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Thoughts from the Dark Side
Should Al Davis fire Lane Kiffin as Oakland Raiders Head Coach at the end of the season?
Today’s entry is a point/ counterpoint on whether or not Al Davis should fire Lane Kiffin at the end of this disappointing season. I wrote the position that Lane Kiffin has shown progress and needs more time to turn the Raider ship around. Victor Cotto a friend who is a staff writer on Raiderfans.net provided the the opinion that he should be let go at season’s end.
YES- Kiffin could not handle the situation
Firing a young head coach after his first season ever at the helm of a football team is unconventional wisdom. Heck, when has Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders done anything in a conventional manner?
Firing Kiffin is not only a possible scenario for the Raiders, but something that can be justified.
After the debacle that was Art Shell and his 2006 team, the Raiders needed a head coach who could handle a NFL locker room, distinguish which players belong on the field and help weed out the undesirables in order to get their vision of a football team translated onto the field as soon as possible. Raider fans are not patient, and after several seasons of misery, getting a winner onto the field should be a process directed by a coach who has experience and not one who is experimenting and learning his craft.
As the season has progressed, you can make the point that Kiffin is on over his head. His handling of the Michael Bush situation has been mind-boggling.
With LaMont Jordan all but out on the curb waiting to be picked up, Dominic Rhodes pondering why he ever signed a deal in Oakland and Justin Fargas, a career back-up, getting most of the carries, why wouldn’t Kiffin get a healthy Bush onto the field, evaluating what he can or cant do, especially when your looking at another high draft selection and talent at that position in the 2008 draft.
With Daunte Culpepper and Josh McCown as one-year fixtures, why wouldn’t the process speed up in trying to get JaMarcus Russell onto the field? Russell will define what this organization will be in a few years. And with the other quarterbacks on the roster looking like fodder at this point, you have to scratch your head at the handling of the franchise quarterback regardless of the time he missed in camp, the pre-season and the need to prepare the team on a week-to-week basis during the regular season. Russell needs to play. The empty seats at McAfee Coliseum dictate that, and especially the ‘boos’ heard from those fans that want to catch a glimpse at the future.
Sure Kiffin has a lot to learn. Yes, he has to grow and develop over time, learn from his mistakes and gain seasoning as a coach by dealing with the good and the bad that comes with this job. But his hiring could also be questioned and with notable, experienced and successful coaches either on the market this off-season or becoming available – Oakland could surely upgrade the staff and help shake things up as they have done in the past in a unconventional manner.
–Victor Cotto
NO– No one could turn it around in one year
Lane Kiffin came to Oakland bringing with him the promise of a bright future. Unfortunately, thus far the Kiffin regime has yet to yield the wins that Al Davis expects every year. It would however, be a great folly to let him go on the basis of one disappointing season.
Lane Kiffin is not Joe Bugal who took over a team that had been 7-9 and dropped them to 4-12. He is not Art Shell who lost the clubhouse before training camp was over. For that matter he is not Norv Turner who was already a proven loser as a head coach.
The recent coach that he compares best with is Jon Gruden. Gruden took over a veteran team that had underachieved under Bugal and gave them direction leading to a turnaround from 4-12 to 8-8 despite starting quarterback Jeff George missing several games and being replaced by Wade Wilson and Donald Hollis. Gruden brought in aging veterans and built his team to win now with no vision for the future. The difference is Lane Kiffin took over a young team that had no direction and been in a funk since 2003. There had been no continuity of leadership on or off the field during those years, nor had there been any continuity of system during that time.
Kiffin is also fighting the legacy of the Jon Gruden’s win now strategy for getting players, as there are very few remainders from the era where the Raiders were the powerhouse of the AFC west to teach the younger players what it takes to be successful. Other than the kickers, Barry Sims and Jerry Porter are the remainders from that time. Sims can’t remember the snap count, and despite learning under two of the best to play the game Porter is a wanna-be T.O. Neither of them can be counted on to be leaders.
Lane Kiffin had everything stacked against him, but has made strides by making the team competitive in every game. He has made head scratching decisions, as in the Michael Bush situation, but he has not lost the locker room. Kiffin has the vets like Warren Sapp on his side. Kiffin just needs time to weed out those who are content to get a paycheck and get players who will play their butts off on Sunday. It took several years to create this mess, it will take more than a few months to fix it.
–Patrick A. Patterson
Raider Writer, MVN.com
Victor Cotto is a staff writer for Raiderfans.net under the name RaiderinNY and is usually the voice of reason. His “Fire Kiffin” piece was written as a favor to me and does not reflect his actual view on Kiffin’s job as head coach. For writing as the devil’s advocate, I thank you Vic and owe you a beer or two at a future tailgate.
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10 Responses to “Should Al Davis fire Lane Kiffin as Oakland Raiders Head Coach at the end of the season?”
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
This Raiders team will be different a season from now, my opinion. Is that kiffin does not have the personnel or the offensive line to have a successful team. Besides the raiders are young. certain things need to be thought about. Sims will be gone next year, gallery could be demoted, The raiders need to rebuild the line except for cooper carlisle, who is our best lineman. get a new number 2 reciever, and draft this guy named Darren Mcfadden who is giving Lsu all they can handle. The raiders will be different.
and i think our defensive coordinator needs to be changed. I like Rob Ryan as a coach but the raiders dont blitz enough. Then a Strong safety by the name of josh barrett from arizona state. move huff to free safety. Micheal Huff should not be tackling and playing run stopper, when he could play freely. Just give kiffin some time.
Russell
fargas
griffith
Miller
Curry
madsen
higgins
carlisle
Henderson
these are the guys they keep i would imagine. Porter has to go. we know what we get with him. and he would never put up 1000 yards in a season. Considering we as Raiders fans Seen Timmy Brown have 8 straight 1000 yard seasons in a row, Porter is no good. Draft Mcfadden
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I am not pleased with Lane’s decisions involving playcalling as well as personnel. If this does not change we will continue to dwell in pathetic mode till Al keels over from ineptness. First of all why keep the horses we have in the stable? Yet we put the jackasses on the field to represent the silver and black?!! WTF!!! If logical decisions had been made we could easily be in first place in the West!!! WE are at the point now that we need to evaluate what we have and weed out the players we do not plan on resigning but with lane you have to wonder who that is. the man really scares me with his evaluation process, the Buddy System. Fellas, tell me why the Hell is Josh McNown is still on the roster?!!! We have 4 qb’s, no one in the NFL carry that many. That spot could be held by a promising DT,DE or S.S that can actually upgrade a position.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
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November 23rd, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Alright people lets be realistic first we have no playmakers right now on offense so why would you put a young raw quarterback in you would do nothing but ruin him (David Carr anyone) also with Michael Bush this guy was coming off a bad broken leg and then a infection and another surgery and we have a guy on our own roster as proof of what happens when you bring someone back to early (Culpepper) anyone as for carrying all these qb and running backs look anyone can tell these are Al Davis moves not Kiffen Davis doesn’t want to let the running backs go because denver and kansas city both need running backs as for qbs culpepper is davis’s guy Walter is being kept in hopes of trading him next year and McCown will be the backup next year as for Little huggy bear starting at running back he earned it and I was hoping he would be cut at the start of the year but he proved me wrong with how he runs jordan likes to around to much and actually believes he is a power back which he is not and Rhodes would get more of a chance if our line could block someone and we could do more than 3 and out and lets not kid ourselves alot of the defensive schemes is Big Al when Ryan was brought in he was a 3-4 guy would believed in bringing pressure but after Sapp went to Davis about not wanting to be in a 3-4 it was changed and Davis has never Believed in blitzs feeling the four lineman should be enough to get pressure while the corners play man and the safties play deep so as bad as it hurts me to say we love you Al but it’s time to hire a GM and just sit in the owners box and look pretty and leave the football up to other people
November 24th, 2007 at 12:58 am
I bought this brand new LCD Tv today. As I was hooking it up, the tv promted me a question. Do you have cable or antenna? I have satellite. What do I do? The tv said I should wait 30 minutes for everything to load up. I waited 20 with no responce. I doubled back and hit antenna. Low and behold 25 minutes later it worked. In regards to Lane Kiffin. We make choices and we have to live by them. Sometimes its like the tv, wait and see, and others you know you made a bad choice. Give Lane a chance, we’ve pulled the plug so many times this last decade I don’t even know what makes a good, not great, coach anymore. The results arent their yet, but small changes that arent seen every game are. Mike
November 24th, 2007 at 8:03 am
Just relax fellas……This draft and ofseason pickups should bolster our O-line enough to allow JR a good line to work behind. There has to be a good reason for Bush not playing, IE his leg, so lets not throw the future to the wolves. This is a disaster four years in the making, and as the article says, its gonna take a while to figure out, maybe even three years. All head coaches need at least three years, and Kiff deserves that for making himself available to coach this disaster.
November 24th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Do you believe FA’s that are any good will come to this team the way Lane is treating the FA we have signed so far? Lane wants to play his favorites ie the people he trades for or ones from the Pac 10. I don’t believe in Lane at this time mainly because he said the players that give us the best chance to win would represent us. What do we see. Josh McNown is starting which was bad enough but now he is the backup? WTF?!!!! He should have been cut and Bush on the team. Rhodes and Jordan should be carrying the ball more than once a game and if you notice that the last 3 games Fargas has avg 47 ypg. This is evaluation time for we will not win out this season with our schedule so we need to see more of the younger players for the most of the vets need to be backups or released, I’m sure we can find any old bum on the streets that can block and tackle better than what the Nation has seen this season.
November 25th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Please, do fire Lane. I think he would look good in a blue ball cap with a lightning bolt on it.
Seriously. The man wasn’t handed the keys to a Ferrari like Norv Turner was. I think Kiff has done a decent job and if we were to compare coching changes in the AFC West, who won this offseason???
Just a thought from the other side.
~ Rich, Chargers Confidential
November 26th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Rich,
Glad to see a Bolts fan giving respect. You can’t have Kiffin, but Bill Callihan, Art Shell, and Joe Bugal are all on the market. Don’t laugh, you guys hired Norv.
December 17th, 2007 at 10:28 am
How can you possibly blame the Michael Bush fiasco on Kiffin?! Looking back, the reason why Bush was not activated is because Al Davis did not want Lamont Jordan to get released and sign with the Broncos, the Raiders’ upcoming opponent. Ditto for the Jamarcus Russell fiasco. It was Al Davis that failed to sign him before training camp, not Kiffin.
If Kiffin is fired or leaves, the morale on this team will bottom out. How many times can you change coaches, philosophies and personnel?!
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