From the Easy Chair with Attyla and Hitman...this week, Defense

As my esteemed colleague alluded to last week, we’ve had some schedule conflicts, but hopefully as the season nears, we will have our thoughts posted in a timely manner. Here is my assessment of the defense:

Defensively the Raiders have addressed some areas that will make them better, however in this fans opinion the critical area that seemed to be neglected was the defensive line, again that is only my opinion, but I believe many fans feel the same way:

DL: This unit has been the Achilles heel of the defense the last few years and I am of the opinion it will still be the weakest area. Tommy Kelly was given a huge contract coming off a season ending knee injury and only having 13 career sacks in four seasons isn’t exactly the type of fiscal responsibility you’d see in a franchise that has struggled. If Kelly is not 100% I have to question the money he was given, some will argue he would have received the same compensation had he become a free agent, I disagree, because most teams aren’t ready to hand over large sums of money to a player, not considered upper echelon, especially after a serious injury. The consequent signing of Kalimba Edwards, also coming off an injury is essentially remaining status quo. The Raiders feel they have an adequate front four, I don’t, but we’ll see soon enough who is correct. Jay Richardson has to be a factor, as do several other younger players. One area of concern for this unit is the quality depth or lack of quality depth. I’m of the belief that games are won and lost in the trenches and if the Raiders failed to make this unit stronger then the money spent was money spent foolishly.

LB: Arguably the strong point of the Raider defense, Morrison, Howard, et al seem to be gelling as a group, it remains to be seen if Sam Williams can stay healthy, but for insurance the Raiders signed former Raven and Falcon Edgerton Hartwell to bring some experience to a unit that is becoming recognized as a force in the NFL however he’s missed the last two seasons his production was less than stellar due to injury, but anything is possible and perhaps Al Davis sees a healthy player regaining his form. I believe some extended time to be given third year player Ricky Brown. This should be Morrison’s breakout year and possibly a pro-bowl appearance. I expect bigger and better things from this group.

CB: Al Davis loves corner backs and this off-season he added to his reputation as a guy who will do anything to add talented defensive backs to the stable. When the Raiders made a deal that brought talented cornerback Deangelo Hall to the Raiders AFC West opponents had to take notice. The tandem of Hall and perennial pro-bowler Nnamdi Asomugha is a luxury most teams wish they had. Add reserve corner Stanford Routt to the mix and this group is one of the better units in the league. Davis has always coveted two solid cornerbacks, with Asomugha, Hall and Routt they have two great ones and a third making strides.

Safety: Stuart Schweigert is gone so now the fan base doesn’t have a scapegoat to point the finger at if by some change this unit fails to live up to the pre-season hype. Many believe Michael Huff is ready for a breakout season, since he will most like take over Schweigert’s vacated Free Safety spot, I’m not as optimistic. Huff is heading into his third season, a very high draft choice and I believe players taken that high, should show signs or even glimpses of greatness, Huff has shown neither. While Schweigert took the brunt of the fans criticism over the last three seasons, Huff did nothing to establish himself as a bone-fide playmaker. Now he has the supporting cast around him to prove me wrong, however I don’t think it will happen. The addition of Gabril Wilson was in my opinion the best off-season acquisition, and his leadership will be much needed to help this unit get over the hump, he will hopefully help Huff the most, but that remains to be seen. I’m not sure what defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has in store for this unit, but my hope is a lot more aggressiveness.

Coaching: Rob Ryan is in the final year of his contract, which is the reason I believe Al Davis retained his services as long as he has, but if Ryan wants to be considered for a head coaching job at some time in his career he’s going to have to be more productive, otherwise the luster will wear off rather quickly. Ryan is a 3-4 guy, and it remains to be seen if we’ll see a combination of the 3-4 and 4-3, with some cover 2 and possibly cover 3 schemes. My concerns still are pointed at the defensive line, because if they can’t put pressure on the opposing quarterbacks it will be a long season regardless of having a talented secondary. If Wilson and the linebacker corps can make tackles close to the line of scrimmage to help the front four focus on rushing the passer we might see some positive things happen… I expect this unit to do what they were built to do, make plays! If they don’t expect to see major changes in the off-season.

Conclusion: The success of the defense rests on the shoulders of the front seven; we should see some improvements over last year, if they can stop opposing running backs from having career games. The linebackers should be busy and I expect more of the same from Morrison and Howard. If they aren’t getting interceptions I expect Hall and Asomugha to getting theirs! Huff is in a make or break season in my opinion, Wilson will provide some much needed tackling skills, so on paper this unit looks pretty solid, but we all know games are not won on paper. How it translates on the field is another matter.

I believe the defense has to be the unit that creates the opportunities, simply because the Raiders cannot afford to place a lot of the success or failure on JaMarcus Russell, he’s going to have his hands full, so they will need to give the first year starter as much opportunity as they can… I’m cautiously optimistic!!!

From the Easy Chair

Hitman