A Cry For Help
N.Y. Giants 44 - Oakland 7
Let's face it ... this was the perfect storm for the Raiders to flounder. The beat down delivered by an elite team like the Giants is merely a symptom of a team crying out for help.
The only way for the Raiders to turn things around is to change the way business is conducted at Alameda.
- We have a Head Coach who is the acting Offensive Coordinator, the playcaller, and Head Coach. Even if Cable was qualified and capable of handling all of these major responsibilities (which he is not), how far would he get with the current personnel?
- We have a young QB who needs stability, structure, coaching, patience, and solid support personnel around him to develop ... he doesn't. Russell has a non-existent running game to lean on and 2 rookie WRs to throw to.
As the QB playing so poorly, Russell is the natural focus for all the negativity from the fans. I understand that is part of equation with being the franchise QB. It is much easier to direct your angst at Russell than all of the other problem areas. Russell's poor play is a major concern but not the only concern such as:
Are you upset with Davis wasting a #7 pick on DHB? Does it bother you that our running game is non-existent? How much does it disappoint you that our defense gets continually gouged for big, explosive plays? How good do you feel about our current WR group? Our OLine? The Hanson incident blowing up in our faces? The fact that we don't have a GM?
- We have an owner who for dubious, negligent reasons, refuses to seek the help of a capable GM to partner with.
Simply replacing a Head Coach and/or replacing a QB is only putting a band aid on a gushing, wound. Significant change starts with the hiring of a GM. It carries forward with an exhaustive, thorough, diligent search for a HC who is given the authority to make key decisions on his staff and what type of offense/defense he wants to run.
Summary of the necessary corrective surgery:
(1) Hire a capable GM.
The GM would be directly involved (acting as a true partner to Davis) in overseeing the scouting department, the draft, and most importantly, the recruiting, evaluation, and selection of a Head Coach. The likelihood of finding someone Davis trusts enough to be a GM/partner seems remote at best. Is Davis seriously looking to find a GM? If so, I guess I shouldn't be so damn impatient considering it has only been what 3+ years and counting since Lombardi aka "the fox in the hen house" left the building.
(2) Hire a proven head coach.
To attract and hire a proven head coach requires (a) A GM already in place (b) the full authority to hire his own staff and (c) to run whatever type of offense/defense that he sees fit. The chances of hiring a well qualified Head Coach under the current circumstances is a major long shot.
Honestly. How low do we have to sink before Davis seeks help and revamps how business is conducted in Alameda? We are well past "wait til next year when we draft Johnny Jet Legs from Auburn". When you have lost 75% of your last 100 games, "tweaks" here, a few added players there, a new QB, a new HC will not suffice.
What is sad to me is that Davis should want to get a GM. At his advanced age, he deserves to get some help. If he gets a capable GM and the franchises' fortunes are turned around he will still get his deserved credit. When the team is winning at a 25% clip there is simply no credit to go around.
Door A
Allow the franchise to wallow in shame by not taking corrective action
Door B
Make organizational changes and bolster the executive support group to take another legitimate shot at glory
Is this a difficult choice?
posted by Calico Jack at 2:39 PM
15 Comments:
I wish I were wrong but in Davis' mind, I think hiring a GM equals failure. His ego just won't support such a move, so door A it is for now....
Well, now you've gone and riled up the eternal Optimists, Calico Jack.
Funny, weren't we talking about the need for a GM and proven head coach 10 months ago? The more things change...
can we infer from this blog that you want Cable fired, asap? Nicky
CJ, Sad but true we but heads on Russel but your right in this case the problems are systemic.
When the Raiders were sucessful at the start of this decade there was a support system for AL in place Gannon, Gruden, Allen---quality leaders and proffesionals. With those guys there what Davis brings to the table (in that case getting Sam Adams, Romo, Rice) was effective. With Al not having any help at all ont he football side all hell has broken loose. I fantasize about Madden and Holgmren or some combo like that coming in.
This is easily the low point for the franchise in my 34 years of being a fan. I was missing Jay Schroeder and Willie Gault today talk about depressing
Regards
Florida Raider
Dana:
You hit the head on the nail. Davis' ego prevents real, productive change.
RT:
I sincerely wish the was something we could be optimistic about but I'm coming up with blanks.
Nicky:
You can infer that Cable is in over his head. I personally feel sorry for Cable who seems to have his heart in the right place. He has been put in a situation that chews people up and spits them out.
FL Raider:
When we had Gruden, Allen, and Davis working in a true partnership and solid veteran leadership in the locker room to include Gannon, it was a wonderful ride.
Fast forward 8 years.
You've got Cable, no GM, Davis 8 years older, and Russell. This franchise is currently bankrupt when it comes to sound organizational structure and top to bottom leadership. It is like night and day. To think a $800M franchise in an ultra competitive league can thrive without a GM to aid Davis is delusional.
Im doe with the Raiders! :( I just cant watch them anymore! It is killing me! Al will never lose any pride and hire help, he is here to stay until he hands the Raiders to his son. Oakland will always be in Davis' hands! F that! Im done!
Ralph Wilson is 91 and Davis is 80, so I guess it's possible we have another 10 or more years of Door A to look forward to. Yipee!
theres just no denying that al davis and him alone is responsible for the mess we see today. you have to be a koolaidaholic to think otherwise. our ONLY hope is for al to get out of the picture completly but thats only a start. we would need a head coach like gruden to come back. as a raider fan of 41 yrs i've never seen it this bad, but the pre gruden days was close. if al hadnt brought in gruden and stayed the course when bugel/white ran the show their may not be a franchise in oakland today.
I agree man. THis is exactly what many of us Raider old-timer fans have been saying for a while.
Should Cable be fired? You bet, and the sooner, the better! When all aspects of the team are failing, it is the coach's fault. But as the writer mentions, nothing will change without change at the top.
were this bad, and you know what the number one thing that those bad teams had in common? Zero Discipline.. Its that simple. I refuse to continue to be associated with a team that is this Undisciplined, this uncommitted to playing solid, intelligent football. I don’t want my son to see it, to think that I condone this…as football??!!! I grew up watching the best players in the game and constantly sought to play like them. I never once dropped a pass in a game. I fumbled once a year maybe. I never jumped offsides, false started or got called for holding or clipping–Because the players that I emulated never did either. I simply cannot show my children this. I don’t want to have these conversations with them. How do you explain to a child, why Jamarcus Russell and Co. are so bad? How do you justify their existance….Simply, you can’t!
In the early years of 1999-2000 etc..this team won in spite of AL Davis, this team won because the people that were on this team were professionals, and refused to stamp their name on a loser. They made this team a winner.
I have seen 1st year QB’s from 1-AA schools take their respective teams to the AFC Championship Game I have seen 1st year rookies all OVER the NFL look like they could take their team as far as they want to go. I have seen OUR 3rd year QB look as clueless as my 90 year old Grandmother trying to climb Mt. Everest.not any more…I cannot watch this, the Raiders do not stand for Who I am as a person any longer, they stand for something I abhor as a human being, Laziness, Unprofessionalism, Unnacountability, Lack of Pride, Finger Pointing, Disbelief, All talk, no action….The list goes on and on. Oh the Horror!
Nnambdi and a handful of others have my deepest sympathies. The rest of you fans have my respect and my sympathies also. Fare thee well my friends, I will miss you, and the Raiders that I once knew with all my heart. For now though, I must sail on lest I teach a generation of my own family what it looks like to play a disgusting excuse for football. Someday, we may meet again…..
Farewell Mikey G.
I understand your plight and decision. Everyone makes a decision on how to spend his free time and hard earned entertainment dollars.
The Raiders currently have a dysfunctional organization and a piss poor product. Whether one chooses to remain loyal to the franchise or part ways is completely determined by free will. No one has a gun to your head.
Since you are rightfully disgusted and disgruntled with the franchise, I trust you won't hop back on if & when the team gets back on the right track.
CJ,
If I own an underperforming McDonald's franchise, Mickey D's can force me to make changes or in a worst case scenario, sell the franchise. Does the NFL have any similar say over its franchises? This is a slippery slope to consider, as I don't want them meddling with teams at their whim. But with such a polluted turd on their hands, is it possible that the NFL might have any authority to act due to quality control concerns? Or is it just a rich gentleman's club that is content to have one of those gentlemen make a mockery of the league and himself?
the Raiders are the worst team in the NFL with the worst QB, two years from now that fat pig Jameatloaf will not even be on the Raiders.
This is Al's product. His direction. He controls all aspect that is the Raiders. I agree with all the comments here. However, if you don't like the product, don't buy the merchandise or tickets to the game. Let's face it, we all love the Raiders and spend our time and money following the franchise but it's entertainment, a business. If there are no as$es in the seats and jerseys are still hanging on the racks because his audience is tired of a piss poor product maybe things will change.
There are many problems with this team, not just JRussell. Someone is accountable for this mess and it starts at the top.
I would like to believe that the Raiders organization really cant be this bad for this long. But they have been. I have always thought, since the Superbowl, year after year ....We Are Gonna Be better this year.. just watch!! But it seems oh so familiar. What happened to the team who got better at the end of 08' and beat the Broncos and bucs and looked like a real team. I think that Al Davis wants out of Oakland so bad that he has chosen to fall out of the rankings of the NFL until his lease in Oakland is up. Which is 2010. They are building a L.A. Football Stadium in the city of Industry. This will be here in CA. I think he is trying to loose fan base and following to get out of that rat hole because the NFL wont help him get out of Oakland any sooner. They will split from Oakland and move to the city of Industry and Al Davis Will hire on somebody to help his son or someone close to him run the Raiders, while he retires. Why else wouldn't he hire a GM?? Well everybody may say well Al Davis doesn't trust anybody to do so. He is way too smart to not hire someone. This is a pretty far fetched idea as a Raiders fan. But history can repeat itself and i can only hope and wonder why we cant bring success. This could be a very realistic possibility. Al Davis moved out of Oakland once before and i think it is time for him to split when the lease is over. I am an optimist and will always be a Raiders fan, for the rest of my life, i wont bail on them. As a California native i know what being a Real Raiders fan is like and what Raider Nation really is. A great part of life. I know this may sound crazy but i try to look at it as a business aspect and Al Davis would be the only owner to do something like this. NO matter what they do, i will still be a fan. I hope sometime soon they figure out what playing real football is because its in their hearts, its in the Raiders uniform. Here's my theory Calico, hopefully you don't think i am too crazy. But whats crazy in Raider Nation RIGHT?
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