Injuries push Raiders to critical edge rushing problem

HENDERSON, Nev. -- First, Malcolm Koonce went down with a possible season-ending knee injury in practice Thursday and was put on injured reserve two days later.

Then, Tyree Wilson was lost to a knee injury that limited him to six defensive snaps in the Las Vegas Raiders' season-opening loss at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.

"We got thin real quick," Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said Monday of defensive end depth.

"Telesco's working on that right now, currently," he added, in reference to general manager Tom Telesco scouring the waiver wire and the viability of free agents -- players such as, possibly, former Raiders edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who had 10 sacks for Las Vegas in 2021. On Tuesday, they signedfree-agent DE K'Lavon Chaisson, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Because even if Wilson, who was wearing a brace on his right knee while limping around the SoFi Stadium visitors locker room Sunday, can play this week at the Baltimore Ravens, he won't be anywhere close to full health. And the Raiders are facing reigning MVP Lamar Jackson.

Yes, the Raiders need reinforcements ... or they need to dig deeper. Because with Wilson out of the opener, Janarius Robinson and Charles Snowden, called up from the practice squad, essentially split those edge rusher reps opposite three-time Pro Bowl playerMaxx Crosby ... and had little to no success rushing the passer.

According to ESPN Analytics/NFL Next Gen Stats, though Crosby won six of his 18 pass rushes (tied for the fourth-best single-game such rate of his career), Wilson, Robinson and Snowden were a combined 0-10, with Robinson 0-7 on the edge.

"Obviously, it's a horrible, unfortunate situation," Crosby said of Koonce's injury. "We love Malcolm. He brings a lot of juice and he's a great player, so seeing one of our brothers get hurt, it sucks, but it's the National Football League. ... We've got to keep showing up and find a way to win, so there's no excuses. Ever.

"We're praying for him and, hopefully, he'll be fine. But at the end of the day, whoever's out there, we've got to play our best football and go out there and execute."

Potentially losing Wilson for any period adds another wrinkle.

"Like I said, that's the nature of the beast -- people get hurt, people get injured, it's next-man-up mentality," Crosby said. "So we had guys like J-Rob and Snowden, a couple guys step in and do some good things, you know what I mean? We're a big group and we trust everybody in that room, so we've just got to learn, keep getting better, keep moving forward, and find a way to improve moving forward."

Jackson rushed for a game-high 122 yards, on 16 carries, and also passed for 273 yards and a TD in completing 26 of 41 attempts in the Ravens' season-opening loss at the Kansas City Chiefs.

He was sacked once.

Being thin on the edge -- the only other edge rusher Las Vegas has on its practice squad is international player David Agoha, from Nigeria -- makes facing Jackson all the more daunting for the Raiders. It puts even more pressure on the inside of the Raiders' defensive line to collapse the pocket.

"We've just got to step up more," defensive tackle Christian Wilkins said. "Even on the interior, knowing when one of your brothers is down, or things might look a little different, or you might be thin in some areas, you've just got to continue to lean on that brotherhood that we're building and understand."

"We don't have to be necessarily superheroes. But we've definitely just got to be more locked in and focused and make sure we're doing our part and playing hard, playing fast, playing physical and being real detailed with our work."

Wilkins' first NFL game was against Jackson, the Ravens beating his Miami Dolphins59-10 in the 2019 opener.

"He's definitely as good as it gets, as dynamic as it gets, the definition of a dual threat," Wilkins said of Jackson. "He presents a great challenge to any defense in his league. ... It's different when you've still got to go against him.

"But I believe in our guys and I believe in our coaches and our scheme. So we're going to rebound, lock in and do what we've got to do this week to try to put ourselves in the best position."