INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Nakobe Dean likes to refer to his position group as the firemen.
“Anytime anything bad happens, it’s on us to put the fire out,” he said after the Raiders improved to 2-0 with a 26-14 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
Dean and his teammates were faced with trying to extinguish a blaze the Raiders defense had set itself late in the game.
The Chargers were given a first down at the Raiders’ 48-yard line as they trailed 17-14 with 3:52 to play when the Raiders came out of a timeout on a fourth-and-1 play with 12 defenders on the field.
It was an egregious error that gave the Chargers a golden opportunity to salvage a victory from a second consecutive pedestrian performance by their offense.
But the Raiders firemen brought out the hoses.
“It doesn’t matter what happens or why it’s on fire, we have to put it out,” Dean said. “That always means taking care of the next play.”
Dean delivered a big hit on Chargers running back Omarion Hampton, jarring the ball loose for a fumble that was recovered by Jeremy Chinn and run back to the Chargers’ 16-yard line.
“Short memory. That’s what we preach all the time,” coach Klint Kubiak said. “It’s unacceptable what happened before the fumble and we have to get that junk fixed.”
Kubiak had to settle for overcoming it as Kirk Cousins hit Cody White for his second touchdown of the day three plays later to seal the game.
But the offense could have been in a much more difficult position had the Chargers been able to tie the game or even take the lead had Dean not forced the fumble.
“We preach hunting the ball every time,” he said. “(Defensive coordinator Rob Leonard) preaches it, so it’s always on our mind to tackle at the level of the ball and try to bite the ball. (Hampton) ran hard today and ran through a lot of tackles, so we knew we had to get our pads down.”
It all stems from Leonard’s aptly-named “eat drills” where the defense hunts for the kill in late-game situations to take the team to the finish line.
“It’s stuff we drill every day,” Dean said. “So big shoutout to the coaches for making sure we drill it and keep it on our mind to finish the game.”
Dean, who also tied for the team lead with 10 tackles, briefly left the game in the first half. He was evaluated in the medical tent before going through a series of drills with the athletic training staff and being cleared to return.
He said he simply came down too hard on the ground and was fine.
The Raiders were certainly glad he was OK.
“Winning pedigree,” Kubiak said of Dean. “He’s a winner. He won in college, he won in Philly. Him and (linebacker Quay Walker) bring winning to the organization. He came out for a minute and came back in and gutted it out for the team. That’s who he is.”
Dean’s efforts helped ensure the Raiders their first 2-0 start in five years, but he’s not satisfied.
“I felt like there were times we should have played better,” he said of the defense. “A lot of WTF plays, but we talked to each other about it. The good thing about our defense is there aren’t big egos so we can be real with each other about what needs to tighten up.
“Anybody can be held accountable from the coordinator to a rookie and that’s why our defense is what it is.
“It’s a next-play mentality and we will continue to try to get better throughout the year.”
Especially when there are fires to put out.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
