Today Al Davis will introduce the new coach of his Oakland Raiders. He turned to the family responsible for one of his most crushing losses to find Lane Kiffn. Southern Cal's offensive coordinator is the son of Monte Kiffin, architect of the Tampa Bay defense that turned quarterback Rich Gannon from regular season MVP to the record holder for interceptions in Super Bowl XXXVII. The hope is that Kiffin will do for this offense what his father has done for Tampa Bay's defense. Here is a look at some of the challenges facing him as he tries to get the worst team in the NFL over the past four seasons back on track.

Disgruntled Wide Receivers: One of the FOX writers cooked up a story about the team packaging Jerry Porter and Randy Moss to acquire Michael Vick. Ben Maller has been reading too many Harry Potter books because this deal is pure fantasy. The trade would leave Atlanta with four first round wide receivers and a second rounder from the last nine drafts. Has Matt Millen taken over their personnel department?

Instead, Kiffin should make priority #1 trying to appease both Moss and Porter, in that order. Moss wants to win so he will need to be convinced that in two or three seasons this team can get back to the playoffs - if he is willing to wait that long in the prime of his playing years. Porter might just want to be the main man. He spent the beginning of his career in the shadow of the most stastically prolific pair of wide receivers in NFL history, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown. Once they were gone, in came Moss. He welcomed him initially but when he was given no slack on his choice of offseason workout locations it became evident to me how Porter wanted to be treated like a #1.

My solution would be to find out which player wants to be a Raider more and then trade away the other player. There is enough talent at the position to do without either Moss or Porter, but for an offense trying to get out of the gutter it would not be prudent to dump both playmakers. Given the trade environment from last year when Javon Walker was dealt for a mid-second round pick, Moss would probably earn the same with Porter garnering a third. Adding another draft pick will help them land a quality tight end, possibly even Arizona State's Zach Miller.  

Offensive Line woes: Three offensive linemen were taken in the 2006 draft and a third was selected with the #2 overall pick in 2004. They were coached by two men in the Hall of Fame, Art Shell and Jackie Slater yet the young talent resembled a block of thinly sliced Swiss cheese, allowing Raider quarterbacks to suffer 72 sacks and commit 33 turnovers. Four sacks and two giveaways on average will put your team in a hole on a weekly basis.

One mistake the team made to set the table for this disaster was not pursuing veteran guard Larry Allen, a resident of the East Bay, who wound up signing with the 49ers. Allen went on to revitalize a disastrous line and helped turn Frank Gore to 1,695 yards rushing. This season it should be a high priority to find the next best thing in this season's free agent crop to stabilize the group. Leonard Davis of Arizona seems to be that guy.

Robert Gallery is only an anchor left tackle on paper. He is best served moving to the right side or possibly inside to guard. This year's rookies McQuistan and Boothe would continue to fight for time at guard along with Langston Walker. Jake Grove's play should improve at center with better play around him. Drafting anyone else to play on the line would send a signal that they are giving up on the young guys already on board. It would be better to grab a quality veteran in free agency and let the players on hand get through their growing pains.

The Draft: Everyone seems to have the team grabbing quarterback JaMarcus Russell from LSU with the #1 overall selection. It might be the right pick after the team passed on Leinart and Cutler last year. Then again, Kiffin could decide that the guy who had his Pac-10 records broken by Leinart in 2005 under his leadership is good enough to play behind an improved line. Andrew Walter certainly took his share of lumps during his first season of action under center, but was not without promise.

One option which can be explored is trading out of the top slot. The foundation for San Diego's 14-2 season in 2006 began on draft day in 2004 when they essentially dealt the #1 (after taking Eli Manning) for Rivers, Merriman and Kaeding who all will be in Honolulu next month. Deals like that will not happen too often, but if the team is not ready to again dip into the offensive tackle pool (Joe Thomas, Wisconsin) go with a wide receiver (Calvin Johnson, Georgia Tech) or take a quarterback (Russell or Brady Quinn, Notre Dame) then dealing down makes good sense.

Before the first day of the draft is over the Raiders should be holding a quality tight end and a future replacement at defensive tackle for Warren Sapp. The unsettled situations at wide receiver and quarterback will determine what they do with the #1 overall pick. In a best case scenario they decide to stick with Walter, trade Moss while holding onto Porter, and deal down to acquire additional picks. This could put them in prime position to pick up another serious cog for their defensive line such as tackles Amobi Okoye (Louisville) or Alan Branch (Michigan) or ends Gaines Adams (Clemson) or Jamaal Anderson (Arkansas). It would also allow them to luxury to dip into the pools of running back or free safety with the additional pick(s) acquired for their #1.

Can he succeed?

This is a team playing in a very tough AFC West division. San Diego seems loaded and ready to stay on top for a few seasons with the only stumbling block being a possible head coaching change of their own. Denver and Kansas City are steadily competitive forces. Oakland's horrendous divisional record has been a huge reason for their recent demise. However, if Kiffin can breathe some creativity into the offense the team already has a dynamic defense capable of shutting down even the most prolific attacks. The ceiling for 2007 is probably six or seven wins. After that anything is possible in a league that sent a 3-13 team from last year into this season's NFC Championship.