Football: Raiders try to fix leaky run defense

ALAMEDA - Lost in all the attention surrounding JaMarcus Russell's benching in Oakland's latest blowout loss was a historically bad performance by the Raiders' shoddy run defense.

Shonn Greene, Thomas Jones and the New York Jets gashed the Oakland defense for 316 yards rushing in a 38-0 victory, the second-most yards any team has ever recorded on the ground against the Raiders.

"Defensively we have to be tougher than that," defensive lineman Jay Richardson said. "We have to play better, we have to play our gaps tougher, all of us all across the board. It takes 11 guys to stop the run. We can't just have a few guys here and there trying to run after it. It takes all of us."

Instead, there was blame for just about everybody on the Oakland defense on a day the Raiders knew the Jets were going to rely heavily on the run. Coach Tom Cable counted 15 missed tackles, players were out of position on some plays and did a bad job of staying in their gaps.

That all led to the defensive breakdowns in the Raiders' most lopsided home loss in history.

"I don't think you would single out any one individual or two individuals or any one position - 316 is 316," Cable said.

That marked just the third time the Raiders had ever allowed 300 yards rushing in a game, giving up a franchise-worst 319 to Seattle in 2001 and 306 to Buffalo in 1962 - the year before Al Davis arrived in Oakland

The Jets came into the game vowing to run in order to take some pressure off rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez. Two early turnovers deep in Oakland territory set up New York for two short touchdown drives in which they gained only 8 total yards.

With the Jets leading 14-0 early, they stuck with the run all day long.

"I think we just started out in some bad situations and it just got progressively worse as the game went on," defensive lineman Richard Seymour said. "I think it's important for us to start fast in games and I think once we start fast we can carry it on through the game. But if we start in a hole I think some games are going to be that way and we have to be mentally tough and be able to move forward."

Seymour said the problems are so basic - tackling and gap integrity - that they shouldn't be difficult to fix. He said the team needs to do a better job in practice, suggesting that the Raiders may even need to "practice live" - meaning, actual tackling.

Cable said if the problems keep recurring, he would consider doing live tackling in practice, but isn't at that point yet.

The Raiders are 30th in the league in rushing defense, allowing 169.7 yards per game. They have allowed 32 runs this season of at least 10 yards, one shy of the most in the NFL, and a league-worst 10 runs of at least 20 yards.

The one reprieve this week is Oakland's opponent, the San Diego Chargers, has the second-worst rushing offense in the league this season at 70.5 yards per game despite having LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles. The Chargers were held to 77 yards rushing in winning the opener at Oakland 24-20 and topped the 100-yard mark for the first time all season last week in Kansas City.

"Based on what we've been through a couple of times now in terms of run defense, we'd be fools not to think they would try to run it," Cable said.

The problem with run defense in Oakland dates back many years, and even a change in defensive coordinator from Rob Ryan to John Marshall this season hasn't solved it.

Since going to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season, Oakland has had the worst run defense in the NFL, allowing 143.6 yards per game on the ground and 133 touchdowns rushing. The Raiders have allowed a 100-yard rusher in more than half of their games the past three years, with nondescript backs such as Ron Dayne, Maurice Morris, Kolby Smith and now Greene all reaching the mark.

The change in coordinator and addition of Seymour and defensive end Greg Ellis this season was supposed to upgrade that facet of Oakland's defense but the results haven't shown through just yet.

"It's never been an ability issue," Richardson said. "We have all the necessary pieces it's just about getting everybody to trust each other and do their jobs."