Rod Marinelli Sounds off on Taking Over Raiders Defense

Getty Las Vegas Raiders interim defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

After the Las Vegas Raiders fired their defensive coordinator, they were fortunate to have a very successful defensive mind on their staff in Rod Marinelli. He’ll be serving as the team’s defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season and the Raiders should be in good hands considering the circumstances. There’s only so much he could do this late in the season, but he’s going to do the best he can.

“We feel we got a good handle on who’s up, and I think at that point you show belief in men,” Marinelli said Tuesday. “And we’re going to get it done. I don’t care who’s up, who’s not. But the non-talented things, the things that take no talent: effort, hustle, knowing exactly what to do, being disciplined, staying onsides. That takes no talent. That just takes guys that want to. I’m going to build off of want-to this week.”

“It’s a short week, but that’s what I enjoy and rally men around, to really go play hard and fast in any circumstances.”

The Raider defense hasn’t been disciplined and it hasn’t been doing the little things well. Perhaps having a stern voice like Marinelli leading the charge could help turn things around.

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Marinelli Wants to See Discipline

The Raiders have been very sloppy on defense and consistently give up big plays. They miss tackles, don’t force turnovers and commit dumb penalites. If Marinelli can do anything with these few games left, limiting the mistakes is high on the list.

“I’d start with game one right now. I want to see discipline, knowing exactly what we’re doing. Know exactly. It takes no talent; I keep saying that,” Marinelli said. “And I want to see great energy and great tackling, and gang tackling. Guys are hustling to the ball, and I think when you see that, they enjoy it. And I just want to see that part of it — that we really enjoy this game. And you can’t enjoy it just one or two guys, it’s got to be a team defense. And defense is about team — quick, fast and physical.

“Quick, fast and physical. That’s what I keep preaching and we’ll see.”

While the Raiders don’t have a ton of talent on defense, they have enough to at least be better than what they were with Paul Guenther.

Marinelli’s First Week as DC Could Be Brutal

Marinelli and the defense could be in for a rough week. Coaches almost never get fired on short weeks for a reason. Unfortunately for Guenther, his defense performed so badly in recent weeks that Jon Gruden couldn’t wait any longer.

Marinelli is a strong defensive mind but he’s not going to be able to implement his system this late in the season. He’s going to have to run his own version of Guenther’s defense to finish up the season. Perhaps the fact that a coach got fired is enough of a spark for the Raiders’ defense to finish the year strong. However, it’s unlikely they have a great performance against the Chargers this week.

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