The professor of defense
It’s a good thing that Jason Tarver mastered (as in degree) biochemistry and molecular biology. Because he is taking on much uglier, more complicated material now.
How are the Raiders going to stop the run?
And when he’s done with that decade-old problem, Oakland’s bright-eyed new defensive coordinator can tackle this brainteaser:
How are the Raiders going to stop the pass?
Oakland, which won eight games last season on the strength of its offense, became one of four teams to allow at least 30 TD passes and 5.0 yards per carry in a season. (Not to mention the entire squad’s NFL-record 163 penalties for 1,358 yards.) The Raiders had a lot of high-priced players, but few, if any, playmakers on defense.
And then, in the offseason, Oakland cut leading pass-rusher Kamerion Wimbley for salary-cap reasons and also let go of its two starting cornerbacks, Stanford Routt and Chris Johnson.
The Raiders replaced them with several veterans signed to one-year contracts and rookies drafted after the second round, as they didn’t have any early picks.
All of which explains why Tarver can’t go into a lot of detail when asked what the Raiders’ defense is going to look like. He doesn’t know yet.
Discovery mode
The team was back on the field for organized workouts Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Tarver and new head coach Dennis Allen are still in discovery mode.
“Put all these guys out here and see who can play and who can learn and who can communicate and who can fit with your group,” Tarver said.
Allen and general manager Reggie McKenzie found Tarver right down the road, as he was a firstyear co-defensive coordinator at Stanford. Tarver, 37, had spent the previous decade as a 49ers assistant coach, including six seasons coaching the outside linebackers.
Never mind that the Raiders turned to Tarver after striking out with five other defensive-coordinator candidates. They got the right man, new Raiders and former 49ers cornerback Shawntae Spencer said.
“He is a rising star,” Spencer said. “Been underused for so long. He just has so much intelligence when it comes to the X’s and O’s. He is one of the brightest minds out there.”
Tarver and Allen, a defensive coordinator with the Broncos last season, aren’t letting too much out of the bag about the defense yet. It will have many different looks, with man-to-man, zone and zone-pressure packages all featuring a lot of blitzes.
Although in the last couple of years, the Raiders relied on Wimbley or their Richard Seymour-led defensive line to make a play, Tarver and Allen want to take advantage of the range, versatility and blitzing skills of safeties Tyvon Branch and Michael Huff.
“We’re going to be multiple,” Tarver said. “One of our phrases is ‘multiplicity through simplicity,’ so we’re going to have defenses where everyone is going to have a turn to cover and rush and those type things.”
Favorable reviews
The players, new and old, like what they have learned so far about the defensive looks.
“I love the scheme,” said cornerback Ron Bartell, one of the players who was given a one-year, show-me contract. “It puts a lot of different people in positions to make plays. Some schemes are predicated upon D-line, some are on linebackers, some are on secondary play.”
Right now, nearly two months from training camp, is a time for teaching. Good thing that Tarver is a teacher.
A Foothill High (Pleasanton) alum, Tarver received a scholarship to play at Santa Clara, but the school dropped football a few months later. He played defensive back in 1994 and 1995 at West Valley College in Saratoga.
He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Santa Clara in 1997. He also earned his master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCLA and the departmental prize for distinguished teaching in 1998 and 2000. He caught the “coaching football bug” shortly thereafter.
One can picture Tarver writing on a chalkboard his list of rules that will help his defensive players pass their tests against opposing teams.
“The test for players is when the offense presents you a look, a quiz question, which is a formation, then you gotta use your rules for that formation,” Tarver said. “And then things move, and then you’ve got to apply your rules as it’s going.
“It’s applying it throughout the play. … What happens most of the time is somebody found a way to get somebody messed up out of a rule or something, or ‘shoot, I just didn’t see that guy.’ My rule tells me, look at him.
“If you know your rules, if you execute your rules, there’s very little that can hurt you. And then all 11 guys gotta do the rules at the same time. That’s why you practice.” Reece back: Raiders fullback Marcel Reece signed his exclusive-rights tender with the team and was back on the field Monday for organized team activities. Reece, 27 in a couple of weeks, wanted a long-term contract but instead will earn $540,000 next season and be a restricted free agent next year.