Michael Huff has quietly gone on to become one of the biggest defensive leaders this season, in my mind at least.
After signing two veteran cornerbacks this offseason, the Raiders found themselves looking for another cornerback by Week 3 because of injuries.
That led to the coaching staff having to move one of their starting safeties in the secondary. Luckily for the Raiders, both of their starting safeties had cornerback experience. Tyvon Branch played corner at the University of Connecticut, while Michael Huff had his fair share of time at the position last season and at Texas.
Being the superior player in pass coverage, the Raiders opted towards moving Huff to corner and keeping Branch at safety.
Against the Steelers, Michael Huff was clearly looking uncomfortable. In almost every snap, he lined up deep against the speedy Pittsburgh wide receivers. Normally, in years past, this would be a smart move as those receivers would run deeper routes.
However, with Todd Haley and his "dink and dunk" offense, playing off is a terrible strategy. To give players like Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders room to catch the ball and run is plain stupid. Despite winning, the Raiders allowed Ben Roethlisberger to complete 74 percent of his passes for 384 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.
In his second game at cornerback, Huff showed minimal improvements. He was still lining up deeper than he should have and for the second time in a row, the opposing quarterback had the Raiders defense looking confused.
But against Atlanta, Michael Huff looked good. Scratch that, the team looked good. Michael Huff looked great. Facing Roddy White, one of the league's premiere receivers, Huff looked like he played at cornerback for years. He was physical, aggr...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Oakland Raiders
