Barber: Ken Norton Jr. already on Raiders' hot seat

ALAMEDA

Eye violations, eye violations. You can’t spend five minutes discussing the Raiders’ preparations for the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday without hearing about eye violations.

Head coach Jack Del Rio dropped the phrase after the Raiders’ loss to St. Louis on Saturday night, and he must have circulated a memo on the topic to everyone in the building. Defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. elaborated on eye violations Wednesday. And when cornerback T.J. Carrie was asked if there were any takeaways from the Rams’ stupid-easy first touchdown, his response was: “Eyes. Eye violations.”

Honestly, I have to agree. The Oakland defense has already done a lot this August to violate our eyes.

At Arizona in Week 1 of the preseason, the first-team defensive unit more or less played the entire first half - there were individual exceptions, as there always are this time of year - and the Cardinals gouged them for two touchdowns and a field goal in four possessions.

The 2017 debut of the Raiders defense was a 70-yard drive that Arizona quarterback Carson Palmer finished with a touchdown pass to someone called Brittan Golden, who had gotten a step on Oakland cornerback David Amerson.

In those four first-half possessions, the Cardinals chewed up 214 yards.

The only time the Raiders stopped them is when Arizona’s Kerwynn Williams fumbled right into the arms of rookie linebacker Marquel Lee.

The defense might have been worse last weekend, considering how little is expected of the Rams and second-year quarterback Jared Goff this season. Goff looked like Kurt Warner against the Raiders, leading his team to (and this may sound familiar) two touchdowns and a field goal in four possessions. Los Angeles also found the end zone on its first drive, as rookie receiver Cooper Kupp found himself alarmingly open behind cornerback T.J. Carrie and safety Reggie Nelson after the Rams had faked a sweep.

“That’s what they’re supposed to do, misdirection, get your eyes in the wrong place,” Carrie said. “You look up and it’s a touchdown.”

You’d need a super-soaker full of Visine to mitigate some of those eye violations.

But wait, you say, it’s August. I’m usually the one recommending several grains of salt when evaluating preseason play. The sample sizes are small, the offensive and defensive schemes remedial. A lot of veterans hardly play.

This Oakland defense wouldn’t really be a concern at all if it weren’t for the way things shook out last year. The Raiders’ 12-4 record was a funhouse mirror that distorted the true nature of the team. The offense was explosive. The defense was hanging by its nails through the entire season.

The Oakland D ranked 26th in total yardage allowed, 24th in passing yardage and 23rd in rushing yardage, numbers that matched the eye (violation) test.

This team had the NFL defensive player of the year, Khalil Mack, an edge rusher who frequently looks unblockable, and somehow managed to rank dead last with a meager 25 sacks.

All of which makes Norton, who played linebacker for 13 seasons (and won three Super Bowl rings) with the Cowboys and 49ers, a marked man in 2017.

Despite the direction of the offensive/defensive disparity last year, it was offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave who got the ax. That’s largely because Del Rio wanted to clear room for former quarterbacks coach Todd Downing, considered a rising star in the profession. Downing is now running Oakland’s offense. Norton retained his job, but you’d have to figure his leash is about as long as Mark Davis’ bangs.

And the preseason start has not been encouraging. Raiders fans came into this season flying on a magic carpet of excitement. It didn’t take long to hear the grumbling about Norton’s defense.

“They should be impatient,” the coordinator said Wednesday. “We are impatient as well. We want to win and we want to shut teams down and we want to do all the things that it takes to be a really good defense. … The (starters) are going to play a lot more this week. We’re getting healthier and our process of being really good, we really like the direction we’re going.”

Norton seems like a happy guy. He exudes gung-ho confidence and optimism. It’s a trait his players probably love. But it doesn’t come across all that well when things are going to hell on the field.

I’m not saying things are going to hell at the moment. Again, this is merely preseason. But already you can catch a slight whiff of sulfur on the breeze.

Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has tried to get Norton some help. He signed notable free agents like Malcolm Smith, Curtis Lofton, Dan Williams and Aldon Smith in 2015 (the first year in Oakland for Del Rio and Norton); Sean Smith, Bruce Irvin and Reggie Nelson in 2016; and Jelani Jenkins this year. Of the nine draft picks McKenzie has made in the first three rounds since 2015, seven have come on the defensive side of the ball, including first-rounders in safety Karl Joseph and cornerback Gareon Conley.

Few of those players have yet to excel. Maybe that’s McKenzie’s fault. But it’s hard to point to anyone who has really developed impressively under Norton - except for Mack, who is by all accounts a freak of nature.

Carrie, who spoke at the podium Wednesday, said integrating new personnel pieces was the biggest priority for the defense this offseason. That’s been hard to accomplish with Conley and second-round pick Obi Melifonwu, a safety, missing all or most of training camp with mysterious injuries.

The wild card in all of this is the presence of John Pagano, who spent the previous five seasons as San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator. When the Chargers opted not to retain Pagano, he joined the Raiders as assistant head coach - defense. Known for his ability to disguise coverages, Pagano is the shadow looming over Norton’s performance this year.

Carrie said something interesting when I asked him about working with Pagano.

“He continues to stress (to) us to come in early and stay late, just to do the little things and go over some of the schemes that offenses like to do, some of the things offensive coordinators like to do as well,” the defensive back said. “That’s taking it to a bigger level because as a player, you kind of go through the surface (level) of the receiver, formation, the quarterback. Taking it to the offensive coordinators and what they like to attack and how they like to attack defenses has really been an extra point that he’s given us to look at film at.”

Huh? Carrie made it sound as though the Raiders defenders broke down the tendencies of particular quarterbacks and receivers last year, but didn’t dive into the nuances of opponents’ play calling. It probably sounded more dramatic than he intended. Let’s hope, because that would not be a ringing endorsement of Norton.

If the Raiders make a deep playoff run this year, any sins on the defensive side of the ball are likely to be forgiven. But if the team fails to reach expectations, Norton might be first in line for criticism.

Who knows, though. Maybe Conley and Melifonwu will be keepers, and young linebackers like Cory James and Marquel Lee will emerge as playmakers, and slimmed-down Justin Ellis will be a revelation at nose tackle.

Hey, stop rolling your eyes. That might constitute a violation.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.