Hue Jackson Named Raiders Coach

Hue Jackson has reportedly been named head coach of the Oakland Raiders. I’m glad Jackson got the job but Tom Cable shouldn’t have been fired in the first place. That’s just my personal opinion. I hope he hs thick skin because you know how Al Davis gives his coaches no wiggle room and zero margin for error. Also he’ll have to win over the locker room that had grown increasingly loyal to Cable. I don’t know how well Jackson got along with the players, but he is known for relating well to plaers and is a highly regarded play-caller.

If Jason Campbell can continue to progress under Jackson the Raiders could be threat to make the playoffs next season. Yes, I think Campbell will be the starter in Oakland next year. If Campbell regresses, Captain Al might start reminding Hue how much of a short leash he has. 

2 kickers for $18 million dollars.Only the Raiders

Leave it to Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders braintrust to sign their kicker to a contract worth $9 million dollars.Last week it was reported that Sebastian Janikowski was signed to an extension for two years and $9 million dollars.In the same story,it was reported that the Raiders also sined punter Shane Lechler to the same deal.I know it seems like I dog the Raiders a lot on here and I really don’t have much room to talk since I’m a Lions fan.At least the Lions can get rid of their mistake(Millen).The Raiders can’t do anything with Al Davis.Also they make lousy draft picks(JaMarcus Russell,Darrius Heyward-Bey),hiring lousy coaches(Lane Kiffin,Tom Cable),they also make lousy signings that will hurt their salary cap for a few years.No one signs kickers and punters for that much.I guess this is their committment to excellence.

The Cable guy gets renewed in Oakland

After the off field problems and sometimes lackadaisical play,Tom Cable remains head coach of the Oakland Raiders.Cable will never be mistaken for Vince Lombardi,hell,not even Tom Flores.And the current edition of the Raiders won’t remind experts of great Raiders teams of the past.Bottom line,right now the Raiders are a bad football team.Occasionally they played over their heads and rose up and beat some playoff contenders.They played with that famed Raider pride and poise every once in a while.Now I will only give Cable some credit because he’s the coach.I think they won the five games they won this season was because after being kicked so much,pride kicked in and the players decided they had enough.I won’y put this all on the players,because I think some of the teams they beat overlooked the Raiders and chalked it up as an automatic win before the game was played(Broncos and Steelers).But it possibly saved Cable’s job.

   The Raider job isn’t a plum job because of that smarmy,crotchety,senile old man known as Al Davis.He demands things be done his way or your out.He’s a worse meddler than Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones.Also who would want to coach a team where you have hardly any input on personnel and allegedly limited game planning.Mr.Davis has to know that a 70’s game plan won’t win  any games in this day and time.Somehow,despite Davis reportedly looking for other coaching candidates,while still retaining Cable,Cable wants to stick around.Maybe because this will be the only head coaching job Cable will have in the near future or at any point at all.Maybe it’s because no one wants a piece of the fabled Raider empire.The candidates mentioned,there were only two,Jim Fassel and someone whose name escapes me right now,both said they weren’t interested and were not interviewed for the job as reports said.I don’t blame them.I know I wouldn’t want to coach there.Somehow Cable stays with a team that wasn’t a 5 win team but somehow it got to that number and Davis is delusional for thinking it’s more than a 5 win team.Hey, Cable did say this was his dream job.How that is,I don’t know. 

Team owners need to insure a better product

A lot of the sports team owners treat their teams as a hobby or something that they can make money from, neglecting the product on the field or arena. There are some that do care, but they go about trying to build a winner the wrong way. Another blog that i follow, Explode In Sports, touched upon this subject last week.
  Some owners just don’t care and some are too power hungry to stay out of their own way. Take a look at Al Davis of the Oakland  Raiders. Anyone he hires is a puppet. It’s almost like a shadow government out there in Oakland. If you don’t agree with big Al you’re out. Ask Lane Kiffin about that. Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers really has no clue to what he’s doing with his team. Dan Snyder treats his like a fantasy league team. They need to pay more attention to what’s being done on the field or court to build a winner. In these tough economic times, true sports fans don’t have money to throw around to attend a game, let alone watch a lousy team. My home team, the Detroit Lions were blacked out for the second time this season for that fact alone. In the past Lions fans have always supported the team, even though a majority of the time the team was plain bad. Nowdays, those same people can’t go to the game and they won’t go because the team is so bad. Everyone around the league says William Clay Ford is a great owner. I’m not privy to that, but the guy is too loyal to people that shouldn’t be running the operation.That’s how Matt Millen got eight long years in the Motor City. I believe he wants a winner, but he doesn’t know how to go about building a winner. As much as i can’t stand the Yankees, the ownership there does care about putting a winner on the field. They spend a lot of money on free agents and all but they also have a top notch scouting department. Same with Jerry Jones. He will do anything to make the Dallas Cowboys a winner. There are some owners that get criticized for spending a lot, but those are the ones that do it the right way. Owners like the aformentioned Snyder get it wrong. I know we’re in a tough economic climate right now and you have to watch the bottom line but give us true sports fans something to cheer about. There are some that use sports as an outlet for the harsh realities of life and just want to be part of something positive.