One of the common things to pop up when people discussed Aaron Curry's failures as a Seahawk was that he played the game too much in his head. He is going to have a lot less to think about as a Raider.
The Raiders keep things fairly simple on defense. They are mixing in more zone this year, but for the most part is see the ball get the ball. Curry is either going to have a man or a spot to guard if it is a pass and he will simple have to get the running if it is a run.
Curry answered question from the media after his first practice as a Raider on Friday. Jerry McDonald transcribed Curry's candid interview. He was asked about what he likes about this defense. Curry:
"Yes. Definitely. From alignment to assignment, we’re allowed, the whole entire defense, we’re allowed to line up and run and hit. That’s what’s good about this defense. That’s what’s going to be so exciting about this defense."
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This defense is going to allow Curry to just go out there and run. He isn't going to have to spend a lot of time thinking about his assignment. It this regard it will be similar to the position he was in when he was blowing people up at Wake Forest. Curry:
"Well, the difference when I was in school and the NFL, we played two defenses, when I was in school and we didn’t care that people knew what we were in, we knew how they were going to attack it to beat it. That’s the biggest difference. I played the same thing every snap. If I didn’t play it this way, I played it that way, and it never changed. We didn’t have any exceptions, we didn’t have any options. This is how we play it, this is how you do it. Do it fast, and that was the biggest difference between school and college (think he means school and the NFL) where up north, we had a lot of stuff. You had to be able to do everything. Everybody has to be able to do everything, versus just being just given a role and just taking off with it."
Only time will tell if this defense will allow Curry to go out and make more plays, but my hope is that without being saddled by worrying about his assignments Curry will develop a much better feel for the game.
My favorite part of the interview was at the end. I hadn't realized that Eric Barton is Curry's brother. And it sounds like Barton is going to let Curry know exactly what it is like and means to be a Raider. Curry:
"Yeah, Eric’s way more excited than I am. I’m excited, and he’s like over-the-mountain excited. He’s like, I mean, when can I come up? Where can I stay? I’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow. What’s the defense look like? Tell the coaches I say hey.
"I think he’s revisiting his time here and he had some special time here. I believe he went to the Super Bowl in 2002, so he’s extremely excited. He should be here today and he’s going to show me the ropes and he’s going to tell me all about Raider football, and I’m also excited about that, to actually have the history in my blood and be able to talk to him, he’s going to tell me how it should look and how we should do it."
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