Huff looking forward to "real" defense w/out Al Davis calling it.

**RunOvrByHubbard** · 06-13-2012, 10:51 PM

Huff looking forward to “real defense” without Al Davis getting involved

Raiders safety Michael Huff is excited about the new defensive scheme being put in by coach Dennis Allen and defensive coordinator Jason Tarver. But he just didn’t leave it at that. “We’re just looking forward to playing for a defensive head coach, getting to play a real defense,” Huff said. “So, I’m definitely looking forward to that this year. “Nothing personal but, obviously, before with Al (Davis), rest in peace, he had his hands in all the defense. He had all his little things he liked to do. Now with D.A. out there, we got all kinds of blitzes, we got 3-4, 4-3 fronts, just a lot of different variety and a lot of different things going on. So, I’m going to love it.”

The Raiders set franchise worsts last year in touchdown passes allowed (31), yards per carry (5.1), yards passing (4,262) and total yards (6,201), while giving up the third-most points (433) in team history. Opposing offenses may have to actually guess what the Raiders defense will do next. “(Last year,) everybody knew,” Huff said. “I’m in the middle of the field, I’m in the post, we’re pretty much man-to-man on the outside, it was pretty simple. We really didn’t blitz much. We let our front four get after them. That’s how it was, so we dealt with it.”

The Raiders will blitz a lot more this season under Allen. “He came from Denver, he was with the Saints when they were blitzing,” Huff said. “That’s his M.O. He wants to blitz, get after the quarterback and just make plays. He puts us in position to make plays so that’s what we have to do.”

Link: Huff looking forward to “real defense” without Al Davis getting involved | Raiders Silver and Black Blog | an SFGate.com blog

**D-Tre** · 06-13-2012, 11:04 PM

Music to my ears.

**dmauke** · 06-13-2012, 11:13 PM

Have no problem with what he said because it's the truth, however he'll be out of excuses if he doesn't perform well now.

**regret** · 06-13-2012, 11:30 PM

It's nothing that wasn't said by a few players while Al was still around. You can disagree with the man and his methods without being disrespectful about it, which is what Huff did there, so hopefully he doesn't catch any flack from anyone in the organization (Herrera isn't around anymore thank god).

Anyway, yeah, it'll be exciting to see the D this year. I won't pretend a new DC with modern schemes is going to be an instant fix but, well, we can hardly get any ****ing worse, right?

Realistically, I think they may be a little shaky at first and as the season progresses they will start to develop chemistry and it'll all come together.

**dezcruel** · 06-14-2012, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by dmauke

Have no problem with what he said because it's the truth, however he'll be out of excuses if he doesn't perform well now.

^^exactly..does this mean we can look forward to seeing Huff play like a real #1 draft pick? I think the answer is yes...like to see Mitchell do something this year too.

**kinz** · 06-14-2012, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by dezcruel

^^exactly..does this mean we can look forward to seeing Huff play like a real #1 draft pick? I think the answer is yes...like to see Mitchell do something this year too.

I don't have my hopes up too high for Mitchell. Huff has talent, I sure hope he can turn into a difference maker.

**raidernationbmw** · 06-14-2012, 01:01 AM

Be careful what you wish for Michael Huff.

**raiderLUVjen** · 06-14-2012, 03:12 AM

I've always felt this way...I remember a player in an interview saying that they would practice scheme, packages, blitzes in practice all week and Al would change it in game day. I also think this is gonna help our CBs too...I can remember several good Ds over the last few years that we extremely successful with mediocre CBs.

Nowadays it's about execution, scheme, and disguising yourself and with our new staff this should be a strong point.

**ShimSham** · 06-14-2012, 05:08 AM

blitzing will cause more turnovers, more pressure which will help the 2ndry and lbs making plays. im pumped and cant wait for this year. obviously winning will play big role, but damn im loving dennis allen so far. i was a little worried about our coaching staff but liking it more and more. Just win baby!

**MileHighRaider** · 06-14-2012, 05:17 AM

He should STFU and play. Too many people here lay our poor performance on Chuck. Chuck didn't miss a single tackle last year as far as I can tell.

A new, more dynamic scheme will certainly help in some ways but it still comes down to execution and discipline and that's on the players.

**RaiderFanInMD** · 06-14-2012, 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by regret

It's nothing that wasn't said by a few players while Al was still around. You can disagree with the man and his methods without being disrespectful about it, which is what Huff did there, so hopefully he doesn't catch any flack from anyone in the organization (Herrera isn't around anymore thank god).

Anyway, yeah, it'll be exciting to see the D this year. I won't pretend a new DC with modern schemes is going to be an instant fix but, well, we can hardly get any ****ing worse, right?

Realistically, I think they may be a little shaky at first and as the season progresses they will start to develop chemistry and it'll all come together.

Unlikely he gets flack from the organization. It's seems that they've moved on and are building for the future. It's a few of the apologist fans that are still clinging to the AD philosophy of height, weight, speed trackstars and scholarship players rather than football talent and modern coaching schemes.

Originally Posted by MileHighRaider

He should STFU and play. Too many people here lay our poor performance on Chuck. Chuck didn't miss a single tackle last year as far as I can tell.

A new, more dynamic scheme will certainly help in some ways but it still comes down to execution and discipline and that's on the players.

See

(I keed, I keed...)

**ddoss11** · 06-14-2012, 07:04 AM

If, big IF, this is what was truly needed to bring out the talents, desires and overall ability of our top guys; then we may be onto something this year.
I personally think that this will be a huge year for guys like Huff, McClain , Shaughnessy and Seymour. Either they will step up and truly play or they'll have no
more excuses!

I can't wait for football season to get here this year.

**RaiderFan39** · 06-14-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by regret

....Realistically, I think they may be a little shaky at first and as the season progresses they will start to develop chemistry and it'll all come together....

Let's hope for the chemistry "at first!!"

**MileHighRaider** · 06-14-2012, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by RaiderFanInMD

Unlikely he gets flack from the organization. It's seems that they've moved on and are building for the future. It's a few of the apologist fans that are still clinging to the AD philosophy of height, weight, speed trackstars and scholarship players rather than football talent and modern coaching schemes.

See

(I keed, I keed...)

As I said, updating our scheme is fine. But there's nothing "apologist" about expecting players to make tackles, not commit penalties, and generally focus on their own performance. Davis asked his team members to do this. In recent memory, they haven't. That's a lack of personal commitment, IMHO. Huff is as guilty of this as ANYBODY.

**heavyD** · 06-14-2012, 08:06 AM

Kind of crazy that just one year ago Chuck Bresnahan (statistically one of the all-time worst defensive coordinators in the history of the NFL) was the DC and things were hopeless on the defensive side of the ball. One year later we have a defensive head coach, real defensive coordinator and NO MEDDLING! Just goes to show that sometimes good things happen to good fanbases.