National Football League

Raiders not yet in panic mode despite 1-3 start

Published Oct. 5, 2010 4:11 a.m. ET

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After an offseason full of optimism, the Oakland Raiders find themselves in a familiar position a quarter of the way through the season.

The Raiders have just one win after four games and are all alone in last place in the AFC West following Sunday's 31-24 loss at home to Houston.

''We are not panicking,'' safety Tyvon Branch said Monday. ''It's a long season. We haven't even gotten into our divisional games yet. We are very optimistic still. It's still early, we're still working out the kinks. Once we get everything going, we still have so much potential that we can just go on a run. That's what this league is about, going on runs.''

Once again, the problem for the Raiders is that they're having problems against the opposition's rushing attack. They eliminated most of the needless penalties that plagued them the first three weeks, committing just two all game against Houston.

After being the worst team in the league at converting red zone opportunities into touchdowns the first three weeks, the Raiders got into the end zone all three times they had the ball inside the Texans 20.

But unless the Raiders can figure out how to stop the run, they could be on their way to an eighth straight losing season. The performance of the run defense against the Texans was the worst of the season.

Even though NFL leading rusher Arian Foster was benched for the first 23 minutes by coach Gary Kubiak in a disciplinary move, the Texans still ran the ball easily through the Oakland defense. Third-stringer Derrick Ward had 80 yards on 12 carries, including a 33-yard TD run. Backup Steve Slaton rushed for 37 yards on five carries.

Then Foster made up for his lost time by running for 131 yards on 16 carries, including a 74-yarder in the third quarter that put the Texans up for good. In all, the Texans finished with 249 yards on 36 carries for an astonishing 6.9 yard per carry average.

''It's always frustrating when somebody can run the ball on you and you're not stopping them,'' rookie defensive end Lamarr Houston said. ''We know that we're a good team. It's just, small things we've got to fix, pay attention to details and we're working on it. The process is getting better. It's getting closer, it's getting closer. Soon we're going to crack that egg.''

The Raiders used their first two draft picks on Houston and middle linebacker Rolando McClain to help shore up a run defense that has been the worst in the NFL the past seven seasons. Oakland also brought in linebackers Kamerion Wimbley and Quentin Groves and moved defensive end Richard Seymour inside as part of a complete overhaul of the front seven.

But the results so far have been all too familiar as the Raiders have been unable to control the line of scrimmage on defense.

''We didn't get surprised or anything like that,'' coach Tom Cable said. ''We got outplayed. That's what it was. You take from that the embarrassment, you take from that the sick feeling you have in you and you go to work.''

Despite the poor start, there have been some reasons for optimism. The Raiders showed an ability to come back on Sunday, cutting a 17-point deficit to seven before an interception that went in and out of receiver Louis Murphy's hands ended a comeback attempt.

The offense is far improved from last year, having put up more than 20 points in each of Bruce Gradkowski's two starts. The Raiders have gained more yards after four games than they have since their Super Bowl season of 2002.

''It's a totally different feel from last year and this year,'' Murphy said. ''A lot of veterans on this team are fed up with losing and really want to win. It's a different feeling. It's a good vibe going around here. We just haven't pulled out the close ones, but the good thing is it's early in the season. I'd rather do this early than late.''

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