Give Al Davis His Due

A lot of folks get upset with me for criticizing Al Davis as the man most responsible for the state of the Raiders over the past several years. These folks prefer to point fingers elsewhere.

Well, the problem with failing to apply most of the blame to Mr. Davis is that it also robs him of what he most deserves: the credit.

After all, if the Raiders get on a hot streak and make the playoffs this year—which I think is possible, especially given the state of the AFC West, where eight victories won the division last year—who should get the most credit? Our general manager? Oops, we don’t have one. Tom Cable? Sure, he’ll get some of the credit, but not nearly as much as the man who had the vision to tap him for the head coaching job.

See how this works?

People forget that I’ve been an ardent defender of Mr. Davis against those who would say that our success earlier this decade was all the work of Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen. It was all Gruden’s work? Are you kidding me? First off, Mr. Davis is the one who had the vision to tap Gruden. Also, don’t tell me Mr. Davis didn’t have a firm hand in our free agent signings and draft picks during that era. He always has, and he always will.

I’ve always said that you can’t blame Mr. Davis for the bad times without giving him the credit for the good times. But if I’m being intellectually honest, then the inverse is also true.

More than any other owner, Mr. Davis’s hand is on our results, both good and bad. The problem is that the results have been mostly bad lately, and the blame must be assessed accordingly. I suspect he would agree with me.

I had to laugh when I criticized Mr. Davis for our dreadful free agent activity in 2008 (during which we threw bags of gold at DeAngelo Hall and Javon Walker, among others), and folks actually wanted to blame Lane Kiffin for those signings. Say what? You mean you let that punk—whom you already distrusted, whom you knew didn’t have the organization’s best interests at heart—write blank checks in free agency? Geez, that would be even worse and more blameworthy than writing the checks yourself.

The same goes for the hot topic of just how much influence Mr. Davis wields over our defensive schemes. It’s the subject of much debate and speculation here at Raider Take, with some suggesting that he's not culpable in what transpired on our defense in recent years. Yet Jay Richardson the other day called it the “Al Davis defense,” apparently without a hint of sarcasm.

Well, what’s so wrong with that? I’d rather it be Mr. Davis’s defense that failed over the past several years than the alternative—which would be that he was just idly letting Rob Ryan run with scissors year after year. Better to try and fail than to be blind and absent.

The upside of all of this is that when our fortunes take a turn for the better, Mr. Davis will be the biggest beneficiary of the accolades to follow. Now wouldn’t that be cool? At his age, to show that he’s still got it, and to poke a sharp stick in the eye of his jealous haters? I can’t wait, and I’ll bet he can’t, either. I hope it happens as early as this December.

The bottom line: Let’s be intellectually honest now, so that when the time comes, we can legitimately give Mr. Davis what he will amply deserve: the credit.