The Letter

So much for an amicable parting of ways. The following letter, apparently couriered to Lane Kiffin on September 12th, was released by the Raiders this afternoon following one of the nuttiest days in team history.

September 12, 2008

By Hand Delivery and Federal Express

Dear Lane:

Over the past months, you have made a number of public statements that were highly critical of, and designed to embarrass and discredit, this organization, its players and its coaches. I left you alone during training camp in hopes that you would cease your immature and destructive campaign.

However, you continue to make public statements that are critical of the organization, its players as whole as well as individual players. Such statements constitute conduct detrimental to the Raiders and I will no longer stand silently by while you continue to hurt this organization.

Further, your contract is quite clear that you work “subject to the direction and supervision of the General Partner” and that the General Partner has “the exclusive right to do all things, which in its sole discretion are necessary to maintain and improve the Club, the football organization and their activities.”

I realized when I hired you that you were young and inexperienced and that there would be a learning process for you. Your mistakes on player personnel and coaches were overlooked based on our patience with you. But I never dreamt that you would be untruthful in statements to the press as well as on so many other issues. Your actions are those of a coach looking to makes (sic) excuses for not winning, rather than a coach focused on winning.

For example, with the exception of Gibril Wilson, you were involved in recruiting all free agents and determining salaries for them and you were explicit about your desire to sign Javon Walker and DeAngelo Hall amongst others. All were a must to sign in your eyes, Hall, in particular, because he played for Greg Knapp in Atlanta and Knapp gave him high grades. Do not run from that now.

I do realize that you did not want us to draft JaMarcus Russell. He is a great player. Get over it and coach this team on the field, that is what you were hired to do. We can win with this team!

In regards to your recent fabrications about the defense, during the final cuts you made every cut on offense and every cut on defense except for (Fred) Wakefield on defense and (Seth) Wand on offense. Furthermore, during the game Monday night (defensive coordinator) Rob (Ryan) played your Cover-2 defense and we got killed on an approximately 50-yard touchdown pass and an approximately 70-yard gain that led to a field goal.

You meet every week with the defensive coaches to go over both the past game and to get a general feel for what will happen during the week in practice. You have the ability and authority to provide your input during those meetings and the preparation of the game plan. I do not have weekly meetings with Rob—you do.

During the week no one has ever told you what to do on either offense or defense. In addition, no one has ever told you during a game what to do on either offense or defense and you call every play on offense. During a game if you want to blitz more, all you have to do is let Rob know what blitz you want and he will do it.

Although you continue to use the media to express your dissatisfaction with others, no one has publicly pointed out to you that in four preseason games and one regular-season game played this year, your offense has scored one first-half touchdown. That put tremendous pressure on the defense.

I know that you wanted to bring your father in to run the defense and that Monte told me that he wanted to come here even though he as (sic) under contract to Tampa. However I did not want to tamper with another team. In any event that was over seven months ago. Do not now also run from the defense and your responsibilities.

This letter constitutes notice that if you further violate any term of your contract, in any manner whatsoever, you will be terminated for cause. I trust that this will not occur.

A.D. Football, Inc.

So now it's he said, he said. Technically, the Raiders can now market the fact that they provide an "entertaining" product to their customers. The fact that was released simply makes the organization look petty, paranoid, and any other bad "p" word you can think of. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...

The Kiffin Episode Ends

Kiffin's Biggest Fan

The most predictable soap opera in professional sports closed another chapter on its dysfunctional history on Tuesday afternoon, when the Raiders fired head coach Lane Kiffin. KGO radio, ESPN and NFL.com all reported Kiffin’s dismissal, which was as big a surprise as a Raiders loss. The beleaguered coach has been waiting for the announcement to come since last January, but there’s nothing efficient about the Raiders these days.

For as hard as Al Davis tries not to be predictable, his once storied franchise is as easy to read as a Rob Ryan blitz scheme.

What I don’t understand is, what Davis thinks all of this is actually going to accomplish? I was actually holding out hope that Davis would throw everyone a curveball, including Kiffin, and keep him at the helm for the remainder of the season.

When Mike Shanahan was fired in 1989, the Raiders righted a 1-4 start to finish the season 8-8, but that was a much different team. That roster included the like of Bo Jackson, Marcus Allen and Howie Long.

The list of possible replacements does little to incite any belief that this will turn thins around. James Lofton seems like the most obvious choice, because his name has been dangled around since the day Kiffin was hired. He also seems to be the kind of yes man Davis can manage without distraction.

What’s most baffling (oh there are many things to be baffled by) is the fact that names like Tom Cable or Tom Rathman are even being talked about. Tom Cable, head coach. Really?

The one thing about Kiffin’s hiring was that it was a fresh perspective, bringing in a young offensive mind that actually seemed to be changing the losing culture that has plagued the Raiders. Ranted, he didn’t win, but what can you expect given the tools that he was handed (and the command that he wasn’t)?

Rather than arm Kiffin with the tools he needed to be successful, the Raiders blew most of their cap space on defensive retreads. You can argue that Darren McFadden cost the Raiders a pretty penny, but he was a draft pick. Where was the receiver the Raiders so dearly needed? Javon Walker? Ashley Lelie? Seriously?

I’m surprised Davis didn’t throw a couple million at Vince Evans to come out of retirement.

What’s worse is the fact that Kiffin appeared to be righting the ship. Blowing two 4th quarter leads isn’t the model of success, but put those loses into perspective. They came against a surprising 4-0 Buffalo Bills team and a San Diego Chargers team that’s supposed to compete for a Super Bowl this year.

What we’ll find out is if those two games were motivated by a roster that was playing to save their coach’s job. If it was, what does that mean for the remainder of the season?

Now Davis gets to select a fill-in for the remainder of the season, and we get wait for the next episode of this soap opera to play out. Who will be Davis’ next protégé turned nemesis? What head scratching moves come next?

Like Terdell Sands through the hourglass, these are the days of your Raiders lives.

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.

Pathetic Season Opener

I think Mike Ditka is a clown, but he said it best on Monday night with his comment about the Raiders.

“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit,” said the ESPN analyst during the Raiders pathetic showing in their season opener.

When the visiting Denver Broncos weren’t moving the ball at will, the Raiders were tacking on 15 yard penalties by the bushel full. A porous defense, anemic offense and dumb penalty after dumb penalty, simply resulted in more of the same from a team that has won less than 30% of its games over the past six years.

The Raiders were embarrassed at home before a national audience, reaffirming the fact that this franchise is as dysfunctional as ever. The dumbfounded look on Al Davis face from the owner’s box reaffirmed the fact that it’s time for Davis to move on.

I’ve been a supporter of Davis’ for far too long. His legacy has afforded him far too many mulligans.

I don’t think anybody anticipated the pasting the Raiders would endure on opening night. I certainly didn’t. The difference on this night was that the Raiders seemed to take ten steps backwards (as if that were possible). There was nothing positive to take away from this game.

Well, except for the fact that Lane Kiffin will be able to resume his football coaching career sooner than later. This debacle will obviously fall on Kiffin’s shoulders, which means he’ll get canned that much quicker. Kiffin doesn’t fit in with the Raider mystique. He’s too progressive. Not a company man. Not an Al Davis man.

It was Kiffin after all, who wanted defensive coordinator Rob Ryan out. The same Rob Ryan, who’s defensive schemes allowed Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler to roam untouched all night long.

OK, maybe that’s not entirely fair…unless it was Ryan who convinced Davis to spend all that money on Tommy Kelly during the off season. Kelly played like a $50 million paper weight on Monday night. The Raiders defensive front did the impossible, making Namdhi Asomugha, Gibril Wilson, Deangelo Hall and Michael Huff look like a high school secondary unit.

It took the Raiders 48 minutes before they finally put any points in the board, but that’s because the Broncos were starting to pack for the trip home.

To make matters worse, 1st round draft pick Darren McFadden left the game with an apparent shoulder injury, and Derrick Burgess also left the contest with an injury.

And that was just week 1 folks. Painful.

Al Davis departure can’t come soon enough.