Bye Kiffin!
September 28, 2008 by Lee Tremblay
Filed under NFL Football, Raiders
The difference between a team that is ready to contend, and one that is not quite there yet, is the teams ability to finish games off, and win the close one.
The Raiders are getting there, but they are not there yet.
The funny thing is that this team is so close to being a contender, and you can almost feel it coming on, but we are going to take a huge step backwards when owner, Al Davis, fires head coach, Lane Kiffin.
I really don’t think that it is going to be a matter of, IF, but when, Lane Kiffin is fired. If Kiffins job was at all secure, I believe that Davis wouldn’t have left his players and coaching staff, sit, wonder, worry and wait for the news. I believe that as early as tonight, if not tomorrow, Al Davis will have it anounced that the team will head into a different direction.
Unfortunately that direction is going to be the wrong way.
Yes, we are 1-3. However, we are two fourth quarter breakdowns away from being 3-1. I know that it is not right to say “what if”, but what if we hadn’t blown those two leads?
Like I said, the difference between a team that is ready to win, and one that is not there yet, is finishing games.
Lets take a look at the Buffalo Bills. They blew several games last year in the final seconds. They couldn’t finish with TDs when they were in the redzone. They ended up 7-9.
They stayed the course. They kept faith in their team and their coaching staff, and one year later, they are sitting at 4-0.
We dominated this game tonight against the Chargers in the first half. We let ourselves get tired and came out flat in the second, but we still stuck with a team that could be, and should be, 4-0. That tells me that although we are not at their level yet, we are not far off. Why change the course?
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Al Davis is just using this whole firing the coach thing as motivation to get his team to rally around their coach. I would love that to be true, but lets face it, Kiffin just coached his last game as the raiders head coach.
I guess that many of us within the raider nation will be getting no sleep tonight!
Tremblay
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September 28th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Great piece! I couldn’t agree more. I still hope that Davis keeps Kiffin on board.
Tough loss today…I was rooting for them. But like you say, they are close.
September 28th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Nice stuff, Al is not being patient enough and this will hurt them big time letting kiffin go.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
So true, it would be 3 steps backwards if they fire him!
September 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
[...] I began plugging away at the post game blog, I was compelled to take a look at Lee Tremblay’s piece on the Raiders, a team that has suffered the same misfortune as our Bills did a year ago. And, [...]
September 29th, 2008 at 2:03 am
This one stings!
I hope Kiffin stays also.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:03 am
I couldn’t agree more.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:05 am
3, 4 or maybe 5. Young players cannot have a coaching change all the time, and this will really hurt Russell, McFadden and the rest of the younger guys. (as well as the team spirit)