Oakland Raiders, meet rock bottom. As if the descent from their Super Bowl appearance a mere four seasons ago hadn’t been steep enough, now the 2-14 Raiders can’t even hire a head coach. The top two candidates for the job, former All-Pro wideout James Lofton and current USC offensive wunderkind Steve Sarkisian (the Trojans quarterbacks coach), have pulled out of the running for the opening. Lofton had met with Raiders officials earlier in the week, but no formal offer was made. Sarkisian, who at 32, would have become the youngest head coach in the league, had served as the Raiders QB coach in 2004. No formal details have been revealed, but it is believed that Sarkisian was offered a contract, and the Raiders interviewed USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin with the intention of making him Sarkisian’s top assistant. It certainly appeared that Oakland though it had its next head coach…but now you have to wonder if Al Davis might have to ask Tom Flores to come back…
Even deposed Arizona Cardinals coach Denny Green turned down an interview (although Green might still be interested if a formal offer was made in his direction…it would reunite him with Randy Moss) for the position. Davis still has current Raider defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and Jim Fassel on the short list, but it would appear that he might have to search further for his next field boss. So while Al’s trying to con somebody into to coming into the Black Hole…let me make a suggestion as a guest general manager…
It’s time to take a page from your checkered past, Al, and play father figure to the kind of wayward soul that once brought excellence to the field in Oakland. It’s time to pick up the phone, call Arthur Blank, and bring Michael Vick to Oaktown. Thanks to Vick’s little ‘my water bottle doubles as the place to hide my pot’ incident and the Falcons recent downturn in the standings, a potential franchise talent could be yours for the picking. I don’t know about the salary cap implications (Vick’s contract could be a cap stumbling block), but here’s what makes sense in my head: Offer the Falcons the overall #1 pick in the draft and malcontent wide receiver Jerry Porter for Vick and one of the Falcons butterfingered wideouts (Michael Jenkins or Roddy White). The Falcons have a quality second quarterback in Matt Schaub, and he could keep the seat warm in Hotlanta until Brady Quinn or JaMarcus Russell was ready to run the show for Bobby Petrino. Or, if Petrino thought Schaub was a viable long-term answer under center, then the Falcons could take a hometown favorite and all-around good citizen in Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson.
It’s a beautiful scenario. The Falcons could either get another franchise talent at quarterback, or they could choose to go with the talented Schaub and build an offensive powerhouse with the newly-acquired Porter, Johnson, Alge Crumpler, Warrick Dunn, and Jerious Norwood. The Raiders would get a huge (but admittedly, erratic) talent at quarterback, and they would still have the Falcons pick (#10) in the first round, a pick they could use to select talent in the running game (like a Bay-Area standout like Cal’s Marshawn Lynch or OU’s Adrian Peterson) or perhaps a gamebreaking receiving-returning threat (OSU’s Ted Ginn, Jr.) or maybe even some offensive line help. Their defense was really very good in 2006, and it is entirely possible (if a bit unlikely) that the chronically erratic Vick and the chronically underachieving Moss could bond and become an unstoppable force…a development that could make the Raiders a winner before Davis’ deal with the devil expires.
And at the very least, I can see two very positive outcomes…One, if Vick pulls into Oakland, Moss gets a place to hide his pot…and two, Davis has a reason to change his slogan from ‘Committment to Excellence’ to ‘Committment to Incense’…
Chief,
Has the Raider Nation fallen so hard that they may now be called the Raider Village. Is the Village Idiot Al Davis? I don’t think so, I have never been a big Raider fan, but I do get tired of the talking heads on radio and T.V. thinking that the decline of the Raiders the last 4 years is because of Al getting old. My guess is that Al has forgot more about running a football team than most of us mortals will ever know. The Raiders have had a downslide only the last 4 years. Does anybody remember the Green Bay Packers of the 70’s and 80’s, to be a little more current the Saints are finally making it to the Conference Championship Game and if they win they get to go to the Super Bowl, after how many years of mediocrity?
I don’t think Al’s the problem in hiring a new coach. How, many people really want to be in Oakland? That is not the garden spot I want to move to. Next the mantra of the Raiders has basically been sex, drugs, and rock and roll. This is just so 70’s and politically incorrect that no upstanding coach of the 21st Century would want to go to this place. Now think about players coming out in the draft. Can you imagine a white bread Catholic like Brady Quinn playing in Oakland; he has his rosary beads out and is on his knees praying that they take Russell.
Or maybe:
Your, Michael Vick trade. I can hear Jim Mora now (that is Sr.) “Michael Vick is a Coach killer”. Man was he prophetic. It is obvious today that money and adulation can not make you mature and responsible. Vick in my opinion has felt he was above everything and everyone since his days at Va. Tech with Frank Beamer. In college you can be the most athletic and change any game by yourself. But, when you come to the NFL it is still a team sport and your athletic talent has to meld with others. Yes, Vick has had some poor talent surrounding him at times but at other times he has neutralized his teammate’s talent by not want to be a NFL Quarterback, but wanting to be Michael Vick who runs around and throws the ball wildly. Remember, the farthest he ever took his team was to the NFC Championship game a few year ago. Keep this in prospective the much maligned Rex Grossman will also accomplish this feat. I think the Bears got Rex for a lot less than $137 million.
If I sound like Rush Limbaugh now I do not mean to. This is not about race, but it is about results. In my opinion, the national media has made every attempt to prop up Michael Vick and his career. Why do people want him to be successful so badly? If he deserved praise I would not care, but we all keep waiting for his break-out year, the only way we may get that is when he get out of the Dade County hoosegow after his current drug episode.
I for the one am ready for Vick to go to the Raiders, they should hire Mora Jr. as their Head Coach. Then Vick could kill him again and Mora could move to Washington State.