Lee Tremblay

An NFL coach was fired today, but it wasn’t Lane Kiffin.

St Louis fired head coach Scott Linehan, in favor of Jim Haslett. Although this news is not suprising, it does however make us wonder why nothing has been done yet, out in Oakland.

If Kiffin is to be fired, whats the holdup?

The Raiders are two weeks away from their next game, which will be on sunday October 12 @ 1pm ET against the New Orleans Saints, in New Orleans. That would give a new head coach two full weeks to prepare this team. Yet, it’s currently 8pm ET, on Monday September  29th and nothing has been done yet.

This makes many of us start to build hope that Lane kiffin will not be let go.

Is this idea that far fetched?

Maybe not! Al Davis has always lead this team through fear. He likes to keep his players and coaches guessing as to whether or not they will live to see another day, in the Raiders uniform. There were many times when it was speculated that Davis was going to fire Jon Gruden when he was the head coach, but he never did. Instead, Gruden made the decision to leave for greener pastures out in Tampa Bay, where he won a Superbowl in his first year (against Davis and the Raiders).

Now we all sit and wait, much like the NHL waits for Sundin, and Green Bay waited for Favre every year for the past 4 years. And yet, when it seems the most likely time to hear the news………..nothing!

Maybe, this whole thing was a way for Davis to get his team to fight harder, in hope that Kiffin (who is well liked by the players) will stay on as head coach.

It could be that Davis just doesn’t want to pay Kiffin the type of buyout that it would cost him. Although, money has never been a factor for Davis, aside from not having enough to spend more!

Then there is the thought that Davis just hasn’t found anyone that is willing to take over the job. Even though, I would bet heavily that defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan would jump at the chance, as well as wide recievers coach, James Lofton.

Chances are that Davis fears that Kiffin will end up being the next Shanahan, which is one of his biggest regrets.

Maybe Al Davis has been reading my blogs and has decided that I am right, and it would be wrong to let Kiffin go……..Ya, that must be it. I have to go with this one, because it makes the most sense!

The fact of the matter is that there are not to many, if any, that can get inside of Al Davis’s head and truly know what he is thinking. He has done things out of the blue that make you wonder what the heak is going on. Then there are the times that you expect something from him, and he does nothing.

Trying to understand what Davis is thinking, is like me, trying to figure out what my wife is thinking. It is just too complex, and way beyond my comprehention.

So we sit, guess, wonder, and wait!

Tremblay

Lee Tremblay

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

Lee Tremblay

In Oakland we have a saying that we live by. Commitment to excellence. Or is it commitment to exing coaches? I can’t remember.

This game against division rival San Diego will prove to be more then just a win or loss. It will prove to be an answer to whether or not the coaching carousel in Oakland continues.

If head coach Lane Kiffin manages to beat the team that has dominated the Raiders for the past several years, he might just keep his job. Then again, Al Davis may be just waiting for the bye week to make the change, and it won’t matter at all what the outcome of this game is.

Regardless, a week 4 win against the Chargers would be a good thing.

How might the Raiders pull this one off? 

Stop LT. Tomlinson has owned the Raiders, and with an ailing foot, it is about time that we hold him off.

Stop Phillip Rivers. He is one of the best, if not the best QB in the league right now, and if he has another strong performance against the Raiders, it could be a long night.

Have some ballance on offense. Run the ball well, but get Jamarcus Russell involved more into the game. He has to be given the chance early on to make some passes, unless the running game is tearing it up. If thats the case, why pass? Pound the ball on the ground, until it stops working. Soon enough, we are going to need to know what we have for a QB, and at WR.

Win the special teams battle. Our special teams are doing a great job thus far, but it has to continue. Field position will be key in this game.

The spread on this game is high for the Charger, and anyone in the betting world should really concider taking the Raiders against the spread. They are starting to play some good football, and even though they may not win, I see them keeping it close.

There are a lot of injuries that the Raiders are dealing with, so our backups are going to need to step it up. Among the players that could be out, or at the very least, not 100%

Nnamdi Asomugha, Cooper Carlisle, Justin Fargas, Ben Troupe, Seth Wand, Gerard Warren, Derrick Burgess, Darren McFadden, and Stanford Routt.

Not a nice list to see, but only Fargas and Warren are expected not to play.

This is a home game, and having another home loss will really hurt, so expect this team to come out flying. The Raiders aren’t being given much love in this one, as they didn’t against the Bills, so don’t put much stock in that. This team is going to be fine, and we might just win this one.

With that said, I took the raiders against the spread, but the Chargers straight up.

Lets hope we can win this one for Kiffin! If he’s going out, he might as well go out with a win!

For further info on this game, and the Chargers perspective, check out Brandon Campbell’s latest blog. Its a great read, with lots of interesting stats. For your post game blog, and more info on the Kiffin saga, stay tuned, as I will be back for some more.

Now on to week #4 picks. I currently sit at 30-17 straight up, and 30-17 against the spread, which you can check out under Kevin Lee’s blog “NFL contest…”

SF @ NO; LEE’S PICK, NO

HOU @ JAC; LEE’S PICK, JAC

CLE @ CIN; LEE’S PICK, CIN

ATL @ CAR; LEE’S PICK, CAR

ARI @ NYJ; LEE’S PICK, ARI

MIN @ TEN; LEE’S PICK, TEN

DEN @ KC; LEE’S PICK, DEN

GB @ TB; LEE’S PICK, GB

SD @ OAK; LEE’S PICK, SD

BUF @ STL; LEE’S PICK, BUF

WAS @ DAL; LEE’S PICK, DAL

PHI @ CHI; LEE’S PICK, PHI

BAL @ PIT; LEE’S PICK, PIT

TREMBLAY