MVN: Most Valuable Network

Thanks to Jerry MacDonald for posting a transcript of Lane Kiffin's Monday press conference. Either Kiffin has a future on the pro poker circuit or he is planning on being the Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders next season. His answers about the future were about as direct and straightforward as he has been about anything thus far. From the looks of it, there will be some changes coming. It looks like Nnamdi Asomugha will be brought back, Warren Sapp will probably be retiring, and Rob Ryan is probably out.

Lane Kiffin said in the press conference that they were already working with Nnamdi Asomugha's agent on a contract extension. Nnamdi is a cornerstone of the Raiders' defense and one of the top corners in the NFL. He was considered a reach when the Raiders picked him with the last pick in the first round of the 2003 draft, but he has emerged as a steal at that pick. It is good to see that the Raiders are working with his agent to get him locked down the way that he locks down defenders.

On the possible retirement of Warren Sapp, Lane Kiffin's non-answer was enough to give the appearance that Sapp is ready to hang up his cleats. After his weight loss, he was not the same kind of force in the middle in 2007 that he had been in 2006, but he is a key leader in the locker room. It is my hope that I read the tea-leaves wrong on Kiffin's answer, but if Sapp is ready to retire here is wishing him all the best for the future.

Kiffin: I have talked to warren. I am not going to comment on that until warren talks to you guys. Warren has already made it known what he’s doing but I’m not going to take that from him. He’ll tell you guys whenever he’s ready.

On Rob Ryan, Coach Kiffin had the same kind of non-answers that he had for Sapp. It sounded like he was buying time for Ryan to get the news right from himself or Al Davis. Ryan was flying high after last season's defensive breakthrough, but this year the defense was one of the weak points of the team. Kiffin made mention at several points in the press conference that the defense was disappointing, so that further bodes ill for the future of Ryan as the Raider defensive coordinator. It is a shame to see him go, as he looked like a Raider on the sidelines but performance is what matters, and the defense did not perform.

Q: Was Sunday Rob Ryan’s final game with the Raiders?

Kiffin: First of all, we haven’t made any decisions yet. Those will come pretty soon. Just like I said, with players and stuff, we’re still going to get all the information in and get it all together before we make any changes. Like I said before, we’re going to do everything we can to put us in the best position to win. Whatever that is, whatever we have to look at, no different that what we did with players, putting players on the bench that had been starters, or whatever it is. We’re not worried about people’s feelings or any of that. We’re worried about winning. And we need to start winning. We need to do everything we can to put us in that position. So, we’ll look at everything.

Doesn't sound good for Ryan, because Kiffin gave no vote of confidence whatsoever.

Well, our plan initially was, to me, if you come in somewhere and we hadn’t had very much success, and as you look at the makeup of the team - the defense returning 11 starters, and I think on offense we were only going to start two guys that had been starting in those spots before, so you got nine guys starting in new spots - the thought was how are we going to win? What’s the best chance to win? Well, it’s going to be to run the ball and to stop the run. And to build off the defense with 11 returning starters. And it wasn’t gonna be to really attack in the passing game, cause we really couldn’t take the chance to turn the ball over a lot, and throwing it downfield and getting a bunch of sacks. That wasn’t how we were gonna win right now. Now eventually that may be, when we change some things and our system starts to unfold with the proper players. We did do the running part, and defense, we all know we didn’t play as well as we’d like.

This was a portion of a response to a question about things not going so well in the passing game, but it sure comes across as an indictment of the defense.

Q: What did the defense have so much trouble stopping the run?

Kiffin: We’ve got to look at everything. And it really was disappointing, because I really felt that the defense was gonna be our strength. I never told the offense that, but that’s what I felt was we were going to play great defense, we were gonna build off… There had been a lot of improvement from two years ago to last year on defense, so I thought we’d continue to build that with returning 11 guys. Unfortunately, that’s not the way it worked. So as we discussed, we’ve gotta look at everything. And we will, and we’ll figure out a way to get it fixed.

Ouch! This excerpt says that Ryan is out. Thanks for the memories, Rob.

Despite the rumors that had Coach Kiffin ready to jump ship to Arkansas or anywhere but Oakland, he looks to be committed to the resurgence of the Raiders. Apparently even some of the players were wondering if Kiffin was on his way out.

From talking to some of them afterwards, maybe I need to pay attention more to the media and stuff, because it was a good meeting. I had a couple of players afterward say well I guess that means you’re staying. I hadn’t even thought to address that. They said well we read all over the internet and everything says your going somewhere. But I guess it helped that too.

It is great to see that Kiffin is returning and is committed to turning the Raiders' ship around and bringing some hardware home to Oakland in the next few years.