Breaking down Navorro Bowman’s debut for Oakland Raiders

Breaking down Navorro Bowman’s debut with the Oakland Raiders, who got a huge divisional win on Thursday Night Football…

The Oakland Raiders needed a boost defensively, so they brought in veteran linebacker Navorro Bowman on a one-year contract.

Bowman was signed by the Raiders on Monday, and was in the starting lineup on Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs.

It was a quick turnaround for Bowman, who was released by the San Francisco 49ers, the team with which he established himself as one of the league’s best all-around linebackers. Prior to Thursday night’s game, we predicted the Raiders would win and gave four reasons why.

Bowman was among those four reasons, and he proved exactly what kind of impact he’s capable of making on an Oakland defense that desperately needs it.

He played a total of 60 snaps against the Chiefs, out of a possible 62. Let’s take a look at how those snaps were spread out, and what type of impact Bowman made on this game.

Coverage

Bowman played a total of 33 coverage snaps, and was targeted four times by the Chiefs. He allowed two receptions for 15 yards, including this touchdown to Travis Kelce:

I’m not 100 percent certain why Bowman sort of stopped running with Kelce here, as he appeared to have good coverage on this play. He lets up as Kelce is about to make his final push for the football, and makes it look like an easy pitch and catch for Kansas City.

This was the lone poor play in coverage from Bowman, who allowed 0.45 yards per cover snap. That’s a very good figure in general, but allowing the touchdown on the play to Kelce likely brought down his performance grade overall.

Run Defense

Bowman played a total of 23 run snaps in this game, and as expected, this is where he made the most significant impact. Among his 23 run snaps, Bowman made seven of his eight total tackles, and had four stops (plays constituting offensive failure).

This play right here is destroyed initially by Bowman hitting his gap with great timing, but he then shows his ability to change direction, accelerate, and stop the running back (C.J. Spiller) for a loss of a yard.

This is an excellent play by Bowman.

Pass Rush

Of Bowman’s 60 total snaps, only two were pass rush snaps. The Raiders should find ways to blitz Bowman more often, as he is one of the best A- and B-gap blitzers in the NFL.

Proof:

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Bowman blitzes the B-gap here on 3rd-and-4 and gets the ball back to the Oakland offense at the most critical juncture of this football game. At this point, Oakland was down by six, facing a third down on their own side of the field, and they desperately needed a stop.

Bowman makes arguably the play of the game for the Raiders defensively (in terms of situation, timing) to get the ball back into Derek Carr’s hands.

Overall

This game was an excellent look at some of the best Navorro Bowman still has to offer. He’s still got his speed and athleticism, and he’s obviously got the ability to deliver big hits.

Alex Smith won’t soon be forgetting that last one.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft Update

His play in the fourth quarter to get the ball back to the offense is proof enough that he was worth pursuing on the open market. The Oakland Raiders got a big, much needed boost from this player.