Drought in secondary won't last long

What seemed to be the strength of the all last season turned out to be the glaring weakness to begin the new one.The secondary, which was torched for 289 yards against the Jon Kitna-led Detroit Lions on Sunday, appeared helpless, discouraged and, at times, lost. The performance was a far cry from 2006. In fact, it was 138 yards off the team's '06 average of 151 yards against.On the surface, this should appear to be a major problem for the Raiders. The secondary was supposed to be a sure thing. It was the one part of 4 Brett Favre Purple jersey
the team that apparently needed zero fixing.All said and done, it still is, despite last Sunday's poor performance.To start, Oakland won't meet a receiving combo as potent as the one the Lions bring to the table until Week 15, which falls all the way in mid-December.The Lions' cast made up of Roy Williams, Calvin Johnson, and Mike Furrey is perhaps the most talent-filled lineup in the NFL outside of the Indianapolis Colts'. When the Raiders meet with Indy late in the season, they'll be forced to deal with a comparable triumvirate of Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Anthony Gonzalez. On paper, this is actually a better matchup for the Raiders' cornerbacks than was the Lions.It's no question of a lack of ability or measureables, either.The Raiders' starting secondary -- Nnamdi Asomugha, Fabian Washington, Stuart Schweigert and Michael Huff -- consists of arguably the top four starting defensive backs in the NFL in terms of athleticism. Three of the four are first-rounders, while the lone man out, Schweigert, was an early third-rounder in 2004. Last season, Asomugha and Washington alone combined for 12 interceptions and over 20 passes defensed.In terms of measureables, three of the four are at least 6 feet, while at a suitable 5-11, the smallest is Washington. However, he's also the quickest. In 2005, the 185-pounder ran the 40-yard dash in 4.29 seconds, tied for the fastest of all defensive backs in that year's draft class. Whom was he tied with? Oakland's third cornerback, Stanford Routt.Luckily, each of the five DBs listed above came out of Week 1's injury-filled Sunday healthy. Other unfortunate NFL ball clubs like the Buffalo Bills lost half of their starting secondary to injury.That being said, expect a major change in Oakland's defensive backfield heading into Week 2. Primarily, look for this transformation to come from the direction of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan.Last week, the 44-year-old seemingly over-thought his game plan.Ryan resorted to several zone packages and a variety of mixed coverage types to throw off the Lions' high-powered passing attack.Instead, he threw off his own defense, and the Lions threw with ease.Expect to see a simplified game plan in Denver on Sunday, in which man-to-man coverage becomes the primary defense mechanism once again. Last season, this was how Oakland earned its identity as one of the top passing defenses in the NFL. Ryan took advantage of his secondary's athleticism 36 Bettis Black Jersey
and relied less on guesswork."We had some missed assignments and breaks here or there," head coach Lane Kiffin said of last Sunday's performance."We are going to get [that] fixed."It shouldn't take long for the Raiders' secondary to prove Kiffin right. ,