Huff looking forward to "real" defense w/out Al Davis calling it.

[als_shadow]

You ever burn a bridge in your life? I KNOW I have!!! Going through life, going through business, going through the daily routine you're going to step on toes. You can’t please everyone it’s just a part of life. I wouldn’t even attempt it as I would go CrAzY doing so!

Additionally, let it be noted, that Al is NOT the lone exception to this rule. The NFL is just as guilty!!! Case in point...

The move from Oakland to L.A.

As noted previously, and it is well documented. Al negotiated in good faith for years with the then Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Arena to get the HOT remodeled. He wasn’t asking for a new stadium just that they make it better.

Keep in mind, AT THAT TIME, we were one of if not THE premier team in ALL of football if not all of american sports. At a minimum they should have given him what he was asking for but better yet they should have just tore down the old stadium and gave him a new one!!!

We were the Oakland Freaking Raiders for the love of Pete!!! We weren't the Saints.

27 OTHER OWNERS stood shoulder to shoulder along with Pete Rozelle to BLOCK the move from Oakland to L.A. Not a one of them stood up for Al.

The rest is history. The courts ruled Al was well within his rights to move the team and ever since then the very owners that slandered and vilified Davis for what he was doing turned around and did the EXACT SAME THING HE DID!!!

They either moved to new cities or leveraged their current cities with the threat of a move to get new stadiums.

Art Modell, arguably one of his biggest foes throughout the process eventually moved the Cleveland Browns out!!!

Talk about hypocrisy!!!

Point is, you're going to burn bridges in life, and they may be bridges you wish to cross at another time. It must have been especially hard for a guy like Al, who was so far ahead of the rest of the league to forge ahead only to be stonewalled by others that lagged so far behind.

It’s hard for me to find fault in what Al was attempting to do. It’s MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more difficult to be successful than it is to be a failure.

Anybody can fail.

And when you're successful like Al was there are ALWAYS people that want to tear down your success.

“see, I told you so. I knew he couldn’t do it!”

Think about it bro. [text edited]

At the end, I'm convinced from the evidence that AL was more concerned with blowing up the salary cap permanently than he was trying to beat the cap and win every season. I think he saw the finality of the salary cap and wanted to extract one final revenge.

AL did get a rookie salary cap enacted -- Russell being THE evidence in favor...

And how close to blowing up the salary cap was AL? Well... those 'top 5' contract clauses are the reason AL over paid his Kicker... and Punter... and CornerBacks... and LineBackers... Few fans realize this and next season looks to be free agent chaos. Al won't be here for next season's veteran player unrest... but he surely set it in motion.

[Da Swami]

The ole', "The NFL changed the rules to hurt Al Davis" play. Nice work Chop Chop....nice work....

They did impose a 5 yard bump rule right?

Something tells me you are not familiar with how the Raiders were taking Lyn Swann out of games.

They took away the very technique that was so effective and did it right after the Raiders had beaten Pittsburgh 3x in a row to the chagrin of the media.

Just a coincidence right?

[Okie]

If only he had recognized that because FA wouldn't let him stockpile talent he had to find great coaches, give them the authority to run the team and make the most of what talent he had. This IMO was Al's biggest blind spot because he felt he could micromanage the team himself. It worked when he had the energy and presence to be everywhere at once, but as his influence and health waned it all fell apart. It's unfortunate, yes, but it's important to keep things in perspective: few owners will ever enjoy the run of success Al Davis had.

Great post.

While I tend to disagree with many around here in completely blaming Al for the last couple of decades, even I acknowledge this is where it starts.

[HurrikaneSensei]

Great post.

While I tend to disagree with many around here in completely blaming Al for the last couple of decades, even I acknowledge this is where it starts.

I have to blame Al. I would blame the coaches but he'd fire them before I could get the chance.

[als_shadow]

I have to blame Al. I would blame the coaches but he'd fire them before I could get the chance.

AL had all the executive power... yet in the final review, AL had very little real power because it was his players who did or didn't win the games, not AL. And the salary cap prevented AL from cutting the deadweight and signing someone more effective. The salary cap tied AL's hands behind his back.

I blame the other 29 owners and the Commissioner. Jerry Jones and Danny Snyder certainly weren't in favor of the salary cap either... and look how long it's been since either of their teams were Super Bowl caliber.

AL did everything that he could. It just po's some Raider fans that AL didn't ask them if they wanted him to do certain things. Boo Hoo! AL didn't kiss every fans butt. Raider fans needed to experience some 'epic losing' in order to demonstrate to them just how hard it is to win multiple Super Bowls.

AL was a genius, not a warlock.

[HITMAN]

AL had all the executive power... yet in the final review, AL had very little real power because it was his players who did or didn't win the games, not AL. And the salary cap prevented AL from cutting the deadweight and signing someone more effective. The salary cap tied AL's hands behind his back.

I blame the other 29 owners and the Commissioner. Jerry Jones and Danny Snyder certainly weren't in favor of the salary cap either... and look how long it's been since either of their teams were Super Bowl caliber.

AL did everything that he could. It just po's some Raider fans that AL didn't ask them if they wanted him to do certain things. Boo Hoo! AL didn't kiss every fans butt. Raider fans needed to experience some 'epic losing' in order to demonstrate to them just how hard it is to win multiple Super Bowls.

AL was a genius, not a warlock.

Davis did a terrible job managing the salary cap because he overvalued players particularly those who were past Heisman winners or Super Bowl MVP's does Larry Brown ring a bell? Davis is solely to blame for inflated contracts and signing ineffective free agents. Let's give credit where credit is due and put the blame solely where it belongs on the man that held executive power for the better part of 45 years...

[paul0660]

Raider fans needed to experience some 'epic losing'

Shadow, you are becoming ridiculous. We sucked, and Al was in charge. The few teams we outclassed in the last two decades had to try very hard to suck more.

[Rainman56]

If only he had recognized that because FA wouldn't let him stockpile talent he had to find great coaches, give them the authority to run the team and make the most of what talent he had. This IMO was Al's biggest blind spot because he felt he could micromanage the team himself. It worked when he had the energy and presence to be everywhere at once, but as his influence and health waned it all fell apart. It's unfortunate, yes, but it's important to keep things in perspective: few owners will ever enjoy the run of success Al Davis had.

Well put.

[Da Swami]

In spite of the fact that Al sucked the last so many years, he still got us to another SB before passing on.

The league is littered with teams who have been unable to do even that.

[Okie]

Sorry, sounds like just another excuse from Mr. Underachiever himself. The only thing the guy did worse than play man was drop back in zone. Hes been horrible and a big reason this defense has been so bad. Ironically, the only year he lived up to his draft status or paychecks was the year he was looking to get a paycheck.

Shut up and put up Huff, you have been as much of the problem over the last several years as Al has been!

[StickShift]

Ironically, the only year he lived up to his draft status or paychecks was the year he was looking to get a paycheck.

Funny I thought it had more to do with Marshall implementing a more aggressive scheme playing to Huff's strengths.

[als_shadow]

Davis did a terrible job managing the salary cap because he overvalued players particularly those who were past Heisman winners or Super Bowl MVP's does Larry Brown ring a bell? Davis is solely to blame for inflated contracts and signing ineffective free agents. Let's give credit where credit is due and put the blame solely where it belongs on the man that held executive power for the better part of 45 years...

Some of the guys that AL signed were signed to hurt the OTHER team more than to help the Raiders. It's a copycat league, remember?

Everybody else wanted to be AL. There was a method to his madness.

[raiderroo]

Some of the guys that AL signed were signed to hurt the OTHER team more than to help the Raiders. It's a copycat league, remember?

Everybody else wanted to be AL. There was a method to his madness.

DaNile isnt just a river in Egypt.

[Okie]

Funny I thought it had more to do with Marshall implementing a more aggressive scheme playing to Huff's strengths.

Funny, if a safetys only strength is blitzing but weak in pass coverage, hmmmmmm! What is his strength exactly? He got beat in man coverage more than our rookie corners, M. Giordano played safety in our zone (which we ran at least 50% of last year) better than he did. What exactly is his strength? Im willing to bet he blitzed just as much this year as he did under Marshall!

The Marshal thing is a dead horse. The defense was just as bad and beat just as much in 2010 as they were in 2011. Yards per rush, yards per pass attempt, all of that is identical. We saw more variety last year than we did under the previous defense, you guys need to let that one go.

[StickShift]

Im willing to bet he blitzed just as much this year as he did under Marshall!

You would lose that bet.

The Marshal thing is a dead horse. The defense was just as bad and beat just as much in 2010 as they were in 2011. Yards per rush, yards per pass attempt, all of that is identical. We saw more variety last year than we did under the previous defense, you guys need to let that one go.

Delusional. We ranked 11th overall in 2010, 29th overall in 2011. How is that "just as bad"?

Although the 2010 defense wasn't the 2000 Ravens, they did beat up a few teams and shut them down, the 2011 defense just got beat up.

We had 47 sacks in 2010 and 39 in 2011 with the same crew.

We went from blitzing our safeties off the edge (8 sacks) to blitzing safeties from 40 yards out (3 sacks).