the Raiders (3-4) face the Lions (5-2), a tough, physical team, on “Monday Night Football” in Week 8. A similar tackling effort against the Lions, who rank 11th in rushing in the NFL and average 4.5 yards per carry, could spell trouble.

“A lot of skill players that are dynamic,” Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said. “I think they lead the league in yards after contact, so we’ve got our work cut out.”

The Raiders have shown they can be sound in minimizing damage in the run and pass game with their physicality and fundamentals. In that sense, it’s been more of a selective issue than a constant.

It certainly didn’t help that they were without physical cornerbacks Nate Hobbs (ankle) and Jakorian Bennett (shoulder, knee) against the Bears. They hope to get both back for the trip to Detroit.

Not having two of their top secondary tacklers put even more of a premium on others to step up, but that was not the case.

Cornerback Marcus Peters was especially bad with four missed tackles, including one in which he blatantly shied away from contact by passively reaching his arm out toward Bears wide receiver Tyler Scott on a third-and-3 play. Scott barely felt the touch on his way to 6 yards and a first down.

Three plays later, Peters had a chance to stop D’Onta Foreman short of the goal line, only for Foreman to easily run over him for a touchdown and 14-0 lead.

Graham was not about to point fingers, though.

“There’s several plays a game, whoever it is, that we want back,” he said. “Whenever the result is what it was, 30-12, there’s a lot of plays that everyone wants back. There’s calls I want back. So to single out one person in a result like that, I’m not with that. That’s just not me.”

Raiders make moves

The Raiders signed linebacker Darius Harris and kicker James McCourt to the practice squad Tuesday. In corresponding moves, they released tight end John Samuel Shenker and linebacker Mykal Walker from the practice squad and released TE Noah Togiai from the practice squad-injured list.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow@VinnyBonsignore on X.