Turnover-prone Raiders offer Lions chance to feast on takeaways

Allen Park — A staggering 22.1% of offensive drives by the Las Vegas Raiders this season have ended in a turnover.
So the Lions should have the opportunity to flip the game on its head through turnovers when welcoming the Raiders to Ford Field for "Monday Night Football," with the status of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo notwithstanding.
Las Vegas quarterbacks Garoppolo, Aidan O’Connell and Brian Hoyer have combined for a league-high 12 interceptions (the team with the second-most, Cleveland, has nine) with each quarterback more or less contributing evenly to that stat. Combined, the trio has just eight passing touchdowns.
While Lions defensive backs coach Brian Duker said they don’t do anything different to force turnovers from one opponent to another, there’s reason to believe more opportunities will be available through the air on Monday night.
“I just don’t think there’s been a lot of throws in the air through the middle of our defense, necessarily, for those guys to get their hands on,” Duker said.
“It’s one of those numbers, like, if you do a really good job just to turn the throw based on your positioning and the respect they give you, sometimes you don’t get those opportunities. Sometimes it’s like a really good corner, right? They just don’t throw it his way, he just doesn’t get the numbers.”
Jerry Jacobs has three interceptions for the Lions with Brian Branch, Will Harris and Aidan Hutchinson each adding one. The surprise comes with Kerby Joseph, who had a team-high four last season, having zero through Week 7.
Duker said Joseph’s production in that realm stands the most to lose from teams not throwing a ton over the middle.
“I do think Kerby has consistently shown that he has a really good change on the defense," Duker said. "I just think if you watch the tape, there’s not a lot of evidence of guys trying us over the middle of the field.”