BALTIMORE — An offseason of overhauling the Raiders secondary wasn’t supposed to produce the worst passing defense in the league. But after the first two weeks, that’s exactly what it looked like.

When the Raiders (2-1) face the Baltimore Ravens (3-0) on Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, will the improved unit that played well for 58 minutes last week be on display, or will Oakland revert back to allowing 400-plus yards through the air?

Not surprisingly, the Raiders are convinced they’ll be on top of their game.

“We’re definitely capable of it,” defensive back David Amerson said. “We’ve definitely got the guys to do it.”

The Raiders allowed only 214 yards passing to the Tennessee Titans last week, and quarterback Marcus Mariota managed to complete barely half his passes. Even that could’ve been a whole lot better if the Raiders hadn’t allowed him to go 6 of 8 for 93 yards on the final drive as the Titans nearly rallied for a game-tying score.

“We can’t allow it to be that exciting,” Amerson said. “I think we can definitely do a better job of getting off the field earlier, especially at the end in the fourth quarter in a two-minute situation. We don’t want it to be that close.”

That final drive aside, this is what the Raiders expected when they invested more than $93 million — with better than $53 million of it guaranteed — to completely remake a secondary that was torched early last season, including allowing 384 passing yards to Joe Flacco in a Week 2 win over the Ravens.

The Raiders’ starting secondary that day included TJ Carrie and DJ Hayden at cornerback and Charles Woodson and Taylor Mays at safety. Hayden’s now the nickel back, Carrie’s been limited to 11 defensive snaps as the No. 4 corner, Woodson is retired and Mays was cut by Cincinnati after facing possibly two substance abuse suspensions.

Now it’s Amerson, who signed a four-year, $35 million offseason extension after being claimed on waivers after last year’s Ravens game, starting opposite free agent acquisition Sean Smith (four years, $38 million) at cornerback, with Reggie Nelson (two years, $8.5 million) and first-round pick Karl Joseph at safety.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh is high on Oakland’s group. He’s faced Reggie Nelson plenty over the previous six years when Nelson was in the AFC North with the Bengals, and likes his pairing with Joseph, who he though highly of during the draft process.

“I thought he was one of, maybe the best, safety,” Harbaugh said. “Just love the way he tackles, love the way he plays 100 miles per hour.”

Harbaugh also called Amerson “one of the best corners, it looks like, in football right now.”

Indeed, Amerson is rated by Pro Football Focus as the league’s top cornerback through three games. His performance against the Titans (four passes defended, allowing just four receptions for 38 yards on 11 targets) was the best of the week, according to the site. Smith’s outing, which included an interception and just one reception allowed on seven targets, was No. 2.

Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said they need to use last week’s secondary play as the floor.

“We can do more, but that’s the standard that should be set and what we should expect,” Del Rio said.

Smith’s strong performance came after he struggled his first two games with the Raiders, including a debut that was so bad that he was benched in the third quarter.

“It’s real simple, it wasn’t no big mathematical formula or nothing like that,” Smith said of the turnaround by him and the secondary. “It’s just going out there doing your job. We have great players in the secondary, veterans, professional guys who have been doing what we do for a while now, so we just went out there and played ball.”

Nelson, who tied for the NFL lead in interceptions last season, got his first pick of the year against the Titans, and said that game was about sending a message.

“We just wanted to come out and make a statement, to be honest with you,” Nelson said. “The first two games didn’t go the way we wanted and that wasn’t the stamp we wanted to put on our resume, and I think we responded pretty well.”

Even Hayden made a contribution last week, delivering a pair of what Del Rio termed “jackhammer” hits.

“It felt good because the last two games we hadn’t really played up to our potential,” Hayden said. “We played a whole lot better than we have been playing, and I feel this is just a stepping stone for us to be the great secondary that we’re supposed to be.”

By Sunday afternoon, there should be a good idea if last week was real improvement, a function of the opponent or somewhere in the middle. The Raiders, dragged down heavily by allowing 808 yards the first two games, are still by far the worst in the league by allowing 340 passing yards per game and 9.4 per play.

So, the road to redemption continues.

“You want it week in and week out, they’re talking about the Raiders secondary or the Raiders defense,” Amerson said. “We just want to get it to that level, so we’ve just got to keep working at it.”

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