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[i:917de34130]Raiders simply stopping the run
IMPROVED DEFENSE USING FEWER SCHEMES
By John Ryan
Mercury News[/i:917de34130]
The key to the Raiders' defensive revival is surprisingly simple. Last season, the Raiders ranked 22nd in the NFL against the run. This season they finished third.

Explaining that turnaround is simple, too.

``They're letting players go out and play,'' defensive tackle Sam Adams said. ``When you have a lot of talent, a lot of times you can get caught up with thinking you have to scheme and play this chess match with the offensive coach.

``But it doesn't have to be like that. When you have athletes and dogs that can hunt, you have to let them go out and hunt.''

The Raiders enter the playoffs allowing a scant 90.8 rushing yards a game. As with seemingly everything else, they have been particularly strong in this category of late, allowing an average of 68.6 yards in the final five games. That stretch began Dec. 2 when the New York Jets -- Sunday's opponent -- gained only 32 yards in 14 carries.

Finding the dogs was the first step to plugging the leaks of last season. During free agency and the draft, the Raiders targeted a front seven that allowed 124 rushing yards a game and was the main culprit in a 2-4 finish that cost them a first-round bye.

Armed with nine new starters, they spent training camp and the early part of this season exploring different alignments, stunts and any trick they could think of. They hoped to cause confusion and panic.

They did, but in the wrong huddle. That became shockingly clear during the four-game losing streak, when they allowed 615 rushing yards.

In the eight games after that skid, they allowed 600.

``In the second half of the season, we've really simplified our scheme,'' end Trace Armstrong said. ``So you're seeing where guys are really comfortable with what they're doing and have a real good understanding of what we're doing defensively. And when you have that, guys are able to play aggressively.''

That sounds simple. So does this: The players are better. The Raiders' first foray into free agency came in February, when they signed linebacker Bill Romanowski and cut Elijah Alexander. A week later they brought in defensive tackle John Parrella to be the consistent run-stuffer Darrell Russell and Grady Jackson never were. In April they drafted linebacker Napoleon Harris in the first round; Harris' speed and the salary cap ousted starting middle linebacker Greg Biekert just before the season. The Raiders promoted fourth-year linebacker Eric Barton to a starting role, and all he did was lead the team with 95 solo tackles.

In August, the team completed the puzzle up front with Adams, who anchored the line for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, who won the Super Bowl and gained acclaim as perhaps the best defense ever. Adams said this defense isn't quite like the Ravens', which counted on him and Tony Siragusa to occupy blockers and let linebackers run free.

Similarities exist, though. Adams and Parrella throw their 650 pounds around, making a contribution that seems literally immeasurable. In the past eight games, they have a combined 23 tackles. But they could get an assist on most other plays, because ends, linebackers and safeties have been running unimpeded.

``It's hard to make a tackle with our linebackers,'' Parrella said. ``They're so darn fast. They fly around like lunatics. Sam and I and Rod Coleman and even the ends, we try to do a good job of holding our gap and try to grab two if you can. That makes it fun, though. It's gratifying when we're holding two and I see one of the backers blow somebody up.''

The Raiders have been using their standard four-man front much more often than earlier this season, when they switched between a 4-3 and a 3-4. They treat their strong safeties -- first Derrick Gibson, now Anthony Dorsett -- as auxiliary linebackers, a sign of the confidence from playing in front of All-Pro free safety Rod Woodson. Even as injuries have debilitated them at cornerback, the Raiders have stuck with their commitment to stopping the run.

It seems simple. But it wasn't last year.

``If the ball's in your gap, they expect you to make the play,'' Armstrong said. ``A lot of times last year, we had guys -- not just linemen -- but players that were out of position and doing other things. On first-and-10 when they're in I-backs, we might have had a guy running 10 yards up the field rushing the passer when it's not a pass-rushing situation. And you'd get gashed for 10 yards, come back and say, `What happened?' ''

That's not a question they hear anymore. The answers are too simple.