“He’s going to gut the place.”
Those were Hue Jackson’s parting words as he was relieved of coaching duties with the Oakland Raiders. With “he” referring to new GM Reggie McKenzie, the harsh words were received with mixed reactions.
Despite a disappointing end to the season, the general consensus had been that Jackson did an admirable job with the team that was hand-picked for him. That’s why it was a bit shocking to the football world when he got the boot from the new sheriff in town leading many to question what is going to be the new direction for the Silver and Black.
But then as the media and fans over-analyzed the situation, the elephant in the room was finally acknowledged: Al Davis is no longer around. It’s time to finally move this team into the 21st century, and that starts with expunging the organization of Davis remnants.
While he had many, many glory years with the team that will never be forgotten, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who won’t say his final 10 years weren’t so glorious. If you don’t think so, then you’re either an Al Davis apologist, never watched football in your life, or a Davis relative. Either way, you’re wrong.
With Al gone, McKenzie was left with a bear of a task at hand. In order to get the ball rolling, he had to first hire a head coach to fill the vacancy. Enter Dennis Allen.
Both sides could make a decent argument for why or why not Allen is an “Al Davis guy.” On one hand, he’s a young, undiscovered yet highly touted coaching prospect, and Al always prided himself on finding young coaching gems (Madden, Gruden, Kiff — well, let’s just not go there). He even had his eye on Sean Payton to fill a vacancy one year, but Payton wisely declined. Al’s rebellious personality would never let anyone tell him who was the right coaching fit for his team, so researching and hiring a coach on his own was never a responsibility he would let anyone else have. That was his.
On the other hand, Allen is a defensive coach, a staunch one at that. The last defensive coach Al hired was Madden, but that was over 30 years ago.
Allen wants to hire his own staff. Al would never let that happen.
Allen wants to have a say in the selection of player personnel. Al’s motto of “Speed first. Football second. Discipline? What’s that?” probably would clash with Allen’s philosophy.
Allen likes to blitz. Al’s high confidence in his secondary convinced him that blitzes were not necessary.
And we’re led to the release of Stanford Routt…
Next Page: Change is painful but necessary
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