D-line facing a daunting task

Here's a scary notion: Oakland's success on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans will likely fall on the shoulders of its defensive line.How scary is that, exactly?The Raiders rank 29th in the NFL in run defense and 25th in the pass-rushing department. If there are two ranks to evaluate how well your defensive line is 6 Super Bowl Champions jersey
producing, it'd be these two. That means Oakland's front four ranks somewhere around 27th overall in the league. Unfortunately, the Titans are not exactly a pushover team or ideal starting point to fix this glaring concern.Tennessee has the fifth-best rushing offense in the NFL (144.0 yards per game) and has allowed only nine sacks this season. In comparison, the Raiders have allowed 17, the NFL-worst Lions have surrendered 31 and the top-ranked Saints have given up just four.As a unit, Oakland's defensive line has registered seven of the team's nine total sacks, but only three have come off the pair of end spots. Furthermore, of the three sacks from the DE spots, only one is from a starter; the other two can be attributed to backup Chris Clemons.That's a substantial problem heading into a meeting with 4-2 Titans, bearing in mind second-year quarterback Vince Young intends on returning to the starting lineup.Young was sidelined last week with a sore right quadriceps, which he suffered on Oct. 14. In the meantime, ex-Raider Kerry Collins has handled the starting reps over the past game-plus for the Titans. Unfortunately, Collins won't have the opportunity to pay back the team that employed him from 2004-05.With Young back under center, Oakland's inability to rush the passer may become yet more obvious. The former first-round pick rushed for over 500 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie, and has already taken off 32 times this season.Granted, it's not an easy task to take down Young behind the line of scrimmage, no matter what kind of defensive line you have.The former Texas standout was sacked 25 times in 2006 -- the Titans, as a whole, ranked 10th in the NFL -- but for every one time he was sacked, he took off on a scramble, on average, 3.32 times for a gain of almost 7 yards every time.That means a sack is nearly as good as a forced thrown-away ball. Containment is as good as penetration.That task will be up to starting ends Derrick Burgess and Tommy Kelly. Defensive tackle Gerard Warren, who has missed the past two weeks but still leads the team with three sacks, intends on playing in Sunday's game. With Warren's return to the interior of the line, that allows Kelly to return to defensive end, where he started at the beginning of the season.It will be up to the entire line, though, along with the other seven guys on the field, to stop Tennessee's other threats on the ground.With halfback Chris Brown likely to be sidelined 6 Super Bowl Champions jersey black jersey
with an ankle injury, the Raider 'D' will see a heavy dose of the 235-pound LenDale White, along with backup Chris Henry. This season, White has rushed 114 times for 380 yards and four touchdowns (3.3 yards per attempt). Last week, Henry carried the ball 11 times for 57 yards and one TD."It will be real interesting to get Gerard back now that [Sapp's] going and Derrick [Burgess] is at the best he's been all year," head coach Lane Kiffin told the Mercury News."It will be fun to watch with all of them together."It'll be more than fun. It'll be vital to a third Raiders' win.