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John Pagano Added to Help Oakland Raiders on Defense

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:20 p.m. ET

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Fansided, Carl Cockerham/FanSided via With the First Pick

Jan 7, 2017; Houston, TX, USA; Oakland Raiders defensive end Khalil Mack (52) in action against the Houston Texans during the AFC Wild Card playoff football game at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Raiders have too much talent on defense for it to be as bad as it was in 2016. So head coach Jack Del Rio is giving defensive coordinator Ken Norton, who’s in over his head, help.

When head coach Jack Del Rio hired Ken Norton Jr. to coordinate the defense, he was hiring a friend. The two played together with the Dallas Cowboys and the two talked about coaching together one day. But that one day clearly came when Norton wasn’t ready.

The jump from linebackers coach with the Seattle Seahawks to defensive coordinator was too big. Over his two years, he has wasted a lot of timeouts as a result of communication problems. And he insists on running a defense he doesn’t have the personnel for.

Then this year, he really did it by blitzing on a 3rd-and-4 with bail coverage behind it. Del Rio took over the defense in Year 1 and got a much better result with less talent. But this year, he seemed not to be able to take over the defensive unit as much.

The head coach has to keep his eyes on both sides of the ball as well as the special teams. So he needs someone he can truly trust to run the defense but Norton is not that guy yet. So Del Rio just hired John Pagano, who has worked for him before.

Del Rio refuses to fire his homie so he simply put a real defensive expert over there with him. The title that he gave Pagano is assistant head coach-defense. I’m interpreting that as Pagano being the real defensive coordinator with Norton as the assistant.

But Norton gets to keep his defensive coordinator title while he develops. So Raiders fans should look forward to more 3-4 looks as that is what Pagano has run over his career. There should be more press-man coverage and less press-bail too.

Pagano knows it’s better to scheme a defense around what the players do well.

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