Monte Poole: Attempting the most dramatic culture change in Raiders history

[Artois]

Monte Poole: Mind games will be priority for new Raiders' coach - Inside Bay Area

Monte Poole: Mind games will be priority for new Raiders' coach

By Monte Poole

Bay Area News Group
Posted: 06/12/2012

Tommy Kelly has been in the NFL for eight seasons, all with the Raiders, who in that time have lost 87 of 128 games.

Carson Palmer has started a combined 106 games in Cincinnati and Oakland, and he has a 50-56 record.

Michael Huff has been a Raider for six seasons, during which the team's 64 losses are exactly twice as many as its 32 wins.

That's three players, all quality performers, with a cumulative 22 seasons in the league -- and the only two winning seasons were Palmer's Bengals in 2005 and 2009.

That's the brutal recent history behind some of Oakland's notable veterans. That's the naked truth being confronted by first-year head coach Dennis Allen.

Few things in sport are more difficult than trying to create a winning mentality among a group of professionals whose experience consists mostly of losing. And if Allen can't manage this trick within a couple years he'll be out of a job.

``It's the most critical thing that we're doing; I think it's the most critical thing in all of football,'' Allen said Tuesday, after his team's first full-squad workout. ``The mind is the most powerful muscle in the body. You can make yourself do things that, as long as you set your mind to it, people might ordinarily think can't be accomplished. The mindset is everything.''

Allen's attempt to apply these mental adjustments officially got under way Tuesday when every healthy member of the team jogged onto the practice field
for the first full-squad workout under the new staff.

The three-day minicamp, which is mandatory, unlike previous organized team activities, offers the final on-field preparation prior to the opening of training camp late next month. Pleasantries are dropped and everyone's eyes come open, for better or worse.

"What you say, what you do, how you act — coaches and players — we're all being evaluated,'' Allen said. ``They're evaluating us, and we're evaluating them.''

Allen, under first-year general manager Reggie McKenzie is attempting the most dramatic culture change in Raiders history. Al Davis, the late former owner, unilaterally presided over the franchise for nearly 50 years.

This, then, is not only about a new management but also an entirely new process.

That's why the minds of every coach and certainly every player absolutely must be open and engaged.

"That's what it's all about,'' Allen said. ``We spend a lot of time talking about the mindset, how we're going to play the game and mental toughness. We talk way more about mental toughness than physical toughness because all of us play the game physically. It's the mental part that we have to push through.''

We've seen all manner of Raiders teams since their trip to the Super Bowl after the 2002 season. We've seen enough to know, in spades, that talent alone can collapse under a heap of mental and physical errors. That speed alone can be slowed. That size alone can be neutralized. That youth alone can be exploited.

Allen seems to understand that dedication to task and intelligent confidence are, above all other characteristics, at the foundation of every winning organization.

He used this approach a year ago, when he was a first-year defensive coordinator last year in Denver. The Broncos responded. They finished 32nd, dead last, among NFL teams in total defense in 2010 but rose to 20th in 2011.

If there is one player who is familiar with the winning mentality Allen hopes to affect, it's defensive lineman Richard Seymour. During his first eight seasons, in New England, the Patriots were 97-31 — with four Super Bowl appearances and three championships.

During Seymour's three seasons in Oakland, the Raiders are 21-27.

"They're really smart guys that understand the game,'' Seymour, making his first on-field appearance this offseason, said of the new coaching staff.

Seymour was encouraged by what he saw when he came out to meet the staff a few months and those feelings were solidifying after his first full workout.

"They understand what they want and they do a good job of teaching how to get it done,'' he said. "That's a quality that's overlooked in the NFL. Even though you (might) have talented athletes, you still need to teach them what to do and how to do it.''

Seymour did not say that had not been done with previous Raiders teams or defenses. His point is the level of communication has been raised. Details are being stressed.

A message is being delivered that will be fully received only by those willing to be adapt and commit, particularly mentally, and be held accountable.

"Those are the guys you win with in the fourth quarter,'' Seymour said. ``They're going to be where they're supposed to be. They're going to do exactly what you need them to do. You can't babysit anybody, but we want to lead by example.''

Seymour has to be first among those guys. He knows it. Allen implies it.

"To have success . . . your veteran players have to be able to take over the team,'' Allen said. ``The closer we can get our veteran players' vision of what this team is going to become — to what we as coaches believe — the better and more cohesive we'll be.

``We spend a lot of time with the veteran players, trying to get them to understand that's part of their job.''

The Raiders ``scholarship program'' is being discontinued. The days of players being enabled while coaches take dictation are over.

A movement is afoot. It will be a few months before we can truly begin to measure its success. We only know the job is massive, with a lot of bad habits in need of breaking.

Monte Poole: Mind games will be priority for new Raiders' coach - Inside Bay Area

Top 100 Players of 2012 - #60 Darren McFadden:

[OAKR8RPHX]

Monte Poole: Mind games will be priority for new Raiders' coach - Inside Bay Area



Monte Poole: Mind games will be priority for new Raiders' coach - Inside Bay Area

Top 100 Players of 2012 - #60 Darren McFadden:

All at once has got to make it even harder. New Owner(sort of), GM, HC, OC, DC, ST, office staff and trainers, crazy contracts, and lack of high draft picks. Damn, if Reggie and Dennis have a good first year and a great second year, this could put us in the NFL history books for largest and quickest major overhaul of a franchise not being an expansion team.

Of course the refs stand to screw that up for us, but it would be cool as hell if by some miracle we get to the playoffs this year and a Superbowl next year. One can dream can't they? Later, I'm going back to sleep, lol. As long as we are competitive throughout the whole game, every game I can stomach a few losses. As long as we don't get stomped or embarrassed. "Discipline and Accountability" should be the motto for this year.

[cheapshotartist]

Good read, talk is cheap we can only wait and see what happens.

[RunOvrByHubbard]

It is a huge makeover. Thankfully they will have the same uniforms and same stadium (for now). Otherwise it might be as if a new team was plunked down in Oakland. This HAD to happen.

[milo_s_thomas]

Great read. I am anxious to see how this looks on the field.

[calilivin7]

Yeah nice read, I always supported Al. But being 100% honest, I basically supported his legacy and turned a blind eye to his big time modern day issues which were in my opinion. (and yes many of you pointed this out and I just feigned ignorance so sue me)

1. No diversity in play-calling on the defensive side of the ball. In other words, man up on the outside with cover 2 safety look 95% of the time.

2. The Scholarship Program, which in some ways I respected. Al tried to take care of his players, and for Raiders who gave their all and had retired I have no problem with Al finding them a spot in the Org, but keeping scrub players just because you like them is way way way outdated in terms of how most GM's approach who they cut and don't cut.

3. Towards the end (last ten years or so) Al's well known control of the team, but especially on the defensive side of the ball. Made many coaches obsolete, and honestly it must be hard sometimes playing for a defensive coach when you know he has no real authority. I think this affected the locker room in the last decade, or once we lost Gruden who held it all together. Al may not have realized it, or he might not have cared. But he was snipping the D's coaches stones. And that on its own, eventually has to create some discord between players and coaches on that side of the ball.

I know media is making a huge deal about changing the culture, but I really think McKenzie and Allen are all over it.

And one last thing, DMC boy. Watching that vid makes me realize, when healthy. He is top 5, and one can argue the best RB on the planet.

MJD,DMC,AP,CJ2K,Arian Foster. No partic order

[madstork]

Great article, but I would argue that the culture change Al himself instituted when he took over in 1963 was actually a bigger challenge than this one. For all the internal and self-imposed challenges they've faced the past couple of years, this team has been pretty close.

[Hawaiian Raider]

Considering it a "dramatic culture change", I personally long for a return to glory.

I sense a general consensus that ol' man Tootles is and will always be the great innovator that created the Raiders and the previous "mystic" that went with that.

We've only been "losers" for a decade. Otherwise, we were the "Team of the Decades" - important we don't lose the "culture" that created that, aka, "Pride and Poise", "Commitment to Excellence", and the ol' man's battle-cry, "Just Win, Baby!"

Tommy Kelly needs to give us 30-minutes (notice I didn't post an hour? ), Michael Huff needs to stay out of the wash and tackle low, while Carson Palmer needs to show me all over again.

[cheapshotartist]

Considering it a "dramatic culture change", I personally long for a return to glory.

I sense a general consensus that ol' man Tootles is and will always be the great innovator that created the Raiders and the previous "mystic" that went with that.

We've only been "losers" for a decade. Otherwise, we were the "Team of the Decades" - important we don't lose the "culture" that created that, aka, "Pride and Poise", "Commitment to Excellence", and the ol' man's battle-cry, "Just Win, Baby!"

Tommy Kelly needs to give us 30-minutes (notice I didn't post an hour? ), Michael Huff needs to stay out of the wash and tackle low, while Carson Palmer needs to show me all over again.

Those days are history OG the greatness of the Raiders hopefully will be in the future.

[djh_raider]

Great article, but I would argue that the culture change Al himself instituted when he took over in 1963 was actually a bigger challenge than this one. For all the internal and self-imposed challenges they've faced the past couple of years, this team has been pretty close.

Yeah, I agree, Stork.

What McKenzie is doing is putting multiple people in roles that was previously filled by one person. What he is also doing is bting the Raiders into the 21st century technology-wise.

This is not guaranteed to work, you need the staff in all areas to have the desire to want to get it done. I feel heartened that Reggie McKenzie is getting this. Unfortunately when Mr. Davis was alive, especially in the last 10 years, his passion for the Raiders was not matched by certain areas in the Front-Office, the coaching staff and the players.

One thing Mr. Davis always tried to do was put together a roster that had the potential to win a SuperBowl. And there is that "p" word - potential. Potential is only ever realised if all things come together with a bit of luck thrown in (injuries, calls, bounce of the ball).

What Mr. Davis did in 1963 was create an identity and legacy for the Raiders. What Reggie McKenzie has to do is put the pieces in place to bring back that identity and legacy and help it remain moving forward.

BTW, Artois, that red font in the article quote makes my eyes bleed.

[RunOvrByHubbard]

We've only been "losers" for a decade.

"Only" a decade? That is too long. Major changes were needed at the top and unfortunately it took Al's death to start those changes. It has been 27 years since we won a Super Bowl.

[cheapshotartist]

"Only" a decade? That is too long. Major changes were needed at the top and unfortunately it took Al's death to start those changes. It has been 27 years since we won a Super Bowl.

You would never know this reading the homer post around here.

[Naphtali]

"Only" a decade? That is too long. Major changes were needed at the top and unfortunately it took Al's death to start those changes. It has been 27 years since we won a Super Bowl.

True, but the statement he was making was in terms of relevent play.
All decades we had wining records except this one. In the early 90s we got to the championship were in the playoffs and all that, however faded in the mid to late 90s by 2000 we were back but after the superbowl we became irrelevent.
Thats what he meant, always challenging for the SB

[raiderjohn622]

Oakland Raiders feeling good about progress - Inside Bay Area

Defensive end Dave Tollefson, a free agent from the New York Giants, said Allen has stressed the importance of reducing penalties and winning the turnover battle, using slides as visual aids to enhance the message.

"To give it lip service doesn't do it justice," Tollefson said. "The number of penalties this team had was unreal. To go 8-8 on top of that, it's kind of impressive."

[Raidermofojeff]

Seymour has been part of the problem....can he be part of the solution?