After the debacle
By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 6:48 pm in Oakland Raiders.
ALAMEDA _ The Raiders discovered Monday blowing an 18-point lead to a previously winless team exacted a physical toll as well as a mental one.
Four players were scheduled for MRIs to determine the extent if injuries suffered in a 24-21 loss to the Cleveland Browns _ fullback Zack Crockett (knee), defensive end Lance Johnstone (knee), linebacker Isaiah Ekijiuba (shoulder) and running back ReShard Lee (neck).
Cornerback Fabian Washington, who seemed primed for a breakout season in training camp, is being hamstrung instead. He aggravated a hamstring pull and coach Art Shell said Washington is doubtul to face the 49ers.
“I think it’s something I’m going to have to deeal with the rest of the season,” Washington said.
Ah, the rest of the season. Thirteen more games the schedule-makers insist must be played, even if the national media seems certain where it’s all headed.
“Can we just go ahead and give the Raiders the first pick (in the draft)?,” studio host Deion Sanders said on the NFL Network.
“What do they need?,” Sanders was asked.
“Everything. And it’s not the coaches. It’s the players,” Sanders said.
Judging from fan reaction, Raider Nation begs to differ, with many holding Shell and his staff personally responsible for the first 0-3 start since 1962.
(It helps to double-check facts once in awhile. The Raiders were 0-3 last season, of course. They were also 0-4 in 1992 and finished 7-9. They were 0-3 in 1986 and finished 0-3 and were 0-5-1 in 1964 and finished 5-7-2).
On that note, news and notes from another stormy Monday:
– Shell said quarterback Aaron Brooks is questionable, but Brooks all but declared himself out of the 49ers game.
– When asked how Andrew Walter graded out as the starting quarterback, Shell gave mixed reviews before saying, “He came out OK. It wasn’t bad.”
Walter, for the record is at the bottom of the NFL with a 29.2 passer rating. Ronald Curry by comparison, misfired on his only pass attempt and checks in at 39.6.
– It wasn’t exactly, “Take what the defense gives you,” but it was close: One of Shell’s criticisms of Walter was “taking advantage of the moment that was there as far as moving the ball down the field . . . we don’t need to go to the deep ball right away, let’s go ahead and take advantage of what’s underneath.”
– Not that the process was ever or will ever be made public, but there will be a change in how the Raiders review replays up in the booth, an aftermath of Shell deciding not to review a poor spot on a pass to Ronald Curry for an apparent first down.
“After I saw it, I was miffed because we should have challenged it,” Shell said. Shell said the staff met to discuss the process Monday morning and that “we’ll do something about it.”
– You wonder if Langston Walker will survive as a starter this week after getting abused by Orpheus Roye on the fourth-and-1 play following the pass to Curry. Roye came in under Walker and simply muscled him into the backfield to get to LaMont Jordan for a 2-yard loss.
“That’s just a one-on-one battle Langston has to win. He has to win that for us,” Shell said. “Orpheus Roye made an outstanding play and we just didn’t get it done.”
If Shell decides Walker to take a seat, he could move rookie Paul McQuistan to right tackle or Chad Slaughter from backup left tackle.
– The problem with moving McQuistan is it puts two rookies side-by-side on the right side _ although, come to think if it, that may not be a bad idea for a team in transition. Shell praised Kevin Boothe for his performance in his first start.
– In salary cap terms, the Raiders decided to send Jordan on the fourth-and-1 behind two players (Boothe and Walker) with a combined salary cap figure of less than $1.5 million instead of behind two players (Robert Gallery and Barry Sims) with a combined cap value of just over $14 million.
– Gallery had a hold and surrendered one sack, but also threw a key block on Jordan’s 59-yard touchdown run. He has a right shoulder sprain, but should face the 49ers. While the court of public opinion has already ruled against him, his contract means Gallery will get these last 13 games to grow and develop. Health permitting, of course.
– See if you can follow this logic, because I can’t. The Raiders convert Randal Williams from wide receiver to tight end so they can keep him around as a special teams player. Williams has made a living as a special teams player and is considered very good at it.
Wililams, having bulked up considerably, is seeing so much time at tight end he’s not on either of the kick coverage teams _ he’s second team on one, and alternates with Justin Fargas on the other.
His receiving skills have been spotty, to put it mildly.
Meanwhile, rookie free agent John Madsen, another converted wide receiver, has the makings of a very nice receiver. But during the Browns loss, Madsen was on the field while the Raiders were giving up big yardage to Cleveland return specialists, while Williams was on the field as a tight end dropping passes.
– Wide receiver Jerry Porter . . . oh, never mind.
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October 2nd, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Hey Jerry,
You’re right — there is no logic to some of the stuff that’s going on. And all your insights are pretty much right on. Too bad you’re not on the coaching staff. Keep up the great work.
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:38 pm
One comment Jerry. Unfortunately, you wrong about one thing. The Raiders started 0-3 las year also. Same old, same old. I was at the game and on the first ten possitions or so, they ran on first down (usually for about 2 yards) and then were playing from a defensive position. Walsh has to go. I say, we promote the tight end coach, John Shoop, as a temporary measure and then decide to find someone, or keep Shoop.
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Thank you for the opportunity to vent! In no particular order. Trade Jerry immediately, even if its for a 3rd rounder. The Gabriel trade points to the level of stupidity with the decision making right now. Play
Walter the rest of the season. If we don’t accomplish anything this year we must know if Walter is
going to be the future for us. We must hope he is after we decided to pass on Lienart and Cutler. This
was Jordans best game as a Raider, I actually seen him hit the whole with some explosion. Fargas
needs to see more playing time, he runs with authority. Madsen needs to be playing. The drops from
Randal Williams were horrible, the effort from Moss was disgraceful. Morrison and Boothe played well.
We need to see more of Terdell, he could be the real deal. Kelly has been quiet. I have to disagree about
Gallery, I saw him miss several blocks, some were not even close. After a promising start to his career
Walker was terrible this week. He was dominated on the 4th down play.
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Thanks, JC. Dumb mistake . . . the Raiders were 0-3 last year . . . how soon I forget . . .
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:52 pm
Well, the LA Raiders started 0-4 in 1992. Madsen would have to be better for posession purposes than Alvis Whitted. Move Porter and take the cap hit since young players are by definition cheap. Note that Al didn’t go out ad blow the treasury to buy a lot of aged veteran help this year. I suspect he knew this might be coming and that is why aspiring young coaches weren’t yelling “Pick me Monty” in order to get this job. I don’t see player talent and coaching as problems per se. Defeat has seeped into our bones (therefore nothing will ever seem to work), and we have to work it out. This will require stoicism in the face of adversity, stability, playing together to work through this, and patience. If we grow together this will make us stronger in the long run. But it’ll be tough to be stable when external pressures threaten to blow the team up.
Even if you take the two long runs and Walter’s scramble out, Oakland had 75 yards on 21 carries, which is fine. That’s about normal when the long runs are eliminated. Run blocking pretty good, pass blocking (more important) still bad. You should see the stats of Aikman and Bradshaw (39%, 11% INT) when they first came up for bad teams. Troy was 1-15. I don’t envy Andrew Walter at all, even if his paycheck is so much bigger than mine.
Defense shut down the wide runs and deep ball. Their longest play was 22 yards (on 4th and 8). I can only think the plan was to stop the big play and wait for Charley Frye to make mistakes. Which he did - twice. Defense allowed 4.1 yards per play, got three turnovers, and scored a TD which isn’t perfect but definitely good enough in and of itself. Running plus defense plus special teams is a proven formula for competitiveness. Two out of the three won’t make it. Especially when you get 1.6 yards per pass. Oh well, ride it out in the trough of a very negative wave.
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:58 pm
After watching Sunday’s bothing of an 18-point lead and ZERO adjustments by the coaching staff at halftime, I have a single reaction-ENOUGH!!! This B.S. with Jerry Porter has got to stop now. He and Shell obviously have personality issues, but Jerry Porter has NEVER put forth the type of shameful performance we are seeing from Randy Moss. Hell, Moss deactivates himself from the game. Hie’s got a rookie QB out there and he’s dogging it on almost every down. I can assure you we would not see that type of BS effort from Porter. Shell’s botching the the personnel decisions off the field and on the field-AGAIN-in his second go round as the Head Coach. Not challenging on Curry’s herculean effort for a critical 1st down? Are you kidding me me? I saw the play once on TV and I knew he got a lousy spot. The D is getting into a bad habit of AGAIN of not getting off the field on third and long. The special teams kick coverage was atrocious–Lechler and Janikowski had the best tackles all day on the coverage teams! If Shell wants to bench a wideout this week, make it Moss. Start Currey and Porter at wideout and give Walter some targets who will work to get open. Jordan and Fargas have got the running game going, so that should help Walter, as well. The Raiders have one more opportunity to get something going before the schedule turns ugly. Swallow your friggin’ pride Shell and get the best players on the field. And, don’t be afraid to do some actual coaching DURING the game. That also means throwing that little red flag if the refs are doing a Brinks Job on the team..
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:18 am
Yes the Raiders sucked in offense, defense and special teams, but they also shined in those three departments at times. I thought the hit by Cooper was perfectly timed. The punter caught the ball and got clocked. The punters’ job is to decide if he has a chance to return, if not then fair catch. We were Whoooo, and then jumping up and down saying yes! Lauding Cooper for a great hit, but then there comes the flag. Instead of Raiders ball 1st and Goal, the Browns get fifteen yards and keep the ball. A few plays later the Browns punt returner returns a punt for a TD almost, if not for the great hit by Lechler. A Raider arrived in time to stick the punt returner but hesitates just a split second (obviously aware of the last penalty and not wanting to repeat), which allowed the returner to escape. The point being that the penalty on Cooper had a residual affect which not only cost the Raiders an easy touchdown but also gave Cleveland excellent field position a few minutes later, which lead to a touchdown for them, a 14 point swing. Instead of the Raiders being up 28-17 they are down 24-21. After Cleveland scored, the Raiders were methodically marching down the field on perhaps their way to a touchdown, when all of the sudden the drive is stalled by a bad spot. What happened after that bad call is immaterial because if the corrupt line judge spotted the ball correctly, coach Shell would not have had the opportunity screw up. The drive would have continued and the momentum would have mounted and if the Raiders scored we might have won. Shotinheimer is right about the Raiders, “Stay within striking distance and the Raiders will beat themselves…. What he failed to mention is “…with the help of the officials”. You see the Raiders do not self-destruct, they make many mistakes but the killer drive stoppers, and called back first downs and touch downs are usually the direct result of corrupt officiating, not the Raiders. Shotenheimer tried his theory against Baltimore but the officials didn’t rescue him, so he ended up eating crow (Ha, ha).
If a goal of the corrupt NFL Corporation is to break the back of the dissident Al Davis, by financially bleeding his Raider corporation, then they are 3/65,000 closer to that goal. I had been 3 field-level season tickets for the last ten years but this season I finally made an extremely difficult choice to not renew my season tickets. The factor that tipped the scale toward not renewing my season tickets was the officiating. Calls like those described above broke my back and a conceded defeat to the NFL. You win- Al losses. My next goal is to divorce myself from watching corrupt corporate NFL football altogether. I am on the second step of a two-step program. Wish me luck. I remember reading that an elderly football fan died at a football game. That ain’t gonna be me. This crap ain’t worth it.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 am
Art, I really wanted to see you do well on the second chance to head coach an NFL team. That is an incredibly difficult job. I don’t blame you but it is clear that you are lost up a river of confusion, without a paddle. I am tossing you a life saver. Grab it and go to Al and tell him that this game has passed you by and QUIT! It’ll be a win-win for everybody. You won’t have to regurgitate cliches on “How difficult it is to win in this league” and “How players have to make plays”, and how “We just didn’t make enough plays to win”. How could everyone in the stadium and T.V. audience see that atrocious spot and you or your staff failed to see it? How could that happen? How?
Good by Art
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:37 am
Jerry - great job on the blog! The coaches are blowing this season. 1) The very obvious mistake by Art on the non-challenge. 2) The very obvious fact that the Browns were going to throw on the goal line because they had 2 fullbacks in the game. the defense has to be prepared for this and recognize it. 3) When the best player on the team is dogging it, the head coach must do something about it. Moss won’t even run the routes full speed or fight for the ball in a situation where he has a decided size advantage. The play calling was a little better. There were some easy dropped passes that would have helped out Walter. On the Curry pass, he missed a wide open receiver who was running a shorter route. fargas looked good, why isn’t he playing more? Resolve the JP situation - one way or another. By giving away Gabriel, Art almost has to start playing him.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:27 am
Wow! Every organization has problems but most have positive mental attitudes to
overcome such diversity. We have Randy Moss who acts like he doesn’t have to try
and catch a ball unless its right to him, we have an offensive coordinator who is outdated,
we have Art Shell who isn’t taking matter in his own hands on the sidelines, we have an
offense that never has any sense of urgency and we have Porter who is laughing all the
way to the bank. Being a Raider fan for over 30 years, I’m embarrassed! This Organization
ought to be ashamed of itself with the product its putting on the field. You are the
worst team in the NFL if Art had any courage he’d bench Moss, Langston Walker, Roland
Williams, and fire the offensive coordinator. Get Porter on the field, make Jordan a full
back and put Fargas as the tailback. Get the disease out of the Locker Room!
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:26 am
Great article. I think, at the core of it all, we’re just not very talented. What positions don’t have question marks? The D is decent, not great. The offense is bad. Line is bad. Jordan certainly has yet to look as dominant as other top flight backs. The receivers are so-so. QB might be good, might not. In those situations, you can’t afford mistakes. And that’s what we made. Different people on different plays at different times. The lack of concentration and execution may be the coaches fault, who knows, but mediocre talent can’t overcome those issues. This is a bad football team, and the only thing we can hope for is that it will get some direction in the process of rebuilding.
Just remember, Moss may have plenty of things to say, and Porter may be ticked, but what reaction would you expect from inmates used to running the prison? The phrase is Commitment to Excellence. I just want Oakland to stop the revolving door of philosophies and Commit to a direction long enough to regain Excellence.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:49 am
As of now this is a worse team the the one turner fielded, Al please give it up, your asking us to support this crap your putting on the field. As I’m active duty in the NAVY I have to tolerate crap from all kinds of different teams fans and i now have no fight back. Your going to the past sucks. Your web sight paints this rosey picture and does not give us the truth and you expect us to buy that crap. Just by watching Randy run his routes tells me that the will to win is gone from this team and they don’t believe in the coaches. It seems to me that Art Shell does not know what he is doing, when i could see on T.V. that we were getting a crappy spot on the Curry catch and i thought for sure Art was going to challange the call and when he did’nt i thought he is not fighting for his players or the win. I wish i was back home so i could go to the home of Raiders and PROTEST this poopy product your putting on the field. I can’t believe I’m paying $150.00 a season for NFL Sunday Ticket just so i can see my beloved Oakland Raiders stink the NFL up. RAIDERS FOR LIFE.
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:39 am
I think we should simply ask the NFL if we could possibly just forfeit the rest of our games so that we can examine who is going to be our number 1 pick in the draft. Maybe we should simply draft the whole Ohio State Football Team and Staff, we’d probably be better off.
Sorry to be so negative Al but I can’t take it anymore. We are not commited to Excellence we are commited to being the dumbest football organization in the NFL. As much as I disliked Callahan it appears to me that he was pretty accurate. At least you gave Jon Gruden a chance to put in a half decent offense with modern approaches to sophisticated defenses. Its the only thing we’ve done in 10 years that made any sense. Why don’t we just bring back Daryl Lamonica and George Blanda they probably still know the play book as well as anybody.
Jim Otto would be a good consultant to this offense, thank God he’s on staff. I’m hoping we can at least win one game this year, San Francisco is our only hope.
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:51 am
Now who is a true Raider fan?… Now lets be honest we doint have the talent these days,lets stay with the coach for a change an build the talent pool…geeze people calm down !!
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:56 am
Sirblitz:
Please don’t fall into the officials are against us routine, even Shell said that Cooper got there too early on the hit. The problem with the Raiders were the 3 and outs that happened in the 2nd half leaving the defense on the field. You say they don’t self destruct, they just make many drive mistakes…uhhhh..sorry, but those are drive killers, and they happen quite a bit more than officiating calls. The problem with this organization is Al, he undermines every coach, every decision….I think Jerry would be playing right now, but it’s Al’s call now. Once Jerry parked in Al’s spot at the Alameda headquarters, Jerry was going to get the Marcus Allen treatment of rotting on the bench. Of course the one time that Al doesn’t undermine Shell, Shell hires Tom Walsh as his O.C., but that’s been beaten to death already. I knew this team would go through more years of losing when Al announced at the press conference when Bill Callahan was dumped “I don’t want a disciplinarian” for a coach….oh, okay, so the inmates will be running this asylum from now on. Callahan was right and this franchise is 9-26 since he was shown the door.
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:11 am
LA here we come!
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:50 am
Is it possible that the Raiders have 1)made too much commitment to players who are “freakishly talented”; for example, they might be extremely fast for their position, but don’t have the versatility or desire to block or 2)to players who have been on other teams, played brilliantly, but only when they “want to”; for example, Randy Moss. It might be more important to create a team with a core of guys whose primary objective is to work hard for the team. The best examples on today’s Raiders seem to be Kirk Morrison and LaMont Jordan, two of our more productive players. Players like Curry and Sam Williams are injury prone but show a desire to play football that is admirable. They belong on this team and could be a good core if they stay healthy. Art Shell’s coaching staff can’t be blamed for selecting the current crop of players. Now it should be Art Shell’s number one job to eliminate those players who don’t contribute to team play; this would mean players like Moss and Porter, and substitute team-minded players in their places. The play calling could be much improved. It should be Art Shell’s number two job to find someone to help fashion an offense that fits the revised team’s talents. If Shell shapes a team with character I am willing to continue buying my season tickets and attending games. I am not interested in any “quick fixes”; the idea that any one player, no matter how talented, could fix our team is ludicrous. One need look no further than the Randy Moss experiment. It will take concerted effort over several years. I don’t know if Shell is up to the job or not, but he is the man we have now. Someone has to start building a real team.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:06 am
Too bad that will never happen with Al doing the drafting, but very good point kew
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:27 am
I hate that I’m already wishing the season was over, and we’re only three games into it. I know I usually have something more constructive to say…but what’s the point anymore. The Raiders seem to be okay with the fact that they suck. And that is sick. Randy is pissing me off with his effort level on the field. The o-line ought to be set up in front of a firing squad. Gallery is quickly becoming Tony Mandrich (and I hate saying that, because I was one of his biggest supporters, but he’s not getting much better). The coaching staff needs to be gutted, as does the organization…I have to go to lunch, but I’ll be back with my list of guys who stay versus who needs to go.
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:39 am
We shouldn’t hear from anyone other than Al Davis himself from this point forward until this turd turns around. He’s the one directly responsible for this debacle. Let him tell us why we have to tolerate this level of ineptitude.
Enough with the sound bites from Lamont “talk a good game” Jordan. Quit speaking and start running! You’ve never shown that you deserve to be the “Main #1 Man”. Put aside that one fluke run and your true colors show through. The jury is still out on Vargas.
Enough with the Jerry Porter fiasco. Let’s hear from Al why Porter is not playing. Alvis Whitted is a 4th string wide out on his best day. He may be a fast runner (Al likes track people), but he can’t clear the line of scrimmage so what good is his speed? Make the cdecision Al and put Porter back on the field.
Enough with the retarded O-line. Let’s see Slaughter @ LT, Gallery @ LG, Hulsey @ C, Booth or Grove @ RG and Sims @ RT. Gallery is a BUST @ tackle but he might be able to make a contribution at guard. Langston Walker is a joke. Send him back to the gym to muscle up. Maybe some steroids will help. Give Romanowski a call. He can probably hook him up.
Enough with the dropped passes by all the receivers. That’s what you guys get paid for. How about some fines for dogging it and just plain not paying attention to business?
Enough with the clipboard Art. Show some damn emotion. Get pissed - everyone else is! Show some life. Do something! Hell, it doesn’t even have to be the right thing, just do something! Show us that you are NOT Mr. Al Davis’ hand puppet. Take his hand from out of your ass and start doing head coach stuff. Fire somebody publically! It doesn’t matter who because with the exception of the Defense and Special teams, the entire Offense needs their asses kicked publically. If not them then YOU Art, need your ass kicked!
I won’t even rant about Mr. B&B Tom Walsh the OC. We are way beyond friendship here. You are not doing him or anyone else any favors by keeping him. Ask your buddy Al to tie the can on his ass so YOU can start calling the plays. That way we will know for sure who the loser really is.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:41 pm
YOU’RE AN IDIOT if u wanna let go of Moss!! i agree he isn’t trying his hardest all the time, but when he does, he catches everything. you can tell something is up with the team. i mean we hate the coaching staff, etc. the players are there all the time and knows what goes on. im sure Art Shell is being a bitch!!!
ill agree with Langston Walker..that guy is SOFT
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:49 pm
You’re an idiot if you think that Moss is worth the money we are paying him to “try”
sometimes, he is not a top tier receiver anymore because he gets shut out every game
and the person that shuts him out is himself… Chad Johnson, Steve Smith, Santana Moss,
hell even Terrell Owens all are great receivers because they “try” on every play no matter what
Talk about idiot you would pay someone millions of dollars to “try” sometimes, you obviously know nothing about football, when the team captain only tries sometimes and not on every play what kind of message is that sending to one of the NFL’s youngest teams.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:51 pm
My List (by group):
Quaterback: Walter stays, needs to play the rest of the year out to get the experience. Disagree with everyone on Lienert, he doesn’t have an arm, and Brady Quinn will not be the answer either. Hope that he’s better than Cutler, because Cutler looks like he might be the real deal. Brooks is serviceable as a backup at this point, and Tui is out.
Running Back: Lamont Jordan stays - sorry folks he’s a good back, not top flight, but certainly a solid starter. He showed what he can do with blocking on numerous occasions. Fargas stays, but needs to get a lot more reps so we can see if he can stay healthy enough to warrant a roster spot. That will be tough to do when we go 3 and out all the time, and can’t put drives together long enough to where Jordan needs a blow. Lee, Crockett, and Foschi are all replaceable - Crockett’s getting up there in age too.
Wide Receiver: Ronald Curry stays - cross your fingers on the health factor. Randy Moss stays only if we can’t TRADE him for a #1 or a #2&3 combo. His effort level is pissing me off and he is not a polished WR with his routes. I think he IS the most explosive player in the league, but if he’s not on board as a leader giving 110% all the time, he’s out. Porter’s a stay with a new coaching staff and Al out of the picture…so I guess that means he’s out. The rest are irrelevant.
Tight-ends: Madsen stays as a project, the rest are irrelevant. When Courtney starts catching the ball consistently, he’s a stay.
O-line: Gallery stays as a guard for one more year after this. RT is a possibility, but the speed rushers might still kill him. His lack af strength is definitely a concern, but as Jerry pointed out, his salary dictates he gets every opportunity and then some to earn his keep. Walker’s a guard, but he’s on the way out. Sims to RT not a bad idea, but he’s a keeper only if he can’t be replaced. Boothe, McQ, and Gallery are really the only one’s that would stay, others are replaceable. Personally, I’d give Grove the rest of the year, and keep him to COMPETE for a job next year.
D-line: Burgess stays. Kelly stays, but is moved back to end. Sands should start, notice how the run defense improves with him in? Sapp finishes out career as a Raider, but role starts to diminish over next two years. Brayton stays, but he’ll never be anything more than a guy in the rotation. Anyone else is irrelevant.
Linebackers: Morrison, Howard and Williams stay. That’s about it, everyone else is irrelevant.
Secondary: Fabian, Huff and Schweigert stay, Asomugha stays, as a nickel corner, Cooper stays, and everyone else is irrelevant.
Janikowski and Lechler (our best players, and tacklers since Sunday) obviously stay.
If I wrote irrelevant, that means it really doesn’t matter if they stay.
Must go’s include:
Whitted, Tui (unless we get a west coast OC, but I think the damage has been done), Randal Williams, Moss and Porter (dependent on who and when the new regime comes), Walker and Sims are close…ah what the hell get rid of ‘em, All linebacker back-ups gone, whole coaching staff, every last one of them, with possible exception of Shoop…heard some intriguing (not necessarily good, but not bad either) things on him.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I think I will piggy back on the last two gentleman…
Players that a Raiders:
Jerod Cooper - A real hitter, man with heart and should be playing more.
Lamont Jordan - A Real Raider. Has passion and has great potential.
Kirk Morrison - At first I was not impressed but this man plays with heart
and wants to be a Raider.
Grant Irons - This man needs to be on the field.. Real Raider with passion.
Sam Williams - Has great potential if he can stay healthy.
Terdall Sands - needs to be on the field more. Real Nasty Raider.
Derrick Burgeous - A Raider. Comes to play ever day.
Stuart Sqaggert - Has potential but slow and tackels with his head down.
Ronald Curry - Very good player. if he can stay healthy.
Doug Gabriel - Oh, I forgot stupid trade… Watch him explode in N.E.
Randy Moss - He wants out… You have had him for two seasons and
you wait until we play Cleaveland & you throw to him 7
times.
Dead beats:
Jerry Porter - Selfish player with talent. Get rid of him immediately
Aaron Brooks - Washed up. He can’t get along with his best receiver.
Fabian Washington - Soft. Needs to get mean and gain weight
Nnmde Uguaan #21 - Soft and Wet. Needs to become a man.
Warran Sapp - Could help but wants to make movies.
Robert Gallery - Big waist of draft pick. Soft and Wet.
Coaches:
Art Shell - Loved watching you play during the real Raider Teams but
you are over your head in Coaching.
Tom Walsh - Get rid of now.. I am a better Co-ordinator. and so is
everyone out there that plays Madden Football.
Rob Ryann - I would blame you for your defensive calls but, you have
no real players to execute your calls.
Raiders Organization - Dumb decisions, poor draft selections & terrible
Free agency picks.
I love the Silver and Black but I may have to bail out because we are
a laughing stock and no one has respect for this pitiful display of what
is supposed to be professional football.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:44 pm
Randy’s loving life, is he? That’s nice to hear. I’m so HAPPY for him … I can’t understand what gets into his head. And he’s got thirteen more games to smell the roses. If Walter’s gonna play, pair him with his preseason running mate Johnny Morant and see what happens.
Someone above said we should have kept Callahan. I thought I was the only one. Right now he is at Nebraska (a real old time I-formation program) teaching kids the West Coast Offense, with some success I might add. Note that just about all of the vets who ran him out of town in Oakland are gone. He tried to change their ways and they ganged up on him. I’ll bet he’s happier now.
Art’s not stupid, he’s just rusty, and we’re unfortunately paying for it in the short run. I’m still for him, but I’m feeling some of his pain right now. He’s gonna be given awhile. Maybe I’m defending him because I’m an old Raider fogey myself. As for Al … still love you too, man, but your quick fix philosophies and giving authority to players over coaches have hurt this club. I really do believe that there is evidence that you might be changing your tune a little, but I remain skeptical.
Too early to tell who should stay or go, but I enjoyed the above speculation a great deal. One of the reasons Strat-O-Matic is better than Madden is that you couldn’t win with these guys in Strat. More realistic. Losing sucks, doesn’t it? We all want to help, but we dweebs have no power to actually do anything except gripe.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
“Shell wouldn’t say whom he asks if a play should be challenged, but he didn’t rule out changing that assignment”.
It was ME that he called. I sit in section 318 row 4 seat 3. Unfortunately, I was out in the crapper when the bad spot happened so I missed the play. When he called and asked “should I challenge”? I responded challenge what”? He said OK & hung up & went back to his clipboard. Gee, I hope he won’t be mad at me. I’ve had my legs crossed for the last three games and just couldn’t hold it any longer. Please don’t fire me for not doing my job. It would establish a bad (negative) precedent and we certainly don’t want any negatives associated with this team - do we?
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:22 pm
How fast the people jump. I understand that nowadays in the NFL teams go from first pick to the superbowl champs in a heartbeat but I don’t think anyone here thought the Raiders would do that. Seriously i thought 8-8 would be a tremendous season so how about this, we let the coach stay for more than 1 year before we replace him with someone else. I understand that things should have been dealt with differently or a different play called or this or that challenged but it wasn’t, and a good coach will learn just as much as a good player will learn. Now I always want the Raiders to go for it on 4th and inches and I am still glad they did. It shows a little bit of guts. It’s always easy to be an armchair QB when it doesn’t succeed.
On a different note I was pleased with Walters. What do you guys expect. You guys are expecting a Big Ben season from him when we don’t have a Pitt team to help him out like that. Give him time, let him learn, he didn’t get the experience like Alex Smith or Peyton or Aikmen did thier rookie year and what kind of mentor did he have last year. Believe me I’m as pissed as anyone, I live in Seattle and deal with the crap everyday but I’ll stay true and hope Shell isn’t gone at the end of the year just to start the cycle over. Maybe our younger players would be a little farther ahead if there wasn’t a coaching regime change every other year.Look at Cincy,Chicago, Dallas, some teams that didn’t change after 1bad season. I believe Raider Football will be back, not this year but soon
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:38 pm
I have had it with Randy Moss!! We have a QB making his first start and Moss plays like an absolute pussy out there. I saw David Givens sell out for an uncatchable ball from V. Young, and get destroyed by Roy Williams, yet Moss decides not to try for Walter. With a young QB, it is on that entire offence to step up, not step off. I am a die hard Raider fan, every loss kills me like you guys, all I ask is that you give it everything you got on the field. Moss has no heart out there and I would rather cheer for Morant out there. I’d say trade Moss, but no one would take him. Suspend him or deactivate him, Moss is the only player in the league that walks on the field like he doesn’t care that the play is to him. If Art truly had control of the team, I’m sure Moss would not be on it. I hope against San Fran, that when Moss quits on a route or a play, that Walter gets in his face about it, this team needs a leader and it needs to be someone to put it to Moss. Sorry for the rant, but I know come Sunday this team will be killing me again, for the love of God beat the 9ers!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Yes R8rfanforlife, Cincy, Chicago & Dallas did not unload their coaches but they had some real quality coaches and not an ex-player and court jester of the LAST RESORT. I know of Marvin Lewis, Lovey Smith and Bill Parcells. Art Shell is not in their league nor have any of the last 4 Raider coaches been in that league. Nobody decent wants to work under Al Davis. That tells you something doesn’t it?
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
Craig Norman, couldn’t have said it better myself buddy… It kills me every week to see the team lose but what hurts the most is the half assed effort given when they lose… I could
live with our team going 0-16 and busting their asses playing with heart then to see themgo
4-12 and play like they are… I don’t think asking these guys to play with heart for us fans
that live and die by each play and give our heart watching and cheering our team on win
or lose
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:01 pm
I just finished reading an article about the New York Knicks and it struck me how similar their situation is to the Raider’s current situation. Both teams have a plethora of overpaid players. Both teams have players that are put into the wrong spot. Both teams have signed players who are either over the hill or simply overrated. Both teams have players which appear to quit or stop trying when the going gets just a little bit difficult. Most troubling, both teams have such poor management/ownership issues, that there appears to be little hope for the future. Unfortunately, James Dolan and Isaiah Thomas appear to be very similar to Al (let me chase away all promising coaching talent) Davis, Art (great guy, but overmatched and tired) Shell and Tom Walsh.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:35 pm
The problem is and will continue to be until he moves on is Al Davis’s ego, he just had to
prove that was the genius behind the Raiders and jettisoned Gruden to prove nobody is
bigger than him in the organization, then when Callahan called the players Al drafted the dumbest team in America he fired him too… Al is too busy trying to prove its his genius
that makes the Raiders what they are and that might have been true 20 years ago but
has been more his stupidity that has been our downfall since.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:50 pm
My gripe is with the core operation. Ever since Bruce Allen left town the team has
suffered from a personnel standpoint. Bruce would bring in guys like Randy Jordan and
Terry Kirby. Remember Elijah Alexander and William Thomas? Those guys were solid
linebackers, men not boys. Remember getting Charlie Garner when he supposedly had
nothing left? How about Frank Middleton and Grady Jackson and Tony Bryant and Regan
Upshaw and RICH GANNON!!
I know we brought in Derrick Burgess, Bobby Hamiliton, Lance Johnstone, Tyrone
Poole, Ted Washington. Other than Burgess, who of these has knocked three
quarterbacks (or was it four?) out of games like Upshaw and Bryant used to do?
Besides, Burgess has a moderate contract. Why bring in Warren Sapp for big
money when he won’t play any better than any other free agent. Why bring in Moss
when he is ….Randy Moss isn’t fooling anyone anymore. He really doesn’t care.
AND ANOTHER THING! I watch other teams, and the really good defenses have one
funny thing in common. They can NOT be seen helping opponents up off of the ground
after they have just planted them there. They just walk away and make that player help
himself up.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:39 pm
I echo Danny’s comments. Problems like this, starts at the top.
The game that Al pioneered, and assisted in putting on the map has passed him by.
No longer can just “run down the field and chuck the ball in the air…….” Until HE passes on
or just swallow the Pride and gets a 21st Century NFL guy in here……..this will
continue to be a roller coaster ride. He admitted of making a mistake firing Shell go the
first time, what he should be saying is the BIGGEST MISTAKE I MADE WAS NOT GIVEN
GRUDEN WHAT HE WANTED AND TRADING HIM!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Isnt Amy Trask in Charge????????
Maybe someone should blame her too - we already fried the owner, the coach both coordinators and the entire team- BUT NOT THE CEO???? I think everyone is fine EXCEPT
AMY
REPLACE TRASK NOW!!!!