Things are a little different with McKenzie and Allen running the Raiders. (Getty Images)

Everyone knows that the late Al Davis was intimately involved in running the Raiders. He was the Raiders. So it shouldn't be that shocking for Michael Huff to say that Davis had his hands in the defensive gameplanning over the past few years.

Still, it's crazy to think that the octogenarian Davis was still acting, as Jerry McDonald of the Contra Costa Times put it, as the "de facto defensive coordinator." But Huff all but confirmed that on Wednesday.

"Nothing personal, but obviously, before with Al, rest in peace, he had his hands in all the defense," Huff said. "He had all his little things he liked to do. Now with [Dennis Allen] out there, we've got all kinds of blitzes, we've got 3-4, 4-3 fronts, just a lot of variety and different things going on. So I'm going to love it."

Davis was obviously a brilliant football mind. Many of his philosophies shaped the way the NFL developed over recent years. But it's hard not to see a trend with the Raiders over the past decade: not since 2002 did they rank in the top 15 in points allowed defensively.

And only once in that time did the team end up with a positive point differential on the season. Not coincidentally, 2002 was the last time the Raiders made the postseason. Much of that could be attributed, Huff believes, to the fact that "everybody knew" what the defense was doing when they lined up.

"Everybody knew," Huff said. "I'm in the middle of the field. I'm in the post, we're pretty much man-to-man on the outside. It was pretty simple. We really didn't blitz much. We let our front four get after them. That's how it was, so we dealt with it."

In today's NFL, with increasingly complex offenses and increasingly smart quarterbacks, if your defense isn't making the opposing offense at least think about what might be going on, you're going to be starting way behind the proverbial eight-ball.

There's no guarantee that Allen's presence on the sideline -- and a lack of Davis meddling -- is going to turn the Raiders defense into a top unit overnight. In fact, they've lost too many players in Reggie McKenzie's (smart) salary purge to get their expectations too high.

But based on what Huff's saying (or, if you prefer, openly admitting), we should start to see an improvement in the way they play defense in Oakland.

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, subscribe to our RSS Feed and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Will Brinson on Twitter here: @willbrinson.