UNIONDALE, NY - High-octane offenses provide the backbone of the Arena Football League. But even with six-touchdown performances commonplace for quarterbacks, Dragons coach Weylan Harding knows winning football still comes down to defense.

Following a 5-11 campaign, Harding started to address those deficiencies, acquiring reining af2 Defensive Player of the Year Levy Brown to form an aggressive cornerback tandem with veteran Billy Parker. As the Dragons start a two-game road trip against division rival Philadelphia Sunday afternoon, the revamped secondary is looking to duplicate its six-stop performance that secured a 50-47 victory over Kansas City in last week’s home opener.

Brown picked off two passes in that contest, including an acrobatic grab with time expiring to prevent a late comeback. In all, the rookie out of Florida A & M registered six-and-a-half tackles and two passes defensed to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors after improving his team to 1-1.

“The big change was my defensive positioning coaching,” Brown said. “My relationship with Billy is pretty good. We’re still learning and feeling each other.”

Parker and Brown will face another challenge in Tony Graziani. The veteran Soul passer leads the AFL with a 138 quarterback rating. He’s completed 36-54 passes for 14 touchdowns against zero interceptions to propel Philadelphia to a 2-0 start. When the ball kicks-off at Wachovia Center, the Dragons defense, specifically Brown and his league-leading three interceptions, will to generate stops or risk falling behind early.

“I was glad to see us have the defensive effort that we've had since last year," Harding said. “We know we have a defense that will step up in difficult moments."

As for the Dragons quarterback situation, Rohan Davey is coming off his second good performance in relief for the injured Aaron Garcia. Garcia and top receiver Kevin Swayne missed the victory over the Brigade with leg injuries and are questionable. Garcia lasted just one quarter before a knee injury knocked him out of the season-opening loss in Cleveland while Swayne suffered a sprained left knee.

Davey instead continue to build off his inconsistent rookie campaign. The former LSU star hooked up with Jason Willis for four of his six touchdown passes, including the game-winner in the final minute. A healthy Swayne could provide the passing attack with an additional weapon.

Philadelphia’s secondary claims Michael Brown, who is just one interception off Brown’s mark for the top mark. The Soul are allowing opposing quarterbacks to complete 63 percent of passes, meaning Willis, Swayne and Chris Anthony could potentially enjoy open routes.

Of course, Davey will only hold on to the starting job if Garcia can’t go. Overall, Garcia has appeared in just 12 of 34 games since 2005, though his 802 career touchdown passes gives him the edge to reclaim his job when healthy.

“That’s a coaches’ decision,” Davey said about his role. “I have the utmost respect for AG. Whatever direction they decide to go with, I’m cool with it.”