CSI: Raider Take
Welcome to the inaugural episode of CSI: Raider Take. Tonight, we are conducting an autopsy of the final two minutes of the Raiders’ loss to the Vikings.
After a strange interception-fumble combo, the Raiders regained control of the ball with 1:46 remaining, needing a touchdown to tie the game. Here’s what the crime scene reveals:
1-10-OAK 18 (1:46) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass incomplete short right to 25-J.Fargas (52-C.Greenway).
2-10-OAK 18 (1:39) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass short middle to 17-T.Dwight to OAK 26 for 8 yards (52-C.Greenway).
3-2-OAK 26 (1:16) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass short middle to 36-J.Griffith to OAK 29 for 3 yards (52-C.Greenway).
1-10-OAK 29 (:50) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass short right to 80-Z.Miller pushed ob at OAK 36 for 7 yards (31-M.McCauley).
2-3-OAK 36 (:44) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass short middle to 36-J.Griffith pushed ob at OAK 46 for 10 yards (52-C.Greenway).
1-10-OAK 46 (:38) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass incomplete short right to 84-J.Porter.
2-10-OAK 46 (:33) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass incomplete short left to 36-J.Griffith.
3-10-OAK 46 (:25) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass short middle to 80-Z.Miller to MIN 36 for 18 yards (52-C.Greenway).
1-10-MIN 36 (:25) 8-D.Culpepper pass incomplete. PENALTY on OAK-17-T.Dwight, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at MIN 36 - No Play.
1-15-MIN 41 (:00) (Shotgun) 8-D.Culpepper pass incomplete deep middle to 89-R.Curry (42-D.Sharper).
It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to identify the common clue: the word “short” precedes each and every play between the time of 1:46 and a futile Hail Mary from the 41-yard line with two seconds remaining.
What’s that, Watson? You see something else? Oh, yes, that’s right—26 seconds elapsing between a three-yard gain and the next snap. Three yards and 26 seconds in the last minute while seven points down on your own 29-yard line!
Obviously, we’re dealing with the most heinous of crimes…
Oakland Raiders, you have been officially charged with intent to murder the concept of competitive football. How do you plead?
“Insanity!”
Honestly, is there any other explanation for this? Why bother to throw a long-shot Hail Mary when you can’t even take the chance of throwing downfield 20 yards to avoid a long-shot Hail Mary in the first place? It’s totally illogical and inconsistent.
As for the elapsed time, this has been going on for three straight years, spanning three coaching staffs, and amply documented here at Raider Take.
Think about it. This is the NFL. As bad as our offense is, they represent 11 individuals in a 32-team league of the most elite football professionals in the world.
Therefore, our continued inability to execute a hurry-up offense in the NFL is akin to a Harvard law professor misunderstanding the definition of “plea bargain” or a brain surgeon forgetting to apply anesthesia prior to drilling a hole in your skull. It’s simply unfathomable and inexcusable at this elite level.
So where are my other postgame takes? This two-minute autopsy is all I’ve got. Otherwise, I don’t have any takes. You want me to talk about our run defense? Our inability to score touchdowns? Our increasingly creepy resemblance to last year’s team? Of course you don’t.
After four years of sheer misery, I expected more than this by now, a lot more. Not necessarily a lot more wins (but at least a few more), but surely a different way of losing, with firmer hints of competence. But that's just not the case. Getting run over by a replacement running back, the absence of fundamentals, the false starts and other maddening penalties, the incoherent "two-minute" offense…Blah, blah, blah.
Let’s not kid ourselves. We soundly beat the Dolphins, a team so incompetent that they might not win a game this year. And we beat the Browns, narrowly, via missed field goal. That’s the sum total of our highlight reel as of November 18.
It’s not that I think that Lane Kiffin & Company can’t make a difference. It’s that I can’t believe our personnel problem is so radioactive that they haven’t yet been able to make much, if any, difference on the field.
Just consider the evidence.
posted by Raider Take at 8:23 PM
108 Comments:
Raider Take, you said it all.
same terrible players back year after year = same stupid, uninspired football, year after year. case closed watson.
but wait, here comes Columbo, let's get his opinion. whats that my ruffled, raincoated friend, another clue ?
dwight is jumping on a spike play.
seems you've located the dumbest team in America. good work. better call for backup.
looks like Kojak has arrived on the crime scene. he's spotted something. yes, it's HUGE holes for any running back to pour through.
even Ironsides could gain 200 yrds rushing on the confussed raider defenders.
so who is responsible for putting this piece of garbage of a team together, and keeping them together to torture us low these many seasons ?
i don't know. that's why i've called in PI, Jim Rockford to take the case. Jim, it's up to you to get to the bottom of this mess.
wait, Rockford has an early lead...it's the fingerprints of an 87 year old man...
Falcons begin the season with a new coaching staff (similar to the Raiders), lose their top two QBs, and still manage to scratch out 3 wins.
We simply can't afford to pay the first pick in next year's draft. We've already mortgaged our future, and he's still sitting on the bench in game 10, despite 2 useless victories and no hope of salvaging this season.
At one point, I saw Russell become animated on the sideline. I believe he's itching to get in there, so why not let him? There's no way he does worse, so his ego should be pretty safe.
Somebody tell Lane Kiffin that it's no longer about "playing the players that put us in the best position to win." It's about weeding through the wreckage and throwing out the trash.
Look at it this way, we now have 6 games left of pre-pre-season for 2008.
Case (and season) closed.
I didn't get to see the game. I'm in or near Harrisonburg, Virginia. Thanksgiving with relatives.
So, I won't be commenting much this week. I did see where we recovered four fumbles, won the turnover battle and time of possession. But, a backup tailback gets over 160 on the defense.
A lot of this stuff still comes down to either coaching or players that refuse to be coached.
Will the Raiders hire a clock management specialist?
Anyway, if I don't get to check in again, All have a Happy Thanksgiving.
H
If it's not the Offense, it's the Defense. If it's not Special Teams, it's the Offense. If it's not penalties, it's turnovers. If it's not horrible pass protection, it's uninspired play-calling.
Our Raiders remind me of that Chuck-e-Cheese game where you hit the moles with a hammer when their heads pop up.
I have this image in my head of how our week goes. All coaches run over to the current problem in a cloud of dust, fixing let's say an O-line problem. Once satisfied they turn around and across the practice field they see half the Defense drunk, running around naked & throwing footballs at eachothers' nutts!
Then the coaches look even further down the practice field and our WR's are actually practicing. Oh good, but what's that they're practicing? Jumping off-sides! Sometimes I wonder if Shanahan, or some other hated enemy is paying our players under the table to be idiots. Seems like that's the kind of thing that you'd have to actually work on, a WR being offsides or false-starting. And I don't care how good Curry is, if he can't get his end under control he should be cut. This is a weekly thing. Sapp is pissed and rightfully so! Un-freaking-believable.
Psycho
Now that I've vented. Whether the rumor is true or not, Dec 2 against Denver seems like the perfect time to turn JaMarcus loose. I remember saying when he finally signed that December should be the approx. timeframe to give him a shot and I might get my wish.
ESPN said he would start though, which I don't know if I'd agree with. I say you give him the 2nd half as long as the O-line isn't getting Daunte killed that day.
Psycho
another word used in there alot that killed us, "shotgun." give the ball to andrew walter. again, rhodes with only 2 carries, for 1 yard. let the man fly some, let him compliment fargas.
defensively it was a horrible game for the raiders. that first play was completely horrible. stu was confused, and at least he admitted it.
here is my game day haiku:
expecting a win
disappointed with a loss
will the nightmare end?
Well said...I have pretty much discontinued my post game takes and analysis. They are all the same. In fact i could pretty much cut and paste. This increasingly creepy resemblance to last year’s team, is making me sick. It hurts to watch these games. I sit in awe at the mistakes that these professional elites make:
Why did Aso take the ball out of the endzone?
Where was Dwight going on the snap to stop the clock?
Why is Sims, Gallery and Curry so jumpy at the line?
How come we have difficulty with the snap?
Why do we keep running towards the WIlliams brothers.
Howe come we don't do any quick outs?
Another lost season. It's sad but I'm getting numb. Yesterday, i didn't expect us to win and when we lost i didn't go into my post game rituals which include a lot of sulking and pain. We lost to a last place team AGAIN...
I'm glad it was a morning game. I got to see the bad football and then do something productive with the rest of my day. No BBQ, No drinking, NO inviting my friends over, No dressing up...
Quick and painless like the annual flu shot....
While I'm as mystified as any, I know a couple of things that it's not. It's not Al Davis. Al Davis does not cause players to fail on their assignments, and reject discipline. Four coaches, the same problems. When (after how many) does it stop being about the coaches? This one was not on the QB, because Culpepper played well.
On one running play, I even saw Burgess leave his zone to jump into a pile on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Taylor backed out of the pile, ran through Burgess' zone and gained 15 yards. That, right there, is the problem with the defense.
Dwight, lining up for a spike to stop the clock, false started. To go where, exactly? That, right there, is the problem with this offense.
Failure to organize during a two minute drill, allowing valuable seconds to tick off the clock is a discipline problem.
Discipline! It is a thing that these players seem to absolutely reject. How many times have you heard Kiffin talk about discipline. I think probably 9 Sundays and Mondays over the last 11 weeks (only minus the relief of winning the Miami game and the bye week). While this team does seem to have a few leaders, the team leaders don't seem to be able to make a dent in this attitude.
The question, then, is why? Where did this lack of discipline, and the rejection of learning discipline come from? How did the NFL players with the worst professional discipline problems all wind up here at the same time?
I have a couple of theories, but no hard answers. My leading theory is that they didn't wind up here, but developed the attitude here. The lack of discipline of these players was born here.
I think the incubator that hatched it was the 4-12 season led by Callahan. From everything I've heard, Callahan was impossible for the players to deal with during his entire stint as HC. But in his second year the players completely rebelled. At this point, it was necessary for Davis to intervene, but he did not. He ignored the problem and allowed it to fester all season long.
During that period of time the team learned that to refuse to be coached gets the HC fired. If your job is threatened, don't play harder - just get worse. The blame will come down on the coaching staff and the player will be allowed to continue his contract with the new coach.
To my thinking, we have to give an HC a few seasons, and certainly more than one off season, to cut out the dead spots. Kiffin made some changes, but not enough. We all knew that this job would take more than tinkering, but few of us expected it demanded a complete overhaul. I'm glad Kiffin is keeping JaMarcus away from it to prevent his being tainted by it. Dwight is a long time veteran. Look how short a time it took him to be corrupted by it.
I agree. It's not Al Davis fault that Sims and Porter cannot recover a fumble.
Kiffin should unveil a new team policy; 3 strikes and you're OUT! If you commit the same penalty or mental error 3 times, you lose your job no matter what your name is or who is behind you (with exception to QBs throwing INTS). We're gonna' lose every F'ing game anyway at this rate, might as well do it without Sims, Stew, Gallery, Curry, and whoever the hell else can't get with the program and follow simple directions.
Benching (and probably cutting) Jordan is a good start among other things like cutting Mike Williams. But maybe we should speed up the process of elimination. I'd rather see high school players at this point.
Psycho
Hey, Raiders' players, coaching staffs, front office personnel, and others have been replaced and the results have NOT improved. Now how about firing the OWNER; he's the remaining constant over the years of the team's decline. Al Davis should clearly announce his intention to step aside from team management [and coaching meddling] and let some "modern" management team run the front office [FA and draft selections, salary cap management, etc] and a HC who is given authority to select his own offensive and defensive coaching staffs.
Well, at least there should be lots of players available soon. Here is a report from Charger land;
"Some guys may take losing as just, 'We lost, but we still get paid,'" Tomlinson said. "As long as you have that attitude, you're going to be losers. Those kind of guys are going to come to the forefront and then they're going to be out of here. Guys like that don't last long around this league and certainly won't be around this team, and pretty soon they'll be out of here."
*****************
I beg to differ LT. Players like that DO last in this league. They end up on the Raiders!
This is what we have to avoid. Replacing our "trash" with other people's "trash". We need guys with heart to compliment what few hearts we do have around here. We should hire a team phychological profiler.
Psycho
Bama7
Kiffen needs time to build this thing from the ground up.
Does anyone still think we have a good defense? Please stop. Rob Ryan is just the latest Al sychophant. And where's Al now? Remember last year when he took credit for the defense. Our defense is not very good at all. If you can't stop the run, you are not a good defense. Period. Last year's defensive accolades was a mirage created by habving an incredibly lousy offense. We have two speedy, athletic LB's... a couple of good DT's... and a few AVERAGE CB's (Ashmouogh included) That's it. We badly need a physical LB to compliment Morrison & Howard and we are in dire need of DE's. It doesn't do you any good to have a Burgess if you never have big leads in a game.
We have to hope Huff will develop. We HAVE TO find a true SS. As for OLB, I would love to see us package Schweigert and Porter and a draft pick to Chicago for Lance Briggs. Bring in Briggs and two good DE's and our run problems are over.
On offense we have a few medicocre lineman, an average FB and a couple of decent TE's. That's it. We have NO premier RB and we have an AWFUL WR corp. Until we find a premier NFL running back, we'll never have a running game. I know the Oline looks awful, but if you look around the league at other OL's you rarely know anyone's opposing Ol's. The McNeil kid is playing LT for the Chargers and he was nothing special in college... projected to be moved to the right side before the draft.
We have NO SKILL PLAYERS. Porter is an absolute joke, yet Al rewards him with a great contract. FOR WHAT? What did he ever do, besides look the part and run really fast on the track? Porter should be the first casualty after the season. I bet we can't even get a 4th rd pick for the guy.
You see a tough veteran like Keenan Mcardell bouncing around the league every year... but we're never intersted... watched him yesterday on TV (Redskins)... he had a good game. We could easily pick up a guy like him in the offseason... but alas, Al will surely find us the next Cliff Branch in the draft.
Find us some more speed Al! Hiram Eugene, Bowie, Real Deal Higgens... you go Al.
Bama - Regarding the D-line I think we're good at DE. Burgess, Kelly, Richardson & Clemons are all keepers. The problem is we have no true run stopping DT's. Sapp needs to be used only on passing downs unless we're in goaline. He does make plays against the run but he can't control his gaps being more of a finesse guy. Our problem is we get pushed around by every team we play.
If Sands can't become a dominant, consistant run-stopper then he should be gone. We need two DTs in the mold of what good run-stopping teams have, like Minn or Detroit. Not necessarily pro bowlers, just guys who don't get their asses kicked.
Psycho
Bama, find me the quote. I don't remember Al taking credit for last year's defense. In fact I distinctly remember him saying, "The defense was good. Not great, but good." A statement born out by their statistics. (And I can find you that quote.) He went on, at the time, to say that the offense was a disgrace, and the entire organization should be embarrassed by it.
Everyone considered Porter, a Jon Gruden pick, a good WR up until this year. We drafted him as a deep threat, and then Brown and Gruden converted him to a possession WR. With Curry's injuries over the years (causing him to lose his speed) he's also become a possession WR. We have no deep threat (you know, those speed guys that Al Davis seems to love so much).
Also, while I have my own problems with Ryan, his defensive scheme has proven to work just fine so long as players stay in their zones. Virtually every time the defense got beat on Sunday, it was directly linked to one or more of the players abandoning their zone to free lance a play.
Bama7
Psycho: Why do so many think that our run troubles are DT? Have we not tried, mcGlockton, Russell, Parella, Sapp, Washington, Adams, Sands, Kelly blah blah over the years and still can't stop the run. We always think DT is the answer to our line problems. we have no well-rounded DE's (run & Pass). DE is a big part of our run problem. Clemons is a LB/DE type... a rush specialist... played that role (LB) in Washington (I know, he's an ex-Georgia Bulldog). Kelly is a DT. Richardson? Please, this guy put up no stats at OSU... during a weak offensive Big Ten time.
We have only one DE... Burgess and he is strickly a rush the passer type... not a run stopper... see Philly where he only played passing downs.
Blanda- I'll find Al's quote. You are wrong. When asked about his role last year, he said "You see the defense don't you" or something along those lines. Perhaps others remember the quote. You have selected memory issues when it comes to Al, Blanda.
And Porter is an Al Davis pick... a guy that played a bunch of positions in college (including safety I think) that had great speed, but "untapped production".
Blanda, you're in denial. Al makes most all of the picks. Who do you think took Washington & Routt back to back a couple of years ago. That's Al, my friend... surely you believe that (?)
And tired of hearing about not being in position, or gaps, or abandoning zones. You have to want to be in the gaps... you have to want to be in the collisions. We have a bunch of non-physical football players on both sides of the ball... and that's why we get our ass kicked each weak.
Sorry, Bama, no deal. Show me the quote, because you can't find it. What Al said is still on the Raider website where he introduces Kiffin. I reviewed just last week in regard to another argument.
Porter and Curry were both Gruden picks, and he crowed about them when he signed them. He got disgruntled with Porter because Porter was slow to learn possession receiving. What's the matter, no short term memory, Bama?
I don't think there's so much of a problem with not wanting to hit. These guys leave their zones to go make the play that belongs to a teammate. When I watched Burgess throw himself into the pile on Sunday, it wasn't because he was avoiding making a hit, he was trying to make a play. Unfortunately, he was cut down, and Taylor ran through Burgess' vacated zone.
The WR passes that were successful were successful because the corners and safeties didn't stay in their zones. Jerry Mac was right on the money when he said those plays are designed for defenses where the players free lance. Everyone in the league, I guess with the exception of Bama, knows that the Raiders can be easily coaxed into abandoning their zones.
The last four years, Bama, is not the life history of this team. Each season does not exist in a vacuum. When you have memory, then you can accuse me of being selective in mine.
I, too, can't blame Mr. Davis for false starts, etc.
However, as the leader of the organization, he is ultimately responsible for the state of the organization. Just as I feel that he is ultimately responsible for the past greatness and glory of the Raiders.
Look at the Dolphins. That didn't happen overnight. The Dolphins are the product of years of bad decisions in terms of draft picks, trades, free agents, coaching hires, etc. It's easy to see.
The owner, Wayne Huizenga, isn't Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Ricky Williams or Ted Ginn, Jr. However, he is ultimately responsible for all of them, and would be even more directly responsible if he were also acting as the de facto GM of the Dolphins.
The same must be said for the Raiders at this juncture. Whether or not we are finally pointed in the right direction is still up for debate, but there's no debating that years of poor decisions are to blame for the state of the team. Our personnel problem is so deep, and so extensive, that it can only be the product of persistent flaws in talent evaluation and overall roster vision.
I'm not eager to throw stones at Mr. Davis. I'm just trying to be honest with myself and reconcile the facts of our personnel situation with the laws of organizational responsibility and leadership.
The NFL is literally designed to foster parity unlike any other professional sports league. To remain well below the median for five straight years is the worst kind of accomplishment, but it is an accomplishment nonetheless.
Bama,
Burgess & Clemons may just be rush specialists, but do you not need guys like that? If you're going to rush only 4 you have to have DEs capable of getting there. And very few DEs out there can do both really well. Clemons does it from the bench, so he is not a liability in run support.
You said yourself Kelly is a DT. Well, is he not good against the run then? Yes he is, he is good everywhere. Kelly is a must-keep guy and fits well at DE.
With Richardson the sky is the limit. Sapp said stats are for losers, so I don't care what he did in college. The guy can flat out play. I've seen him make many significant plays against both the run and pass. I watched him chase down a speedy RB from behind for like 60 yards, the guy doesn't quit. If we had 53 guys with Richardson's heart we would be winning. DE is one of the last areas I would look to improve our personnel.
Psycho
Bama7
Blanda, you are wrong up one side and down the other, and if you were right about all of your posts... then shit, we'd be in the playoffs agian this year wouldn't we? I mean to here you tell it, we're just a few missed assignments away from being undefeated. Please, Blanda. You're arguments get weaker and weaker with each and every loss and each and every Al Davis flop.
I will find the quote where he took credit for the defense last year. Giv eme time. Meanwhile, I'd appreciate others help in at least saying they remember it... Al was taliking about the colossol failure of the offense and a reporter asked about Al's part and Al said something along the lines of "you saw that defense didn't you." If I have to search the internet all night I will find it. All I ask from you Blanda is that when I find it you just post back and say, "Sorry, I forgot about that." None of your usual All is great bullshit, please.
Meanwhile start with this article:
http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawakami/2007/01/24/an-art-shell-ally-is-baffled-by-al-davis-comments/
I don't want to get in the middle of this argument, and please don't shoot the messenger, but I believe this is the relevant excerpt, as recalled/interpreted by Jerry McDonald (the following is from a December post in McDonald's blog):
"There was a telling moment after the 20-9 loss to Kansas City when Davis addressed the media and referenced a Bill Belichick comment how "coach Davis" is most heavily involved with defense.
The inference was clear. Davis was taking credit for the defense and distancing himself from the offense. Davis loves to say it's great being the Raiders coach because the coach can take credit for anything that goes right and he gets blamed for what goes wrong.
The truth, as Howie Long explained in "America's Game, the story of the 1983 Raiders," is actually the opposite. Tom Flores was the ideal coach for the Raiders, Long said, because he could deal with Davis taking credit for the successes while blaming Flores for the problems."
blandarocked, you are so deep in denial, you could probably be the first man on mars.
it's true that al davis does not jump off sides, and miss tackles, but come on, the man is the owner of the raiders, or managing general partner, or whatever you want to call it.
he has a hand in building this team. a big hand. he hires the head coach, and until kiffin, hired all the assistants as well.
he watches game film, attends contact drills, times potential draft picks at the combine, and sits in the "war room" during most, if not the entire draft.
for many years we all gave al his due.
when plunkett would have a big game, or allen a big run, we would all say, "al found all these great players. the man is great".
it's not a crime to grow old. it happens, and it's sad to watch.
al is not the only one to lose his fastball.
age hasn't been good to joe gibbs. what has bill parcells won recently ?
you think madden would be the same coach today as in younger days ?
people get old, they slow down, and it's understandable.
personally, i think the whole raider organization sucks right now.
from amy trask, to the terrible scouts that couldn't find a good football player if one fell on their heads.
i wish they all would just go away right now.
but the idea that al davis is a victim of the sadsacks that surround him, i don't buy it.
al davis is the raiders, good, bad, or otherwise.
always has been this way, and probably will be until the day he's gone.
We simply can't expect to turn over an entire roster in one, or even two years.
Focusing on Sunday's game (and not our severe human resources issues), I believe Blanda is correct about our D's discipline, i.e., it doesn't exist.
Over pursuit was a large reason Taylor ran wild on us. At times, our entire D was on one side of the field, and Taylor just simply cut to the other side for a big gain.
Players can be aggressive and stay in their lanes. Why can’t the coaches correct this problem? When Morrison shoots a gap on a run blitz, he often makes a tackle behind the line. So, why is he mostly kept back in coverage?
I believe Kiffin is on the right track (waiving Mike Williams, benching Jordan, etc), but there’s only so much that can be done in-season. We can’t just replace all our starters with their backups and expect to get better.
The way I look at it, this season is now all about staying sane, and hoping we see JaMarcus Russell get some quality playing time. Don’t worry about bruising his ego, it’s way too big to get seriously damaged. Besides, it’s not like he’s replacing Peyton Manning, where there may be some expectation of immediate greatness. I think we’d all be satisfied with the simple things, like a string of completions, scramble for a first down, etc.
Down, but not out... NY Raider.
The Arizona Cardinals are widely considered to be one of the worst (if not the worst) run franchises in the NFL. They are one of the few teams that manages to consistently fly beneath the modern parity median.
That said, the Cardinals have had just four seasons of four or less wins since 1992, and you have to go back to 1959 to find their last two-win season.
As for the Lions? They've had just four seasons of four or less wins since 1987.
Meanwhile, we are currently poised to have our fourth season of four or less wins since 2002.
This isn't to say that, in the balance, the Cardinals or Lions are a better organization than the Raiders, nor that they have achieved anything near what the Raiders have achieved over the decades.
It's just to illustrate how difficult it is to grossly underperform the laws of parity in today's NFL, and to face the truly awful music of our situation, as much as it pains me.
RT, I admit I am coming around to your way of thinking in regard for the need of a GM (or if not a GM, at least someone with similar authority to what Bruce Allen had). As a whole, the team seemed to function better then.
As Kiffin himself has said recently, he has hardly communicated with Al since prior to camp. There does seem to be an issue, not having a go-between.
I'm not quite sure about this yet. I'll have to see how Davis accepts Kiffin's post season report, and how the team reacts to the needs he identifies.
It makes me wonder: Who's monitoring the college ranks while Kiffin develops game plans and tries to keep a lid on the locker room? Whom are our scouts reporting to? Who's talking to other GMs across the NFL, networking, scouting potential free agents, etc.? Is our personnel vision vertically aligned, ownership through coach, so that there's a united effort as to what types of players we need to focus on (both in terms of position and character)?
I just hope that Kiffin isn't on some sort of island here, and that the necessary things are being done to attack the problem of a roster gone totally awry.
RT, Bama, if that's the money quote, it's lacking because Davis, in the press conference I referred to, never distanced himself from the offense.
And the words that keep getting shoved in my mouth are astounding. I never said that Davis isn't involved with the team. I have said, show me an owner who isn't. I also freely admit that Davis has been more involved than most. I have also said that Davis is part of the problem on several issues. But to say that the beginning and the end of it is that Al Davis is senile is simplistic and stupid.
And Bama, find me another quote. Find where I said that the team is almost there except for a couple of players putting themselves out of possition. I have said that the lack of discipline on this team is rampant! And it is. That is the number one problem with this team. This team, with discipline, would NOT have only two wins.
You cannot blame the lack of disipline on this team on Al Davis as much as you want to try. But, Bama, I have no doubt you will.
What I have said is that Davis does not involve himself as much as he used to. Fact is, Davis, at one time, attended portions of almost every practice. Kiffin says he's hardly spoken to him since camp. Is Kiffin lying, or does Davis involve himself less than he used to?
Like I said, I'm just the messenger on that one. Those are Jerry Mac's words, not mine, just trying to save Bama a night wasted on Google.
Bama7
Blanda, I was being sarcastic about you thinking everything boils down to just a few missed assignments.
RT is right as to the Coach Davis, defensive comment (Al patting himself on the back as to the 2006 defense)I emailed Jerry Mac and he responded quickly! He said he remembered the comments and said that if he can find the quote he might try to put it in an upcoming blog. I can forward J mac's email if anyone wants.
Well, as much as I respect Jerry, he is not the beginning and the end of information for all things Raider. I have no doubt he has his own opinions.
But let's deal with the crux of your argument Bama, that the problem is all Al Davis. Once Davis is gone, problem gone, and then we're back on top.
Blaming Al Davis for every player who happens to piss you off at the moment... Well, you're going to have to explain to me exactly how that works. These guys didn't get into the league by displaying their lack of discipline. You can't even play college ball without discipline. So does Al bring these guys in, sit them down, and give them a course in how to lack discipline?
Bama, I've even seen you claim that Al Davis is trying to make this team lose. I want a detailed explanation for how you work out that math.
Nyraider,
you say raiders are on right track because they waived mike williams.
but williams, even though now gone, is symbolic of what is wrong with the raiders.
look, someone in raiderland, no one knows who , decided this off season, that williams and stiff qb, mccown, were worth a 4th rounder.
now williams is gone. mccown will be gone soon enough.
someone in raiderland decided it was a great idea to sign rhodes in the off season.
again, no one really knows who is calling the shots, because of no GM with the raiders.
soon rhodes, who hardly even plays will be gone as well.
there is no plan. there is no direction. that is the problem.
there is no GM to guide this team.
kiffin simply waiving ineffective players won't get it done.
we have to be able to replace the bums with quality, and that is where the raiders have been lacking for a long, long, time.
hell, it's not hard to waive players on the raiders.
give me a crack at it. i'll waive the whole bunch and not miss a moments sleep over it.
Adding to my own theory...
We see the lack of discipline manifest itself in a few different ways:
1. Players leaving their zones: generally caused by a lack of trust in other players, so the offender believes it is up to him to make a play.
2. False starts: generally caused by a player's lack of faith in himself, making him think he's got to get off quicker than his opponent.
3. Lack of tackling: generally caused by players attempting to make something happen by trying to strip the ball or intervene with the ball instead of being sure the ball carrier is wrapped up.
I think 1 and 3 are largely caused by the defenses lack of faith in the offense. Two is caused by a lack of talent, justifying, in a player's mind, 1 and 3.
The basis for 2, I think, is the center of our problem. Offensive players without sufficient talent or faith in their own play to get the job done. I think that even with this team's current level of talent, they are far better than 2-8 if they employed sufficient discipline.
So, again, it comes down to the offense and especially the OL. While we do have a few holes in the D, the O is going to require, again, the focus in the off season.
That's my own math.
Take, in answer to your question of who's monitoring the college ranks. I think that would be these guys:
Angelo Coia
Calvin Branch
Bruce Kebric
Jon Kingdon
Mickey Marvin
Kent McCloughan
That's supposed to be their job anyway. Most were hired by Davis, but I think a couple here were brought aboard by Kiffin.
Bama7
Blanda, my contention all along is that Al was once a brilliant NFL mind. The league passed him by about twenty years ago. Now he struggles and simply cannot do it anymore. That's why I think the comment as to him being the mastermind behind last year's defense is so critical to this discussion. Why? Becuase at each turn we Raider fans are left wondering who did what, or rather, who's responsible for the terrible football and mistakes we keep making. When we're successful, Al takes the credit. When we're not successful he shirks the blame. With his comment on the defense last year Al, is finally exposed. He jumped up to take credit... well now it's pretty obvious that "his " defense is not very good. He can't hide. It's littered with non-physical, speedsters and other non-productive poor picks. And though he won't take the blame for it, all the coaching changes, all the pitiful "skill" people we have, our weak lines... all of these things point back to him. As the "friend" of Shell said, "Al makes every pick." Yet Al tried to say Huff was Shell's pick. It goes on and on.
I think Kiffen will clean house next year or I think he will quit. He will try to force his way in every matter or else he is cimmitting career suicide. I think Al will allow Kiffen as much power as Gruden... finally. I think Rob Ryan will be sent packing along with Porter, Jordan, Simms, Fargas, S Williams, H Eugene, Bowie and a host of others.
This guy, who folks say has no title, also may have something to do with it:
Mark Jackson
Director of Football Development
And I'm not sure why you claimed awhile back that his only background was boxing. According to the Raiders' website he's been involved in college coaching since 1995 and played CB in college ball.
Bama, there is no question that Al Davis has an ego. Show me someone in his position that doesn't. And even if he did say that he is more involved in the defense, I don't think fallowing that up with, "the defense was good, not great" is much of a brag. And to all accounts, that the defense was good last year, but not great, is a fair assessment.
Blandarocked,
we know the raiders can't stop the run.
we know they commit a zillion penalties every season.
we know they suck at tackling.
we know because we watch the horror show every weekend, just like you.
the question is how did we get this bad, and why can't we get any better ? who dunnit ?
you've ruled out al davis as the culprit, so then, who's to blame for this garbage team ??
Don't bet on Ryan being gone. He proved last week that if his players show discipline, they do their job very well. They gave up one play, but if your defense has to be perfect, you aren't going to win any games anyway.
Last season the games we lost were close because offenses we played had no urgency to score.
This season, there is no question, that they do try and score on us, yet the losses remain close. They try and score on us because we've shown the ability to take a 2nd half lead, where last year the 2nd half was a pointless exercise.
The more I think about it, the more I don't think things are that far out of reach. This is an evolving opinion on my part, because two weeks ago I said everyone must go. But I'm seeing more and more how one thing can effect another, and make it look like there are bigger problems then there are.
I think, with what we have now, if we can revamp the OL and add a very threating deep receiver, we could conceivably turn the whole thing around.
I never said Mark Jackson had no background in football, just that his most recent job was in boxing, which is true, and which is relevant to the discussion of whether or not we have someone handling traditional GM duties, and if so (a big if), what are his experience and qualifications?
Also, I know that the Raiders have scouts. But who are they reporting to? Is there a unified vision, from owner to coach, as to what the approach will be going forward in terms of getting Kiffin the types of players he wants, both in terms of position and character? And if there is a unified vision, how do you keep it unified without ongoing discussion between Kiffin and ownership (which in this instance is essentially the GM)?
Blanda-
I'm late getting here but when I read SOB's comments last week about his D, I thought he might have been drunk.
I have to disagree with you on the one play thing also. It was play after play especially off tackle /over pursuit and the qb draw. I hope SOB is gone personally.
What I do agree on is the fact that you can catch lightning in a bottle in the nfl. I think the bears did that last year. This would have been the year with the divison so winable.
So is it the chicken or the egg? Do these guys get here and lose it or are they bone heads. I don't think Dwight is a bone head nor is carlisle but they had bad penalties. McQuistan I can give a pass to but I think he had 3-4 false starts or holds in a couple of starts. When does he start to get it?
Sims makes me sick to watch. Physically ill.
I dont think Miller infracted but he better work on his blocking and weights off season. The entire discipline issue was captured perfectly in Aso running out the int. from the endzone.
I don't need to tell you guys. It goes on and on.
I am actually anticipating penalties. When there is no false start I am actually surprised! How bad is that?
I am mad like Eldridge Cleaver!
My guess is that in the off season, Kiffin will use Al Davis as a sounding board to bounce personnel ideas (cuts, free agents, draft choices).
My biggest concern is that without a traditional GM(and Asst GM), who is doing all of the ground work that leads to informed and wise choices?
Does Kiffin need to be the host, bus boy, waiter, and cook? Does he even have the necessary support system/staff to help him gather vital information, do the legwork, make the calls, do the networking, etc?
I have faith in Kiffin's abilities to evaluate talent but I believe that it too much to ask of a 33 year old with limited NFL experience.
Is it fair (or right from a business standpoint) to expect Kiffin to be a HC and an acting GM? Just being a HC of the Raiders alone is a daunting, challenging task.
Hiring an experienced GM is the only logical, plausible, reasonable solution that plagues this organization ... aquiring the right personnel ... football players with records of production, toughness, character that fill our holes and upgrade our talent.
To say that we will sink or swim on the mind of Kiffin and shoulders of Russell is really not hyperbole. These 2 young men hold our future in their hands. A 22 year old who hasn't taken a snap and a 33 year old who had never been a head coach.
Let us be clear, this most recent Raider downfall began a year after Al Davis traded John Gruden. The team that Gruden built was good enough to make the Super Bowl the year after he departed. Unfourtuntly it came up against Gruden in that game and he knew exactly what to do to shut down his former team.
As I recall, Gruden cleaned house upon his arrival, added savy vetran players that fit his scheme on both sides of the ball and had the Raiders playing some extremely competitive football before and after he left town.
We know owners and head coaches get into it all the time but the Raiders have suffered greatly in they're decision to cut ties with Gruden.
Was he becoming the face of the franchise? Upsetting Al to some degree? Whatever the disagreement was it had little to do with Gruden's performance, they had become one of the better teams in the league.
We have to assume that it was a personal issue between the management and the head coach. But for an organization who's mantra is "Just Win Baby!", it doesn't feel right. I don't know Al, none of us do, but at this point he's like Castro (only Castro has decided to step aside). Al Davis is a legend, no arguement here, but theres no senior tour in the NFL. The organization needs to be state of the art if we're looking to continue our comittment to excellence. That means personal that knows what needs to be done and how to do it, top to bottom.
We won't know what Kiffin is capable of for at least another year, maybe two, provided he's allowed to bring in his type of player. The players he's been provided with are ineffectual at best.
Sometime during the remainder of the season we'll get a peek at our #1 draft pick, he'll be running whatevers left of this offense come next season. Kiffin suggested that he'll be appearing in relief of the starter, either for a designated number of series or a quarter at a time.
In the meantime look as the rest of this year as an extended preseason to determine just who and what is salvagable.
Raider00 - please don’t put words into my mouth. You have misquoted me and taken my meaning out of context.
I never said the Raiders are on the right track. I said, I believe Kiffin is on the right track by waiving or benching players that do not perform. That, in itself, is a step in the right direction, given the scholarships that have haunted us in the past.
Kiffin’s ability to ultimately succeed will depend on what Raider Take has been telling us for weeks (even longer I’m sure), we need a GM, or at least continuity within the organization that will allow Kiffin to do his job.
Btw, hindsight is a powerful tool. Without it, I wouldn’t say obtaining Mike Williams and Josh McCown for a 4th round pick was a mistake. A lot of us thought Williams could get back to form with Kiffin as his coach, and McCown is probably an adequate backup. Remember, Russell was expected to be in camp and compete for starting QB when we traded for McCown.
this is becoming a vast identity crisis. the raiders are losing their identity pretty quick. i'm going to hit several things here, so bear with me.
blanda, porter was not a gruden pick. porter was in gruden's dog house because of his lack of effort. brown and rice were constantly in his face about things. he wasn't even liked by freddie b. he was not well liked coming in by most of the team because of his attitude, and lack of work ethic; which we are still paying for. in fact, he didn't really get a shot with the team until norv was coach. callahan used him sparingly (like we've did with whitted). don't blame gruden for that pick, that was a player he didn't want, and it became a boiling point between he and al.
rt made a good point about the dolphins. in fact, the raiders and dolphins are suffering from the problem. yes, their owners are a part of that problem, but are not completely to blame; but they should have a ton of fingers pointing at themselves for their part of their teams' problems. but a bigger part of their problems is old blood and baggage.
if you look at the dolphins, they still have shula employed, marino's voice has an impact on the organiztion as a consultant, though not he is not officially in the front office. they've carried players in key positions that need to hang it up, and they need to cut some baggage that keeps reappearing (ricky williams). they have lost their identity as a hard hitting, playoff contending football team; and are now stuck in a rut of a losing attitude.
the raiders are in the same boat. there are some differences, but not too many. kiffin came in and convinced al that we needed "new blood" on the coaching staff. and though he was a great receivers coach, freddie b needed to go. kiffin has come in and made some great strides in the front office and coaching staff; setting the foundation. al is acting as general manager, which is bad! we need a general manager. it was a bad thing when we lost bruce allen. that was totally al davis' fault there. he could not get along with allen, and his ego got in the way of football sensibility. but he realizes that now, and since bruce has been gone, they have mended their differences. just too bad it's not to the point where he'll come back.
once we get a real gm in place (my vote is for mark jackson btw), i think will help us on the player front of things. regardless of whether or not we have a gm, we need to dump our trash at the end of the year though; which should be kiffin's next step. here is the list of players we will be saying good-bye to at the end of the season:
barry sims, lamont jordan, josh mccown or dante culpepper, maybe robert gallery (i say maybe because he has had one of his better seasons this year), jake grove, sam williams, maybe fabian washington, terdell sands, jerry porter, and maybe stewart schweigert.
I'm just sitting back, watching the epic battle of Blanda Vs. Bama. It's kinda like Lord of The Rings but with more swords.
I came accross this interesting little article you guys can fight over. Like RT said, don't shoot the messenger:
http://www.startribune.com/507/story/1559458-p2.html
This guy seems to be twisting it a bit but if these are direct quotes from Al (at the bottom) then it's at least content worth considering.
Quick Notes:
* Davis refuses to retire until he gets 2 more championships.
* Davis regrets letting coaches talk him into trading Moss.
* Davis - "I want to give Daunte a chance to see what he can do."
Psycho
LOL, two more championships for Davis?????? hahaha like that will ever happen. What does Davis plan on living to be 500???? hahahahaha
You didn't hear? Al is cloning himself. It may take 4 or 5 more Al's at this rate, but we'll get Lonbardi #5!
Psycho
The Al quotes seem pretty standard stuff to me. Forget its Al for one moment, and consider these comments spoken by any other owner in the league. Then it just seems like pretty standard stuff.
Jerry Mac presents, today, two competing quotes by Kiffin. Speaking to the Minnesota press, Kiffin says he doesn't talk with Al much during the season, but with the local press he says he discusses all major decisions with Al. He also identifies Al as a "hands on" owner, and one that is essentially the GM.
But the article that Psycho came up with also shows that it was Kiffin's decision to get rid of Moss, and likely Davis' decision to bring in Culpepper.
When Kiffin was introduced as HC, Al made a special point of mentioning what Kiffin brings to the table in terms of knowledge regarding college talent. I think he also talked about Kiffin's "network" of family and friends throughout the country who alert him about talent.
There is no question that Kiffin is being given authority. He dumped Davis' biggest financial acquisition, and he brought in his own coaching staff on offense. He also brought in the person who essentially shares GM duties with Davis, Mark Jackson.
What I take from this is that Kiffin evaluates the college talent while Davis evaluates the league talent. Looking over the past off season, that would make Davis responsible for Rhodes, Griffin, Warren, et al. Kiffin was responsible for Higgins, Bush, possibly even Russell.
It is Kiffin who always brings up the team's "future." I find that interesting as well. It's as though Kiffin believes he will be here for a long time, and wants to set the foundation for his own future as well. And I'm not sure what all of this means, nor is anybody else, but it is sure as hell interesting. I'd love to overhear a lengthy conversation between Davis and Kiffin.
I have read alot of good comments that really depict the state of the Raiders and what they will need to turn this thing around back to commitment to excellence.
Right now however they are choosing to be committed to playing really bad football.
I really wish Al Davis would put his ultra ego aside and run this football team as a business man instead of putting his personal interests ahead of the team.
Remember the Allen/Jackson debacle. The same thing happens each and every year with these players and coaches. Its a freaking Mind Game he plays.
I refuse to address the man who most in the league do not respect as "Mr. Davis" This Franchise has fallen from grace and will not return for a very long time...or at least until Al finds peace and tranquility.
another year down the shitter blah blah blah blah Raiders suck blah blah blah blah Al Davis in control nothing we could do about it blah blah blah just accept it blah blah blah Jamarcus Russell is not going to be starting QB unless he has superstars around him? blah blah blah off seasons moves are going to be like our regular season moves, false start (rookie bust) cant make moves down the field for free agents blah blah blah blah who cares go Raiders either way blah blah blah blah old timers here living in the past and cant except no new ideas (besides they lived in more glory years then pained years) blah blah blah who cares anymore at this point blah blah blah the autumn wind doesnt exist anymore because of global warming and the pirate is now a skeleton named Al Davis leading us to our grave blah blah blah blah
Bama7
Blanda, I wouldn't assume Kiffen was reponsible for the draft since the #3 & #5 picks got cut. I doubt the coach would cut his own picks. So Al was either in on the selecting or in on the cutting... either way it's dysfunctional.
And look no further than Moss to see how dim our future is if we stay status quo. Everyone right now is screaming for Olineman... but do we really know if ANYONE on the o-line is any good on our team (simms being the exception since he's been getting beat religiously for about 7 years)? We made Randy Moss look washed up and awful. Yet, we all now know that he is probably the best receiver in the NFL. We made the best receiver in football look worthless. So, we're left not really knowing shit about most of our O-line because we're such a mess. Here's the O-line of the PAckers:
LT Chad Clifton
LG Daryn coledge
C Scott Wells
RG Janius Coston
RT Mark Tauscher
And the O-line of the Patriots:
LT Matt Light
LG Logan Mankins
C Dan Koppen
RG Russ Hochstein
RT Nick Kaczur
AND I ACTUALLY SEE WESLEY BRITT IS THE BACK UP LT!!! Bama boy... not very good (sorry H).
I could pick other teams as well, but the point is who the heck are these guys anyway? They're simply in a good system with a good QB playing for a good franchise. You only know of Light & Mankins because they are on a good team. I'm not saying we have a good O-line, I'm just saying we're so damn dysnfunctional... from coaching changes... to outdated offensive scheme... to too many non football types being aloud to hang on the roster for years... to old players being allowed to scout talent etc etc... that we are just one huge dysfunctional mess.
You can't fix anything because EVERYTHING is broken.
What we do have is our future hope at QB. Now go get that franchise back & a couple of good WR's and let Kiffen try to teach his scheme for about three years. It's really the only plan. McFadden might cost another arm and a leg but he will be the best back in football by 2009. If we're 2-14 and have a shot at him we need to get the guy... he's that good.
The defense seems easy to fix... just go out and get some blue collar FA's to fill our OLB, DE and SS holes. They don't have to be great, just real football players.
Some good points there, Bama. The biggest thing to me is the constant coaching changes. Stability will go a long way and who better to build with than Kiffin?
If Al fires Kiffin this year, next year, or the year after, I will join you in your never ending quest to de-throne Al Davis. And he better be willing to compromise with Kiffin and any disagreements or else we'll end up with another Gruden.
For now though, I'm going to stick with my thinking that our entire O-line can be replaced for all I care, we're good at DE, and our coaches work WITH our owner when it comes to finalizing draft picks. It's the guys evaluating talent that we've had issues with over the years.
Why does nobody in the NFL hire a phychological profiler to determine the true character of players? When was Ray Lewis picked, like 23rd? It would've been a lot sooner if someone had a feel for what drives him. It's simple, if money drives him, if he can't take pride in his work and get motivated to put in extra work, you don't draft him.
Our government keeps a phychological profile on every world leader to better understand how they would react to certain things. We can do the same thing and out-smart every other team.
Psycho(logical profiler)
Bama7, you're doing some serious drugs. You've created a world all your very own. I can't comment on that world because I've never lived in it.
In the world I live in, coaches cut their own draft picks every year (at least the smart ones do). The draft is always a roll of the dice, and some players just don't work out. Do people around here genuinely believe that a draft pick, once made, will never be disfavored or released by the person who selected him? Boy, talk about shooting yourself in the foot. And for what? Pride? I would suggest that any pro coach who has so much pride that he wouldn't ever cut his own picks has never had a winning record in the NFL.
And you honestly believe that we have no basis to determine the strength of this OL? Wow. Really good sh*t, Bama7. Last year, when we had really bad OL coaches, that's a fair point. Was it the coaches or the players? But Cable's a good coach. No problem spotting the clinkers this year. We need two new tackles and potentially a guard.
Not sure the points you're trying to make about Moss. We didn't make him look bad, he made himself look bad, or have you really forgotten last season already? Is he actually making some effort this year, playing for another team. It looks that way, but there isn't any question how he played for us when he "wasn't happy." Who exactly was responsible for bending over and grabbing their ankles to make Moss "happy?" I have no regrets about casting off Moss, even though, it appears, Davis wanted him to stay for the Culpepper hook up.
Just currious, but if Davis still likes Moss, how can you? Davis only has the wrong opinions, remember? Or is your position that whomever wrote that article was lying because you and Davis would never share an opinion?
And here's another clue for you, Bama. Any OL that has TWO pro bowlers on it is going to be a pretty damn effective OL. The rest of the team doesn't carry the OL. The OL carries the rest of the team. The OL is the most essential element of any quality team. Without a good OL, you go nowhere. That, my friend, is written in stone!
Psycho, from what I read, Al is perfectly happy with Kiffin - he's just not happy with 2-8, and apparently feels we'd be better with Moss. (pssst. Don't tell Bama that.)
Hey Bama, Al still would rather have Moss. Oh crap, I screwed up...
Yeah I saw the 2-8 comment as well blanda, and took it the same way. I'm sure Kiffin's job is not in direct danger. We just never know. And it may not be the case in 2 or 3 years with Al having kind of a short fuse regarding coaches. Kiff MUST stay at all costs. Even if he proves to be below average, we need stability. Al thinks there is always a quick fix but that thinking has left us in pieces. Not saying it's all Al but it seems to be true to some degree.
Psycho
Some sad news for all you "Bama" fans in here. Not sure you know who this RB is.
http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/7469894?MSNHPHMA
Psycho
i agree that a coaching change at the head coach position is not needed, despite 2-8 right now.
i think kiffin needs to give control of calling the offense away to knapp though, which should be the only coaching move.
the players cut list may be long this offseason, mostly on offense. we have some keepers, but not too many. we need an above average receiver, either in the draft or in free agency. limas sweed is looking like a solid pick, but so does jordy nelson of kansas state. too bad crabtree is only a freshman.
on the free agent side, patrick crayton (cowboys), bryant johnson (cardinals), andre davis (texans), and brandon stokely (doncos). fyi, justin fargas is a free agent at the end of the year.
on the o-line, rueben brown (guard) of the bears, alan faneca (guard) of steelers, max starks (tackle) of steelers, and nat dorsey (tackle) of browns.
dt's at free agency, albert haynesworth is the only tackle worth noting.
Where Davis has failed (understanding the a losing record in any given year is not necessarily a failure)... I have made the statement before, and I hold to it, that the owner's duty to the ticket buyers is to provide a team in contention for the playoffs for every home game. That's the bottom line. The product he sells must be entertaining, and since the entertainment value of football is competition, the owner must provide a team involved in that competition. Most owners want more than that. They want some trophies for the display case at headquarters.
That doesn't mean that every successful season requires an appearance in the playoffs (although you try). It means that the last home game on the season ticket schedule presents a home team with a shot to go to the dance.
In this, Al Davis has failed miserably in the last 5 seasons (I'm including this one). He's made some bad coaching choices, and he's made some bad personnel choices. But I don't accept this as a permanent condition as long as Al Davis lives. After 44 years, I consider it a run of bad luck, a chain of circumstances, and some bad forward thinking.
I see no mental deficiencies on Al's part. I see some of the same infirmities we all have in terms of an unwillingness of publicly acknowledge mistakes and a large ego when it's backed up by years of success. Since Al Davis has only two purposes for life itself (his family and his team) I can pretty much guarantee that he's more upset than we are with the shape of his legacy.
It is also obvious that Al has treated this last off season differently than 2004 through 2006. His approach to those years was to hire a new coach and reload. This year he brought in a coach with a very fresh perspective and gave him unprecedented (for the Raiders) authority to rebuild. He warned us in the off season that there was a lot that needed to be fixed (an unprecedented statement by Al) and that it was going to take some time. He said he didn't know how much time, but he hoped sooner rather than later.
I have seen enough to believe that Al recognizes that he's failed and the likely places where he's failed. I have seen enough to believe that his relationship with Kiffin is different from every prior coach, and that Kiffin was also brought in to identify problems which Al couldn't see.
That's just the way I see it. I also know of no owner who has brought more successful seasons to a franchise (as defined above) than Al Davis. I also see no point in arguing with his decisions since I have no way of knowing any details of those decisions, or even which ones were actually his. People will tell you they know, but it comes down to this. If they hate Al Davis, he made all of the decisions they disagree with. If they like Al Davis, he made all of the decisions they agree with. There is simply nothing to discuss between here and there.
(Note: Some will say - "No! The only success is winning the Super Bowl! Well, thanks, Mr. Lombardi, but if that's true, it's not a league of parity, it's a league of losers.)
Jerry Mac has posted on his blog that Kiffin says Moss told him he would not play "for this organization" because he felt he had been treated poorly.
Jerry Mac translates that to mean that Moss said he wouldn't play for Davis because Davis treated him poorly. Jerry has this one wrong.
If Al Davis has ever treated a prized acquisition poorly, it's the first I'm hearing about it. By acquisition, understand I am not talking about players who were drafted by Oakland, but signed in free agency. I remember Davis sending a Limo and welcoming committee to receive Moss at training camp.
What Moss meant by "organization" was us. We, the fans and the local media, called him on his allegator arms, and Randy didn't like that. But Jerry is absolutely right when he says that Moss wouldn't be giving the Raiders the same effort as he's giving in NE.
NYraider,
sorry i misunderstood the meaning of your words.
but still, if kiffin is on the right track, shouldn't the raiders be as well ?
he is the head coach afterall.
i still believe my point is a valid one.
kiffin was already head coach when the decision was made to trade for williams, & mccown.
he was also on board when rhodes was signed.
now, the question is, did kiffin agree with these moves ?
is he simply now getting rid of players like williams, and keeping rhodes on the bench because he never wanted these players in the first place ?
and if so, who is the one who decided to obtain these players for the raiders ?
the problem, as RT, and others have been pointing out, is that without a real GM in control of player movement, we just cannot know what is really going on behind the raider curtain.
so yes, getting rid of players like williams is a good thing, but it really won't make us a better team unless quality players are brought in to replace them.
who is responsible for finding these quality players.
we just do not know, and as concerned raiders fans, i think the time has come for us to know.
Something I thought about last night while laying in bed. Part of the problem I see this year as last several years is the lack of leadership on the field. Where are the Wisniewskis or the Gannons when someone jumps off sides?
I know Sapp is trying to hold things together on D but who else? It seemed in years past that we knew or could discern the leaders on the field clearly. It seems not so much now......
memdf
Good point where is that leader?
well let see...Moss tried to be a leader but he notice "something weird" about the organization not allowing veterans on the team to have a say or advice on how things could be different...but he also notice that you could find yourself on a short leash (or in the doghouse) because of the watchful eye from up stairs. I mean come on Timmy Brown even mentions this on FSN that everyone in that organization "walks on eggshells" and hold back at times "bite lips shut" not because of the coaches but because of " big Al Davis". So who would want to be, to begin with? What opportunity is there with the raiders and at what cost? The crazy approach of discipline that shuts out any outside opinions from Al is what is hurting us in the locker room and on the field for this. So you have an environment where you put up and shut up or else the head rolls. So players flow with the emotions and stop wanting to play full out (like Moss). What kind of example is this for our future bust Jamarcus Russell??? I tell you its insane!!!
Raider00- Agreed.
A large component of Kiffin’s first year as head coach and the upcoming off-season will be dumping players that do not fit the system, and/or those that simply don’t have the work ethic (and discipline) to be quality football players.
Unfortunately, that will have to be weighed against certain limitations of available quality replacements.
You simply can’t turn over an entire roster. Realistically, maybe 18-25 players can be acquired through draft and free agency combined. What has plagued us is the selection of these players has been marginal at best. Even this year, we end up in a contract quagmire with our 1st round pick, under-utilizing our 2nd round pick, cutting our 3rd round pick, keeping a 4th round pick off the active roster (despite all signs that he is ready), etc...
The Raiders are routinely criticized for their drafts. Selecting a kicker in the 1st round, picking 2nd and 3rd round-quality CBs in the 1st round, wasting valuable picks on “project” type players, drafting speed over everything else that makes a good football player, etc. (Since this is a common theme from draft to draft and coaching staff to coaching staff, I tend to agree with those who believe Al has his hand in the proverbial draft cookie jar.)
As if that’s not enough, we take DEs and move them to LB, WRs and DBs and force them to gain substantial body weight so that they can be moved to TEs and LBs (aren’t there health risks involved?).
It’s time to stop the bleeding! IMO, our only hope is that Kiffin can overcome our operational shortcomings and work with the scouts and business personnel now in place, because Al Davis will not hire a GM anytime soon. We might as well accept that.
P.S. Can we please beat a divisional opponent this week?!!!! If Kiffin says this is just another game we want to win, I’m sure I’ll barf. Just like the 17 divisional games before it, this is biggest game in 4 years!
Also, my understanding is that if Michael Bush is not activated today, he is out for the year. So, what’s the hold-up? Activate him! Let's kick the evaluation process into high gear!
I'm going to the game on Sunday and I think we actually have a chance to win this game. Here's why. No LJ and no Priest Holmes. Holmes is going to announce his retirement today at noon. He reinjured his neck last Sunday and he's getting out while he can still walk. That leaves a third string running back who has had only 19 carries in his career. I know our run defense is terrible but come on, surely they can stop a third stringer. The other reason I think we'll win is because of what's happening on Saturday night at Arrowhead, the MU/KU game. The winner has a shot at the national championship. The long running joke around here is that the only thing that would trump a Chiefs game would be the second coming of Christ. But this region is going crazy for this game. For once this heated rivalry means something. Believe me, KU and MU do not like one another and they are even calling out the national guard and riot squad for the game. But I digress. What I'm getting at is that I think Chiefs fan is going to be too hung over and tired to care about the Chiefs game. Chiefs fan has already written off the season anyway. Memo to Coach Kiffin. Play action and go deep on the first play. Put them away early. This is my SuperBowl, beating the Chiefs in KC! Final score Raiders 16, Chiefs 13.
***News***
Jordan is through in Oakland. It's being reported that he has asked to be released.
Obviously he heard Bush's footsteps and decided to save face and ask for his release, rather than wait for the inevitable.
Best of luck to Jordan. I hope he can stay healthy and learn how to hit a freaking hole without first doing the Macarena. HEY MACARENA!
Psycho - Can't wait 2 C Bush
One other thing about Jordan. Seems to me like this is a good situation monotarily. If I'm not mistaken, his excellerated cap hit will take effect during next year's salary cap.
My understanding is whoever gets cut during the off-season, that guaranteed money is excellerated to the following year, meaning that we're spreading it out a little bit and it won't hurt us so much in 2009 when things should really be clicking on the field.
So we can go nutts, drop Sims, maybe Gallery, Sands, Porter....At least Jordan's cap hit is early and softens the blow.
Psycho
MUST-READ article on Howie Long's kid. We need to draft this guy if it works out. Bama, I know I said we don't need a DE, but I'd be willing to part with someone to make room for Long's boy.
Psycho
Crap, here it is - Psycho
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt_playmakerlong_1121nov21,0,4001396.story
there's another long we need to draft with the second overall pick this offseason too. his name is jake long (offensive tackle, michigan).
psycho, where is the report about jordan? his release is kind of scary to me, because once released, he could sign with kansas city or denver; who are in desparate need of a running back. i'm hoping he goes to tampa. either way, i'm of the opinion that if he wanted to "save face" he'd played his @$$ off like fargas does week in and week out.
Nate, here is the most detailed article so far on Jordan. I also saw it mentioned somewhere else.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/21/SPOBTGA1K.DTL
Psycho
I think we'll cut Jordan today. Think about it. If KC picks him up, he won't play against us because they don't have the time to work him in before Sunday. The same with Denver the following week. For Denver, at best, they'd give him a few plays.
BUSH! BUSH! BUSH!
It's kind of depressing, this Jordan business. Another guy who talked tougher than he played. Whoever made that crack recently about his legs moving while his torso went nowhere was spot on. The dance is over.
At the Raider Image, they offer authentic jerseys for four offensive players besides Russell: Jordan, Sims, Gallery and Porter.
Those are apparently our designated "stars" on offense. How grim. It's all yours, JaMarcus!
The other great thing about releasing Jordan? Since he never bothers to learn the blocking schemes, he can't describe our offense to a division foe.
And, yes, on Chris Long. Could be our #1 pick. I hate to use a #1 one on an OT. That brought us Gallery. We need to go veteran with the OL. If nobody is available, then we need to make a trade.
Maybe we can trade down a bit, still get Chris Long and gain a pick high enough to take a diecent OT. Wasting another top 5 on another possible Gallery is scary, I agree. But we really should go after one early on day #1 wheather we manage to get a verteran OT or not.
In related news, C.Green's injury is serious and it looks like our RT will either Gallery or Paul McNasty.
Psycho
Looking over last years' numbers, we're right about the same point on defense. We've allowed 223 points, and last year at this time it was 198. Not a lot of difference.
But we've already scored more points than we did in 16 games last year.
We're tied for 9th from the bottom in scoring differential. That's not good, but last year we were dead last and it wasn't close.
Our team was a wreck. Go week by week and look at the scores last year compared to this year. 3 weeks last year were better, and 7 weeks this year are better.
It's a long, long climb out of the hole we've dug.
PS
From today's Chronicle:
"Co-owner talks about the wretched state of the 49ers, says a GM may be hired."
Further: "A great GM will hire a good coach and settle on the right quarterback. He'll demand the respect of the coaching staff and he'll get it. The right GM will know the NFL inside and out.
He won't allow impressive combine and bench-press numbers to influence the decision to select a tight end with the sixth overall pick in the NFL Draft. Or permit the coach to sit a valuable player because of a personal beef.
Bill Walsh used to say anyone who can scout inside out and not outside in will be successful in the NFL. In other words, an owner and general manager have to determine the team's direction and scheme. Then they must find the players and the coaches to install that identity."
Perhaps relevant to our discussion since, like the Niners, we have two wins, no GM and little identity.
no psycho - al's gonna cryo deep freeze himself and wake up when we get that 5th!
Point taken, RT. And the Raiders may, indeed, need a GM.
However, the 49er situation is somewhat different. They actually used to have a GM until the owner's husband, John York, fired him. John York, who has no football background what-so-ever, has been calling the shots for them. In spite of one or two seasons, over the last five years, when they've had a better season record than us, their era of futility has gone on since the late 90s when Eddie D. was on his way to prison, and Carmen Policy was being suspended.
With no football knowledge in the 49er ownership, they definately need a GM.
If Al had a GM under him who led us to our 5th horrible season in a row with 5 wins or less, he would be castrated and fired.
That GM, whether it's his fault or not, has been Al. So yeah it's time for a change, top to bottom. Get some "help" Al. It's not admitting fault, it's simply a "new biginning" with a younger guy to "assist" you. Give him basic guidelines to do things the "Raider Way" and watch over his back. We won't think any less of you.
Personally I would have even more respect for Al if this happened because it would show a willingness to evolve and grow, and truly win at ALL costs.
Psycho
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'd like to take the opportunity to wish the entire Raider Nation, and those they love, be clothed, fed, warmed and appreciated, now, over the holidays, and for all the years to come.
I thank you all for your passion, your insights and arguments, your kind respect and, most of all, your friendship. May a decade of winning come to all here.
BlandaRocked
Nicely put. Back at you, amgigo!
Bama7
First off, Psycho, the tragedy with the ex-bama RB Stacey is absolutly awful. I cry every time I think about it.
Now to you Blanda- do you realize you're the only Al backer left? Open your eyes. You say we Al haters flip flop on who did what to suit us, but flip flop is what AL does. Why come out now with all the Moss stuff... blaming it on your coaches? Same crap he did last year distancing himself from the offene and takling credit for the defense. he can't hid eanymore. He's the problem and every one in the world, save Blanda, knows it. As for yout pro bowl lineman comment, I seem to remember everyone thinking Simms was a pretty good LT when Gannon and Gruden were in town. He only had trouble with a few DE's in the league. So pro bowl shmo bowl to that comment. Those Olineman for the PAckers & Pats are in good schemes with good qb's so they look great. We could take Mankins or Light or Jonathan Ogden for that matter and put them in Al's world and they'd look like shit. Just like Moss.
So Blanda, are you ready lump Jerry Mac in with me as a dumb Al hater? As a Raider fan I'm sick of losing. You seem to be okay with it... just give Al time he'll get over this little 5 year bump in the road. C'mon, man!
Here's what the Viking's coach said while discussing his QB:
Childress said. "And, yeah, [he] has to do something. You don't get to play them all at home. You don't get to play them all against the Oakland Raiders. These guys [the Giants] are a 7-3 football team."
That makes me sick.
I haven't seen Howie's boy play but want him to do well in the NFL. I think if we have shot at McFadden, however, we'd be a fool to pass him up. He's better than A Peterson and you see what he's done for the vikes.
i don't think another running back is going to be effective behind this line.
if we get mcfadden or hart in the draft; then we better be able to get them a solid line that will open up running gaps for our 1-2 punch with bush.
then what good is a running game going to be without a good passing game to compliment the running game?
this has been our problem the last 5 years, we have no offensive line. sims was not good under gruden and gannon, he was the false starting, holding, bumbling lineman that he is today. nothing has changed about his game (or lack thereof). gannon and gruden were constantly in his face. he had one good year when barret robbins and lincoln kennedy helped point things out as they approached the line, and the play was being called. the guy is not football smart.
jake long will not be a bust like gallery. gallery comes from a dink school where he dominated dink opponents. jake long comes from a tough division 1 college, that plays in a tough conference. he is prepped to handle the nfl better. i'd rather take a shot at jake long, just because of the different scenarios he has played in, in comparison to what gallery faced.
i bet we wished we would have picked up tony ugoh in the second round.
Bama, I'm not going to chase your opinions all through the holidays. Now you've added a new wrinkle, that the players are fine but just can't play as long as Al is around. One can't even make sense out of that. It's completely irrational.
I've stated very carefully what failings I think apply regarding Al Davis. Perhaps you may have noticed that I said Al was wrong if he wanted to keep Moss around. Where I said Jerry Mac was wrong was assuming that Moss meant Al Davis when he meant all of us. Al never treated Moss badly, we did. But I also think we were right to do so.
Also, since when do I have to check my opinions with everyone else's before I have a legitimate point? Majorities are not always right, Bama. In fact, sometimes, majorities can be dead ass wrong. There is ample history to bear that out.
Go up the thread a bit, Bama, and actually read what I say before telling me how wrong I am. I'd also take issue with your assertion that I'm the only one here who believes that the Raiders have other problems more pressing than Al Davis.
Bama7
The only rebuttal I have this time is that I'm not saying the O-line is good. I'm just saying it's hard to tell if ALL of them are no good, because on our team everyone looks awful. I think a good qb and a stud RB would make even our line look much better. We have zero in the way of skill people, as RT pointed out with the jerseys you can buy for our team (an absolute joke). Face it, we haven't had a real QB since Gannon... and that's huge! And Jordan's been an enormous bust. You can tell because of how he runs... not hard, not hitting the hole hard. Fargas is no starter. Curry is okay, but Porter is terrible. So what I'm saying is maybe we only need one lineman, who knows? Other teams prove that you don't need big time names on the line... just a good scheme, everyone on the same page andgood skill people).
I have to listen to most games on the internet or watch on tv. I can't see the whole field.
A lot of y'all go to the games... are the receivers open? I saw the end of the Viking game and Culpepper had time on the drive I saw but he kept dumping it short (as RT pointed out). Does Porter ever get open?
As for being irrational, I could say that about your arguments Blanda, because quite frankly I can't tell what points your making other than your contention that Al has stepped back and is less of a decison maker these days, and that may be our problem. Or perhaps your saying that Al has just fallen on a few bad years which is to be expected (?)
the biggest problem with al davis is, he used to find players like howie long hidden in the draft.
he would find these gems, and make his coaches life nice and easy.
now days, he picks duds like tyler brayton, and expects his coaches to turn them into howie long.
not an easy task, to say the least.
when the coach fails to turn brayton into a star, the coach is shown the door.
al davis believes that the coach has failed not the player.
that is why brayton is back every season, and the coach is not.
al davis, for whatever reason, just cannot find the hidden gems in the draft anymore.
and that is why our roster is filled from top to bottom with bums.
bums that seem to have a lifetime pass as raiders, while the owner searches for a coach who can turn the chicken sh*t, into chicken salad.
Bama-
This was supposed to be the year that we saw if the line was any good with the new system Greg Knapp installed. It worked well for the first few games run wise(and still is to an extent with Fargas running hard) but the pass protection still isn't what it should be. I think we're going to have to add some lineman if we want our offense to be productive.
This is Gallery's and Grove's fourth year. Have they had enough time yet to show they can play at the NFL level or do we keep on waiting, because I've got the feeling if we keep on waiting these guys will have been here for ten years and never lived up to that dreaded word "potential."
any word on michael bush????? nothing on raiders.com or any of the online local papers
OH CRAP. nevermind. just saw it on the chron. not a good move. bush needs PT so we can see what we've got. what good is it to keep jordan kiffin said? to keep him away from our division rivals 'cause they need rb's? and what damage can dancing machine jordan possibly do against us that he couldn't do with us?
Bush out.
Jordan in limbo.
Rhodes a ghost.
Fargas an NFL starter?
Only on the Raiders!
The 2007 draft was a complete waste of time. Why should we be concerned that Jordan or Rhodes might provide the Chefs or Donkeys a boost. We're 2-8! Who cares!
We should be so lucky as to play against Jordan instead of Johnson or Henry. This move has Al Davis written all over it. Pound foolish and not even penny wise.
Bush should have been on the active roster from Day 1, and given limited play until he was 100%... which he has been for a while.
So the stage is set. Michael Bush's backup in college (a 5th round pick in this year's draft) is the Chefs starting RB this Sunday. By keeping Jordan and Rhodes off the waiver wire and away from the Chefs, this just became a must win game... NO EXCEPTIONS! NO EXCUSES!
We have effectively sabotaged our long-term development for one game... so this game better be f'in worth it!
Please excuse the rant.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
Straight from the report:
"Kiffin conceded Bush was ready to play and that the experience would have helped him.
"'We just really didn’t have a spot for him right now.'" Kiffin said.
Wow, we don't have a roster spot for him on THIS roster, with four quarterbacks and a couple of running backs who want to be released?
Welcome to...The Twilight Zone!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Give thanks for Raider Take!
I was looking forward to Russell and Bush providing a glimpse of the future in a lost season.
This is a strange move indeed.
WTF.
Take I hear you and feel the same pain.
I stated, in earlier anonymous posts after a the first quarter of the season, that dissapointment would be what's to come if we expect wins. Our needs on the oline are critical,duh. I read somewhere that Sims is are best lineman. As I was reading that quote the obvious thought was if thats true the line is toast this year. We also have glaring needs elsewhere, (obvious). So regretable I decided to reserve my critism until after this season. I think with 1 year of getting his hands wet, we can start to judge Coach Kiffen. My opinion of based on instict is we will love him like Madden someday (hopefull,wishfull). Kiffen inheredted much of what he has to work with. To correlate do we believe that Wade Phillips is all of sudden a coaching genious or a benefit of Bill Parcells skill. Do we believe that Callahan took us to the Super Bowl or the structure and components were in place because of Gruden. So as passionate and dissapointment if feel with teams production I emplore my fellows raider nation citizens to embrace Kiffen with at least patience. I hope and believe his 2nd season (please Al don't can him)will prove he's the man.
Mope, good points, you ain't moping around, that's for sure! I like it.
I'm with you, I think Kiffin can turn it around, I just wish I detected a bit more method to the roster madness by week twelve.
We apparently won't play Jordan and Rhodes because of their bad attitudes and because they're not a part of our future, but we keep them on the roster for...what exactly? Same with Porter last year.
And we wonder why our locker room resembles Lord of The Flies.
Hopefully, I'm just out to lunch, and this is all part of some brilliant master plan.
Time to eat turkey, drink beer and be merry!
P.S. Thank you, memdf!
Chew on this, from another report:
"To activate Bush, someone would have needed to be cut - most likely Jordan or Rhodes. Coach Lane Kiffin decided against that, in part, because he doesn't want either running back signing with a division opponent and coming back to haunt him.
"Like the team we're playing Sunday?" Kiffin said, pointing to the game at Kansas City. "Sure, yeah, everything counts. You've got to look at everything, and I'm sure that's a part of it.
"Denver and Kansas City need a running back."
Let me get this straight. We're worried about Jordan and Rhodes coming back to haunt us, even though they've been deemed not good enough (for whatever reason) to start on the anemic offense of our 2-8 football club? And in order to do that, we stunt the growth of our future running back?
The Raiders used to instill fear. Now we're playing scared. Unbelievable.
Stabler (fer instance) was the master of the two-minute drill.
Culp, McCown, Walter, Brooks, Collins?
Not so much.
Case closed.
We won't play Rhodes.
Jordan can't get off the bench.
Yet we put Bush on the IR because we're worried that Jordan or Rhodes will come back to haunt us? If you were wondering who was making decisions before, you must really be wondering who's calling the shots now. Remember when folks were saying that starting Russell would be a sign that we are giving up on the season? Well then what do you call this move with Bush? Happy Thanksgiving everybody, the Raider brain trust is playing us for a bunch of turkeys.
100 !!! Yeahhhh!
Psycho
Not letting go of Jordan is a high price to pay just to possibly stick it to Denver or KC. I understand it but damn, we might be making the same mistakes over & over again.
Now we have a head-case sitting on the bench disgruntled, on a team that is highly sensitive to this. When Porter quietly picked splinters out of his ass in 2006, his teammates spoke out for him and showed little effort on the field. It seems to have already spread to Rhodes, who obviously would like to get out himself, and showed it more this week than ever.
They should both take a page from the book of Fargas. For all we know this could be the reason they are not starting, because me-first players do not have a place on a Kiffin team. Let that be a lesson to whoever wants to follow these guys out the door. In the mean time, you might not see the field. Maybe it's not fair to Rhodes and he really has a case, or maybe he just says all the right things to the media for appearances. But I see a guy who is not getting the carries we all expected for whatever reason and he's obviously pissed. You call that "Helping the team"? Get the F outa' here. You're lucky Kiff lets you return kicks.
Psycho
isn't there a chance that jordan, and or, rhodes might end up on a division rival next year too ?
by the raiders mad logic, i guess we have to keep them on the roster for five more years.
totally crazy.
After making Ron Dayne and Chester Taylor look like the second comings of Jim Brown, we should be more worried about stopping runners in general, as opposed to the names sewn on the backs of their jerseys.
Bama7
Regarding Bush, at this point what'd we expect? Reason? Sense? What a mess. Happy Turkey day. The thing that is the most nauseating is that truthfully I can't see where we've improved at all over last year.
The most frustrating thing about the last 5 years, to me, has been watching the Raiders not get any value out of their investments. It really sucks that we have so much money tied up into a group of players who we can't trade because their stock drops so much once we "use" them. We either don't use them at all (2006 Porter, Rhodes), don't use them right (Moss, 2005 Sapp, Huff(FS?), Walter, 2006 O-line) or they just plain suck and we should've known better (Sims, Jordan, Gallery, Grove, $ands, etc, etc). I probably missed some.
We give up two #1's for Moss only to piss him off and let him throw a hissy fit and demand a trade with his stock unbelievably low.
We dump money & picks into unproven guys like Sands, Porter, Jordan, S. Williams, Sims, Gallery, etc.... who look like physical specimens but never actually produce much of anything because we were too busy worying about their 40 times and bench presses to realize they don't have FOOTBALL skills.
Rhodes seems like a clasic Larry Brown type of signing. He has one good playoff appearance and suddenly he's Barry Sanders, and we tie him up into a contract that only guarantees that he won't live up to expectations and we can't trade him at that price. Oh, and now we've pissed him off so yeah, this should really turn out well.
Our only hope is to "tear down the house" and release most of these guys, eating the cap hits for years to come. And we could've spread it out and ate some cap early by releasing Jordan, but noooo, rather than WINNING we're too busy being focused on NOT LOSING to teams like Denver or KC if they have an extra player.
It shouldn't matter who Denver or KC has, to expand on RT's point. So what if they get our "trash", we should be able to kick their asses if we really have our sh*t together and are bettered by it. You keep disgruntled guys warming your bench, eating $5 million per year, and you'll NEVER have your sh*t together!
Now, we have yet another investment in Bush, sitting around not gaining experience. Typical. As you can see I'm not happy about this.
Turkey Time. At this rate the wife will probably burn the turkey and there is hair in my beer, that's where I'm at mentally right now.
What am I thankfull for? Not playing today. I'd hate to have the whole world watch how bad we are.
Psycho
the sad thing is, we are probably going to lose to the chefs, & donks anyway. it doesn't matter if they have jordan/rhodes, or not.
so what is gained by keeping these "benched players" around ?
...nothing.
it makes no sense, or i should say, it makes perfect raider sense.
very sad.
If someone has a better take than Psycho I would certainly like to hear it.
The words resonate the painful truth. I think we all have a reason to be pissed. I am getting tired of defending this mess.
PatriotsDynasty
So you guys are going to keep Jordan and Rhodes on the bench, just so KC and Denver can't have them. So to do that, you leave Bush on IR rather than evaluate him for 2008. Yeah that makes alot of sense. But what else can you expect from an owner who had the game pass him by back in 1992? On this Thanksgiving I am thankful that Al Davis is NOT the Patriots owner!
Post a Comment
<< Home