ALAMEDA — Watch bad defense long enough and it’s easy to be skeptical and even cynical about the potential for improvement.
And let’s face it, the Raiders have been poor defensively for a long, long time. And that includes 2016 when Khalil Mack was on the roster, was an All-Pro at two different positions and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in a 12-4 season.
It was bad when the coordinator was Rob Ryan, John Marshall, Jason Tarver and Ken Norton Jr. When John Pagano took over for Norton last season and the Raiders went from awful to below average, they should have thrown a parade.