The Raiders’ “Monday Night Football” game against the Chargers this week kicked off in the middle of the day in Australia. That didn’t stop a transplanted Las Vegas native from tuning in — defensive tackle Jonah Laulu’s brother, Macen, wasn’t going to miss the home opener.
“He said he called off work because I knew he was going to get a sack,” Laulu shared after the game. Macen didn’t have to wait very long to see his premonition prove correct.
In the first quarter of the Raiders’ eventual 20-9 loss to the Chargers, Justin Herbert dropped back to pass. Laulu used a spin move to the inside to try to get to him. He disrupted running back Najee Harris’ route in the process but sliced back the other way when he couldn’t get through. That caused Herbert to cut back toward the center, and Laulu got to show off his lateral quickness as he changed direction to plant the quarterback for a three-yard loss.
It was the second of a team-high three sacks this season for the second-year professional.
“I’m just going out there and trying to play free,” Laulu said. “That was the biggest thing I had problems with last year. So coming into this year, it’s just like (coach) Pete (Carroll) says all the time, ‘It’s just football. You don’t need to make it too complicated. I don’t need to do anything extra.’”
The Raiders (1-1) have a lot to repair going into their Week 3 game at the Washington Commanders (1-1) at 10 a.m. Sunday airing on Fox. One position group that surprisingly doesn’t seem among the problem areas is the interior defensive line.
The unit looked like a potential weakness after Las Vegas released Christian Wilkins during training camp, but it has turned out to be steady at a minimum, if not an outright strength. Laulu and his pass-rushing prowess have been one of the primary reasons for the success.
“He’s just blossomed,” Carroll said. “He had enough plays on film coming off of last year that caught my eye like a potential guy that might really be a factor. So, I was really excited about him in the offseason. He did everything right, and he’s played well.”
The coaching staff has raved about Laulu for months, which was far from a guarantee to happen. New groups have no allegiance to holdover players from the previous regime, especially seventh-round picks claimed off waivers like Laulu.
Last year’s coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco were disappointed to miss out on Laulu in the NFL Draft but pounced on a chance to grab him when he didn’t make the Indianapolis Colts’ initial roster. They spent most of the season developing him but started to get him on the field more often over the final month and a half of the schedule.
Laulu flashed promise, including registering his first career sack in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but Carroll and new general manager John Spytek were under no obligation to continue exploring it. Laulu just didn’t give them any other choice.
In addition to Carroll saying he popped on film from last year, Laulu was ever-present in the Raiders facility during the offseason getting in better shape and preparing for his second year. He even canceled a planned trip to Australia to visit his brother and other family members to maintain his training regimen.
“He’s worked his [expletive] off,” edge rusher Maxx Crosby said. “He’s getting better and better.”
Laulu emerged as Wilkins’ likeliest replacement from the outset of training camp, but plans began to shift by mid to late August. Las Vegas struck a trade for former Philadelphia depth tackle Thomas Booker and ultimately gave him the starting job next to returner Adam Butler on the inside.
Booker has played well in his own right — he’s arguably been steadier than Laulu but with fewer splash plays — but the spot was already rotational and now might be trending toward a straight time share between him and Laulu.
In a Week 1 win over the Patriots, Booker out-snapped Laulu 42-29. The gap started to diminish against the Chargers, as Booker was on the field for 38 plays to Laulu’s 32 plays.
“It’s a good feeling,” Laulu said after the Chargers game. “It was crazy just coming out early, being able to make that play and celebrating. My family is here, my friends are here. I had 14 people here that I knew were coming but I had people hitting me up all throughout the day saying they were going to be at the game supporting me.”
Laulu, whose mother is from Samoa, had a handful of family members in attendance from Australia and New Zealand who traveled not only to watch him but also to attend tonight’s Chris Brown concert at Allegiant.
But his brother wasn’t among those who could make the trip.
Laulu said his brother got a trip to Australia as a graduation present a few years ago and ended up never coming back. “Now he has kids out there and they all have accents,” Laulu joked.
Laulu hasn’t been able to get to Oceania himself since he was a young child because he committed to the University of Hawaii straight out of Centennial as an edge rusher. It wasn’t until he transferred to Oklahoma for his final two years of college that he moved to defensive tackle and solidified himself as an NFL prospect.
The marriage of his outside instincts with his burgeoning inside strengths has helped make Laulu a unique threat.
It’s surreal for him to be making plays next to Crosby, whom Laulu said he has studied since his sophomore year at Hawaii when he was a mostly unknown young player.
“I would watch clips of him, and I would scrub through it, rewind it to see how he was moving his feet and everything,” Laulu said. “Like literally, I’ve been copying him.”
The chaotic set of moves he used in the first-quarter sack against the Chargers sure enough seemed straight out of the Raider defensive captain’s playbook.
Crosby said it was, “the ultimate gold star,” to see elements of his game being employed by teammates like Laulu. He probably much preferred Laulu’s first sack to his second in the game.
In the third quarter, both Laulu and Crosby were pursuing Herbert when the quarterback slid down for a loss. But Laulu was in front of Herbert while Crosby was chasing him, so the former officially got credited with the sack.
Crosby might have preferred the statistical tally for himself as a silver lining on an uncharacteristic off night, but it ended up giving Laulu’s family in attendance just another reason to celebrate harder.
Not even his brother saw two sacks coming.
“It’s super cool to have everything come to fruition that I’ve been working for,” Laulu said.
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