No Control

This is a franchise in control? This is the behavior of an NFL senior executive? Even if San Jose Mercury News columnist Tim Kawakami did fabricate the infamous story of a Raider official handing out an ESPN story that discredited Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin (along with a bunch of other reporters), it doesn't excuse the fact that John Herrera's behavior oozes of paranoia and dysfunction.

Where will it end? I suppose a shooting in the press room isn't beyond this franschise right now. Heck if you're going to send a senior executive out to pick a fight with a beat reporter half your size, anything's possible.

If the job requirments for "Senior Executive" with the Raiders simply means you're willing to make a jackass out of yourself in front of a room full of reporters, sign me up!

There are only two possible explanations for this latest episode. Either Herrera was acting on his on volition, or he was ordered to confront Kawakami. It seems unlikely that anyone is dumb enough to confront a reporter in a room full of other reporters and cameras. Who would do that? So it would seem that this was yet another peculiar move orchastrated from the top.

If the Raiders brass didn't order the confrontation, then this team is more dysfunctional than anyone can imagine. I suspect that this is one that back fired on the Raiders, and in an attempt to save face, they tried to discredit Kawakami with a public spectacle.

The "us against the world" mentality will only go so far, so you have to question how this plays out on the field. If I'm a rookie and I pick up the paper and read what will certainly be coverage which leans in Kawakami's defense, so questions get planted in my head. Fresh out of the gate and those players already develop a huge mistrust of reporters, which doesn't bode well for their careers. Like it or not, the media plays a role in how the public perceives the character of many players. Does a Darren McFadden establish a good repoire with a Michael Silver as a result of something like this?

If I'm a veteran, I may start questioning the professionalism of the franchise that I represent. How do I focus on football, when there's a circus going on all around me. What the Raiders don't need right now is another distraction.

Guys like Jamarcus Russell need to be focused on developing their game, not focusing on how they're supposede to deal with the "evil media."

Regardless of how this latest ordeal was spawned, if the Raiders want to right this ship, they can Greg Herrera today. Make him he fall guy if it was a grander plot, or run him out of town for his stupidity if it was his own idea.

This organization needs a shakeup, plain and simple. Start playing by the rules. The renegade ways of yesteryear don't cut it in the multi-million dollar world of professional sports anymore.