What? No Pats-Raiders thread?

[poptart]

Pats with 280 yds rushing as I type. lol

How many consecutive years is it now that teams run at will on the Raiders??

awww fuck it, rub some dirt on it and draft a couple o' more speedy d-backs.


Hey, it's only taken our coaching staff 14 games to realize that it might be a good idea to get McFadden involved in the passing game.

Cutting edge.


Jack, I guess Lofton and maybe Ryan were other guys Al might have considered to take the puppet job after Kiffin was canned.

Has Lofton helped our receiving corp?

Has Ryan helped our defense?


Our kickers are the only thing we've got going for us.


The fat Pollock for player/coach in '09!

You heard it here first.

[RJ]

What the fuck else do we expect with a shit owner like Al running this fucked up mess?


We'll NEVER get a coach worth a fuck until Al passes. This stupid fuck has no GM, a very minimal scouting department, and a front office filled with ass kissing pussies who care more about saving thier job than laying down the truth to old cunt.


Rich Gannon, among MANY other former Raiders has come out against his former team and the dumbfucks who are stupid enough to label him a "Raider Hater" because he's honest. For the record, he considers the Silver and Black "his" team and openly roots for them when he announces thier games.

Gannon on state of the Raiders

By Jerry McDonald - NFL Writer
Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9:56 am in Oakland Raiders.

Rich Gannon wanted to make it clear he’s not a “Raider Hater,” the label which gets affixed by a dwindling segment of Raider Nation to anyone who attempts to analyze how a once-great franchise has fallen into an unprecedented six-year free fall.

It was the first thing he addressd in an interview Thursday morning on KNBR’s Murph and Mac Show in advance of the Patriots-Raiders game, with Gannon as the analyst for the CBS broadcast.

“Let me clear something up. I’ve been labeled a Raider hater, I don’t know where that came from, but I feel so terrible about the state of this organization,” Gannon said. “I spent six years out there. I think it’s well documented that before I got there, it was not a very successful place for the last four or five years.

“We turned it around, we won three straight AFC West titles, went to two AFC championship games, a Super Bowl. We were the winningest team during that period in the NFL . . . I want nothing more than to see this organization turn it around.”

Gannon added that glossing over what ails the Raiders wouldn’t be fair to his employer, which pays him to give his opinion.

Some excerpts from a 10-minute interview:

– “The thing I get frustrated with, and I kind of bang my head against the wall, is when I see the decisions that are being made in terms of the players, in terms of free agency, in terms of draft picks, in terms of the coaching carousel.”

– “I went to Atlanta a week or two after they played the Raiders . . . in my talks with the Atlanta staff, it was crystal clear that it it was perhaps the worst football game that I had ever seen . . . I mean, it looked like a high school team out there trying to play an NFL game.

“And then to watch the San Diego game, a little bit better, but not much . . . the Tommy Kelly penalty in the first quarter was just incredible. I think it speaks volumes about a player that can do that in a game at a critical juncture and kind of gets away with it. I think there needs to be wholesale changes as always, but unless Mr. Davis and the organization are willing to make some painful decisions, I don’t see them changing.”

– “The thing that concerns me about (JaMarcus Russell), well a couple of things. First, his growth has been retarded some from the fact that he’s had three different play-callers this year in Lane Kiffin, Greg Knapp and now Tom Cable. I think that was a mistake. I think you can see obviously he’s fallen off in terms of his production and consistency.

“The other thing that concerns me is when the coach comes out and says that the guy needs to . . . come to work every day and do the work it takes to be successful. To me, that’s mind-boggling, how, in this day and age, whether it be a coordinator or a position coach or a head coach, wouldn’t demand that the guy come in on Tuesdays and do the work.

“And then to make the comment a couple of weeks ago, now we’re going to make him learn how to be a pro, well, what were they doing the first year and a half they had him?”

– “If your quarterback is not the hardest working guy in the building, you have a problem. I don’t know that he’s quite there yet, and that’s not a shot at him. I think you learn to do that, you learn to be that type of guy. If you’re not the first one in and the last to leave, as an owner, or as a head coach or as a play-caller, I’d be very concerned.”

– “People can say what they want about Lane Kiffin, and certainly he has his shortcomings like we all do . . . I will say this _ he had a very good understanding about where they were in terms of their personnel, where they had issues. He was very aware that the receiver position was not a position of strength in terms of their ability to separate and win on the outside.

“I think he was also concerned about the tackle position in terms of protection. I think he realized . . . the only way they were going to have a chance to win is if they going to be able to run the football with Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden. You look at their three wins, in all those wins they had some success running the football. If they don’t, they have no chance, and I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just keep pounding Justin Fargas and Darren McFadden and off of that mix in some play-action and quarterback movement.

“Those two have to be featured, and unfortnately, we all miss not seeing as much of Darren McFadden, but to Justin Fargas’ credit, this guy is obvoiusly, without question, aside from Nnamdi Asomugha, the best player on their football team.”

The bottom line is that we are flat out fucked until the Count takes a dirtnap or mistakenly floats into a sunlight beam.

[Shoalzie]

It sucks being in a situation where your only hope is when the owners dies...we empathize with you up here. Pretty soon, I'm sure Cowboy fan might start hoping Jerrah buys it during a botox injection.

[Th]

I quit watching at the half

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

I don't know about the other NE peeps… but there was very little chatter about this game for me because we've been without power since Friday morning. First game I've heard Rich Gannon ever do. He's pretty good. Good luck with the whole Al Davis death watch thing fellas….

[Neely8]

I fell asleep after the 1st Quarter. No worries.....

[trev]

Good luck with the whole Al Davis death watch thing fellas….

His mom lived til 105. Should be fun.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

Really? Does he have any relatives who can declare him incontinent? incompetent and force a sale?

[poptart]

I understand T. Brown was on Sirus Radio today and had some interesting things to say.
Didn't hear the interview but saw a transcript of the conversation.

Comments about Davis and Russell were particularly interesting.

- On Davis, he said that there is NO way Al is giving up control.
Not a chance that he will keep his hands off day-to-day operation of the Raiders.
Given Als' repeated problems with his coaches, Brown said the best thing to hope for is for a "buffer" to be placed between Al and whoever the next guy is, so that both parties can air their frustrations and be able to find some compromise when tough issues are seen a different way.
He threw Jim Plunkett's name out there as a possibility.

My take is this:

Most fans have been screaming for Al to step back and let others run the show in Oakland.
But Al is proud and his ego is HUGE.
He desperately wants to win big again -- on HIS terms, to show the world, to shove it up in the face of those who've maligned him.
He's delusional this way.
Unless Al is physically incapacitated, I don't see him changing a whole lot.
He still believes in himself.

Know this.

The best we can hope for, as Brown noted, is for a wise "buffer" to be in place between Al and whoever the next coach is.
Hopefully this "buffer" can keep things calm and the coach can have the strength to get things stable and moving in a positive direction, like Gruden was able to ... for a while.


- On Russell, Brown didn't sound that optomistic.

The best we might hope for from him is to end up performing at the young D. Culpepper level, he said.
At worst, he might be a total flop.
And it will likely not be 'til year 4 until we really can guage for sure what he's gonna be.
The modern pro offense is based on quick timing, and Russell appears not to have the natural skills to operate that way.
Brown said Russell is suited to a 5 or 7 step drop, lots of play action, and sling it deep.
Basically circa Daryl Lamonica.
But the problem is that that kind of offense just doesn't make it in 2008.
Now days it's all about timing, quick reads and get rid of the ball.
Brown also said that the offense NEVER changed the whole time he was in Oakland, up unitl near the very end, when Gruden was able to "fight" with Davis over the offense and be "allowed" to run the west coast offense.
Yeah, guess when the only time was over the past 25 years that the Raiders have actually had a lot of success.
haha

On Russell, I say this:

I've gone back and forth in my mind on how the organization ought to move forward with Russell.

One day I think this -- You can't keep writing huge checks to this kid and GUARANTEE him his starting job.
You need to get a vet QB on the roster who's seen SOME success in the league and provide some competition for Russell.
You've got to PUSH him some, MOTIVATE him some, have him realize everything is not just a given.

On another day I think this -- You need to show him you believe in him, so yeah, you keep handing him the keys and provide stability around him until he starts to mature and be the leader you want him to be.

So, I dunno.

But if, at BEST, he's gonna be at the level of a young Culpepper, I think it's disappointing.
But then again, this is just one guy's (T. Brown) view.

Interesting stuff.

[poptart]

I don't think Gannon said he has a poor work ethic.
He just said that he's not yet a "first guy in, last guy out" type of player.

How many are?

Understand the source.

How many players had the work ethic and attitude that Gannon had?

The guy was a friggin' discipline NUT.

So yeah, he clashed with Al some, I'm sure, and he clashed with his teammates, too.
That is well known.

Russell is young.

Expecting him, at his age, to set the tone like Gannon did is unrealistic.


We just have to wait and see.