Raiders’ Gruden promises changes on defense

ALAMEDA – In absence of specifics, Jon Gruden offered a promise regarding his struggling defense.

“We’ve got to play better, and we’re going to play better, and there will be changes,” Gruden said Monday at his weekly press conference. “There will be changes. What happened yesterday will not happen again. I can’t allow it to happen.”

Sounds reasonable the day after the Raiders gave up 552 yards and 9.4 yards per play in a 42-21 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Tennessee came in as a middle of the road offensive team, and the Raiders actually played much better in the previous week’s 40-9 loss to a Kansas City team with far more firepower.

But given that the Raid

ers are giving up 6.1 yards per play this season, it’s been an ongoing problem.

And it’s not as if the waiver wire is full of defensive players that could step in and help or they’d be on somebody’s roster.

Three defensive players were inactive against the Titans: cornerback Isaiah Johnson, defensive tackle Terrell Mcclain and linebacker Kyle Wilber. Wilber was declared out Friday with an ankle injury.

Linebackers who got their first action of the season included Marquel Lee (33 snaps) and Preston Brown (17 snaps).

Johnson, a fourth-round draft pick out of Houston, has been inactive for the last two games after coming off injured reserve on Oct. 14 following a fractured orbital bone in the first preseason. Gruden at one point said Johnson would be “the steal of this draft” but the coach appeared to be pumping the brakes in terms of getting him playing time.

“He’s a converted wide receiver, he’s not the most experienced corner,” Gruden said. “He missed a lot of time. So to put him in there in prime time and say let’s go might not be fair to him yet. But we’re going to look at him. We’re going to look at all options and we’re going to try and play a hell of a lot better than we did yesterday.”