A year ago the Raiders were in the playoffs, they had the 5th ranked defense (3rd against the run, 12th against the pass) and things looked good.
In the first round they selected talented rookie S Terreal Bierria and after 10 weeks they stand at 3-7 and have allowed the second most points in the league (266), an average of 26 points a game !, the defense ranks 15th (10th against the run, 17th against the pass).
Whats gone wrong ?
The seconday has had a huge shakeup, long time starting CB William Mulder was slowing and was eventually cut. Mulder had lost his speed but was a great tackler.
Rookie 1st rounder Bierria has played well at times but has been very hot/cold. He has 53 tackles in 10 games to lead all rookies but has also missed several tackles and has been exposed in coverage. Still Rochester are standing by him and despite the shaky rookie season they feel they have their starting strong safety for the next 10 seasons.
Another former 1st round pick Marvin Taylor on paper looks a great player but he needs to step it up.
At CB Damien Huren is a great all round CB and has superb speed and strength (Even played safety last year) but the team expects more from him. His partner was Alex Wallace but he was injured for a month, in came Roy Salas but he struggled at times. With a 3-7 record the team are starting rookie CB Marques Binns, a talented player but he needs to bulk up.
So on paper the secondary look very good but its been torched all year, is it the lack of a decent pass rush ?
Rochester are 6th in sacks but have had changes on the d-line with DE Arpedge Rolle traded, Mike Sutton benched and now Patrick Garth who had lost his job this year coming in and playing superbly (10 tackles and 7 sacks despite starting just 3 games). Backup DE Ezekial Davis has 3 sacks and shows promise, currently Paul Cheng is starting at DE2 and has the rest of the season to show he should be the starter next year. Cheng has talent but so far hasnt produced as a starter.
The LB's are a good bunch, veteran LB Shan Housekeeper has slowed and some in the organisation are calling for the veteran to be benched as there are better LB's on paper on the team. However Housekeeper could finish in the top 10 LB's of all time and while he is still producing (2nd on the team in tackles) the team dont want to bench him.
So why is the defense playing so bad ? Some people say a rookie safety has hurt the team this year, others say the changes on the d-line have hurt and injuries at CB.
Will Rochester bounce back next year ? Again on paper they have talent but the problem is they dont seem to play as a 'team'. They have 3 1st round picks, a 2nd and 3rd rounder so it looks like they'll get 5 new players in the draft.