PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : RAIDERS : Secondary Gets Ready for Air Attack

Defensive backs James Trapp, Dan Land and Donald Frank normally play in only a few select passing situations, but that will not be the case Sunday against Atlanta.

Playing against the Falcons’ run-and-shoot attack, which features four wide receivers for nearly every down, the Raiders’ secondary will be severely tested.

“Everybody in the secondary has to be prepared and ready to play,” Coach Art Shell said. “They have a pretty good group of receivers, but it all comes down to the quarterback and (the Falcons’ Jeff George) is a good one.”

Atlanta has two players on pace to catch 100 passes this season in Terance Mathis (51 catches) and Andre Rison (49). With George passing for 1,773 yards and 11 touchdowns, the Falcons have the league’s fourth-best passing attack.

Raider linebackers Greg Biekert, Winston Moss, Rob Fredrickson and Mike Jones might not play much against Atlanta.

“That’s true, they sure won’t get that much work at all,” Shell said. “They run four (wide receivers) for nearly every down, even goal-line and short-yardage situations.”

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A victory over Atlanta would give Shell 50 victories in his coaching career. His record is 49-38. . . . In his 11-year career, Jeff Hostetler has never played against Atlanta. . . . Backup quarterback Vince Evans, 39, and Atlanta linebacker Clay Matthews, 38, were teammates at USC and are two of the oldest active players in the league.