Quote:
Originally Posted by _gg_
Imo....
Kiffin has been thumbing his nose at Al last season, has got a bone against Al, tho Al is trying to work with him, Lane being a bit disrespectful and unappreciative, flying in his face even, a bit like a brat who doesnt take direction well and has the same character flaws that many people mock Al for having. So Al gets urged to perservere but his patience is thin too. Lane keeps at it especially with the resignation letter thing. By forcing Al to fire him he makes Al look bad and creates a perception that Lane is the good guy, the victim, trying to garner sympathy from everyone, setting himself up for a better job, total disrespect to the opportunity Al gave him. When really Lane is the Petrino who should be looked at as such. Even Al and Rob arent throwing Lane under a bus...yet. Keeping it in house. Trying to stop the media from getting ammunition to jump all over the Raiders. But it's from Kiffin's side that this agenda to discredit the Raiders comes from, garnering sympathy, etc. Lane always knew and contractually agreed to have control over the offense only. And at times on offense was making poor decisions that Al as GM/Owner steps in to debate him on, to make sure he's right or is he wrong, trading Moss, starting McCown, certain tactics, etc. Just trying to help and at times will tell him adamantly he's wrong. But Lane doesnt want a bar of that. Pushing his ego/way on Al as Gruden and others advised. Eventually it leads to war during the off-season. But Al is tempering himself, he wants to and is being advised to perservere, but Lane wants out, wants to be fired rather than quit, starts calling out the Raiders, Davis, taking the onus away from himself tho the onus is on him just as much as Ryan or Al. What did Ryan say? "he's the HC, he wears a million hats, i only wear one". Kiffin does have say, onus, makes decisions, calls the plays, etc. It's not 100% control, but no HC in the 31 other NFL teams has total control. Only the few legendary 20 year experienced gurus like Holmgren, Cowher, Parcells, Reid, Fisher, etc. And even they dont always have total control. All teams the GM is the main drafter. HCs work with them, but the final call is the GMs. Same with staff/roster/football-operations. The GM and HC work together. Meaning HC gets over-ruled when he gets over-ruled. That's the relationship it is anywhere in the NFL. Sure, Davis meddles, but he's entitled to because he's the GM/Owner, especially a Halas type Owner. He's not Paul Allen from the Seahawks, a suit and tie guy with no football knowledge. The Raiders are what they are. Kiffin knew that, accepted that, then tried to worm out when the going got tough (davis). Sure, coaches dont like to come here because it's a tough job. That's on Davis' shoulders. He's got blame here too. But all in all he's got every right to operate the Raiders how he sees fit (and he always tries to win, is a good man at heart) and isnt a Bidwell or anything like that. If people are frustrated with the Raiders/Davis then it's classless of them to throw it all under the bus to express their anger at losing. It's exactly the same as Schweigert or Carr getting released and bad-mouthing the Raiders. For fans to throw it all under a bus and show contempt towards the Raiders/Davis (and some fans leaving to become fans of another team) that's all akin to a Schweigert or Carr. Schweigert proceeded to get cut from the Redskins and the Giants. Where is the bad-mouthing then? Where are the calls that the coaches were wrong? Etc. He rides the sentiment that the Raiders suck and are unprofessional and wrong to make it like he's a victim, resurrect his name as a good player, etc, but the truth is he sucks and got cut twice more. Where are the apologies? Where are the PC's from Schweigert etc that admit "ok ok i was wrong, i suck".
|
Definitely looks like _gg_ is back and in mid-season form.
I think alot of the frustration about Al Davis, at least for me, is that he has essentially made the Raiders head coaching position an absolute mockery. No experienced or established coach wants to coach here just for the simple fact that they don't want to put up with all of Al's bullsh*t meddling. This organization has taken on the appearance of a traveling circus freakshow and that truly breaks my heart because I'm an old-school fan who's been with this team through the biggest part of the glory years and the Super Bowls to now, when they're a national punchline and the laughingstock of the NFL. Let's face it, trainwrecks are certainly hard to resist staring at, but when it's your beloved Raiders that is the perpetual eyesore, it's downright disheartening.
I completely, and respectfully, disagree with you though about how Kiffin's trying to play the innocent victim to Al's villian. Let's face it, Al didn't just bestow the honor of coaching the Raiders on Kiffin, as much as it was the simple fact that no one else wanted the job in the first place. We all know that Kiffin wasn't Al's first choice, but when you have a track record of firing coaches every 1 or 2 years, beggars can't be choosers. I think Kiffin, probably very naively, thought he would have a little more say in who was drafted, who was brought in as FA's and who he could hire as his staff. I completely understand Al's unwillingness to turn over the reigns completely to an unproven rookie NFL coach, but I think you would be hard pressed to find another Head Coach in the NFL who wasn't allowed to at
LEAST hire his own staff. So Kiffin essentially inherits a Defensive Coordinator, who in 5 years, has proven nothing more than he runs a subpar defense, yet his players happen to like, and is apparently is the owner's back pocket. Right off of the bat, Kiffin is at a disadvantage by not being allowed to bring in his own guy to run the defense to complement his offense.
And here we are in the beginning of Kiffin's 2nd year as coach and there are rumors that Al is already grumbling to have the axe fall on Kiffin's head, while Ryan has, and continues to, get a free pass. Why is it that Kiffin is constantly under the gun while his offense has performed in the past, while Ryan is kept around despite his defense consistently losing 4th quarter leads? At least as bad as our QB play was last year, our offense is what won us the majority of our games last year, it sure wasn't Ryan's 4th quarter meltdown defense. Yet Kiffin is made out to be a whiny, ungrateful neophyte by Al Davis who, god forbid, speaks his mind, tells it like it is and has a big ego. Sound familar: big ego, tells it like it is and speaks his mind. Sounds alot like Al Davis to me. Kiffin doesn't win because of Al Davis, he wins in spite of Al Davis.
Now, I don't think Kiffin's the greatest coaching prospect to come down the pike, I just think that the kid has some measurable talent and potential to be a decent coach if given the proper time and opportunity to flourish. Will that chance be with the Raiders? Right now, it doesn't appear very likely, but I do know that you can't keep changing coaches every 1 or 2 years and have any level of success in the NFL. The Raiders need continuity at the HC position, not another coaching change that will cast this team down farther into their downward spiral. I'm sick and tired of starting over every year. Another coaching change means another system for Russell to learn and another 2 years down the drain for his development. Don't believe me, take a look at Alex Smith. Four different systems in four years. That's just brutal, if you ask me. I don't want to see our 60 million $$$ man end up like that, but it's in a real danger of happening.
09-12-2008, 11:52 AM
