For Sale: Optimism with Extended Warranty

I’m the guy who sold you hot coffee in Death Valley in 2005 and a bridge in Brooklyn in 2006. Now I’ve got something new to sell you. Trust me. No, really. I’ll even throw in an extended warranty and free batteries.

I’ve been blogging about the Raiders for a mere 17 months, yet I’m already writing about a third coaching regime. Over this span of two seasons and more than 330 takes, I have celebrated six total victories with you. For the past two preseasons, I have barked a lot about how this year is the year, only to quickly find myself talking about next year.

Here’s what I was selling in 2005: With the additions of Moss and Jordan, with Collins getting comfortable in the system and Gallery getting comfortable in the NFL, and all under the guidance of offensive guru Norv Turner, the Oakland Raiders were poised to be an offensive juggernaut. Oops.

Here’s what I was selling in 2006: This is the year we return to classic Raiders football, to long bombs and downhill running, to pride and poise and glory, all under the steady focused hand of Raiders legend Art Shell. Ouch.

I don’t make any apologies for being wrong in my early predictions about the past two seasons. I’m a fan, which means I’m a fanatic—a fact that I must balance with my role as a commentator. Here’s an example of how I do it: When Tom Walsh is announced as the offensive coordinator, I don’t scream that the sky is falling and that he’s a failure before his plane has even landed in Oakland. Once a decision is made by my team, I am willing to be open minded—and even irrationally exuberant—until proven otherwise. That’s the fan in me. However, when Tom Walsh confirms my worst fears with incoherent playcalling, then I am obligated to comment accordingly.

In other words, I reserve the right to be optimistic in the preseason but am obligated to be realistic during the regular season.

So now I’m back, knocking on your door with a new sales pitch: We’re coming out of the woods. We’re getting back on track. This is the start of something meaningful and lasting. It’s the dawn of the Lane Kiffin era—batteries included.

I love the decisiveness of our recent hirings, such as Knapp, Cable and Perry. They have been swift and sensible. This year, it's not the Raiders who are making curious news. It’s Jerry Jones who is hemming and hawing into oblivion. It's the Chargers firing their coach in mid February after already losing both coordinators—and after going 14-2 in the regular season. This is a team that didn’t fire its second-year coach after going 1-15 in 2000. San Diego has always had the fairest weather, eh?

Anyhow, I like our hirings. We're quickly emerging from the acid trip of 2006, in which we hired a head coach away from a corporate desk job, our OC away from rural retirement, a QB coach who hadn’t coached quarterbacks for six years and a line coach with very little coaching experience. In retrospect, it's no wonder our offense looked disoriented. Our coaching staff was disoriented.

This year, our new coordinator and coaches are already deeply engaged in the game at an NFL level, and while Kiffin is new to the NFL, he has been prowling a sideline for the college program that most resembles an NFL program. Shaking off cobwebs won't be an issue.

We still have a ways to go, we still have player personnel issues in my opinion, but I think that the confusion and disorientation of 2006 are being roundly resolved, and that a true foundation is being formed. Trust me. Remember, the price of optimism is free, and this time I'll even throw in an extended warranty and some Duracells. I'm sorry about the previous products, but I still stand by this new one.