Sack fumble to seal the deal vs San Diego - which is German for "a Whale's Vagina". (Photo: YardBarker.com)

Last season, the Raiders defense was stagnant and about as solid as a Kleenex.  With many (allegedly) elite players at nearly all skill positions, they underperformed in just about every category possible.  Nnamdi Asomugha is the best corner in the leauge, along with the highly touted first rounder Michael Huff; Richard Seymour was supposed to fix the run defense; a linebacking core consisting of the talented Thomas Howard and Kirk Morrison who were highly respected – so what went wrong?

Man coverage with Nnamdi on one side and Chris Johnson on the other left an obvious gameplan for opposing quarterbacks – avoid 21′s side and look for 37.  Seymour never got any momentum in stuffing the run or chasing the quarterback.  While Howard and Morrison both had solid seasons, they both lacked gap integrity in the running game and Morrison lacked size at MLB at a fluffy 235 pounds.  Tyvon Branch had a very solid year in the run defense, but was found out of position frequently in the passing game.  Huff was inconsistent after having three interceptions early in the year.  Another year was down the drain, and Al Davis had seen enough.  I guess since he pulled the plug on the JaMarcus Russell experiment, he might as well revamp this shoddy defense as well.

Enter 2010

Addressing all of the problems through trades and free agency wasn’t possible, and everyone knew that.  The Raiders needed one of the most un-Raider thing of all time – a solid draft.  With the last few years later picks starting to pan out (sack master Matt Shaughnessy and the versatile Trevor Scott), the Raiders had some youth and veteran leadership (Asomugha, Seymour) to build around.  So Davis casts away the fan-favorite Kirk Morrison after drafting Rolando McClain and Lamarr Houston.  They bring in veteran Kamerion Wimbley from Cleveland and Quentin Groves from Jacksonville and voila – an entire new linebacking corps of blood thirsty people ready to prove they can play in the NFL.  Both Groves and Wimbley weren’t held very highly by their previous teams mainly due to lack of production.
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