Brief football post here, just for the hell of it. In the wake of the Raiders' ridiculous collapse against the lowly Cleveland Browns, in which an 18-point lead was handed back throughout the last three turgid quarters of the game, some sort of post-mortem may be helpful. We might even draw some broader analogies if we're so inclined.
The Raiders are failing in almost every way possible, both on and off the field. Experienced receivers are not helping their new starter at quarterback, inexcuseably droppping easy-money passes, blocking poorly, and not fighting for even overthrown balls to prevent interceptions. Yesterday's game was the first in which the Raiders found their dormant running game, breaking both Lamont Jordan and Justin Fargas open for large gains. This should have been a signal to the coaching staff to stick with the running game, and use second-year QB Andrew Walter in much the same way the Pittsburgh Steelers use Ben Roethlisberger, sparingly and with high-efficiency medium gain pass plays.
Ultimately, the primary fault in letting Cleveland back in the game lies with the kickoff coverage teams, which allowed three huge returns to establish excellent field position. But the run defense also allowed a running back with a bum shoulder to gain 100 yards, when the team's average had been only 60 yards per game. Pass coverage also miserably failed to cover high-profile malcontent tight end Kellen Winslow.
So it's a failure of strategy and imagination, but also of vision. The coaching staff, made up of an admirable team of old lions, has failed to adapt both tactically and strategically. As I mentioned, instead of helping Walter get his bearings with some short-to-medium plays designed to move the chains and control the clock, the Raiders insist on riding the vaunted vertical offense right over a cliff. It's sad, because that Air Coryell shit really does look pretty damned sweet when it works. But when it's all you've got, it's pretty easy to stop with modern defensive coverage schemes. You have to make adjustments and execute them soundly, and the coaches and players are doing neither.
Perhaps the biggest elephant in the room is WR Jerry Porter, who has been inactive all three games. Porter clashed immediately with new head coach Art Shell, and made sure to piss off Al Davis during training camp by parking in Davis' reserved space. Porter has agitated to be traded, but the team has already given him a $5 million signing bonus, which they will never recoup, which naturally inflates their desired trade value for Porter beyond what other teams are willing to part with. Even more stupidly, since we're talking poor talent management, the team dealt WR Doug Gabriel, a future superstar, to New England for a second-round pick and a sack of magic beans, knowing full well that with Porter's situation, the team needed every talented wide receiver it could hang on to. Gabriel is already becoming Tom Brady's favorite target, while Oakland languishes between Randy Moss dogging it every other play, and speedster Alvis Whitted (who never met a route he couldn't mis-run) in what should have been either Porter's or Gabriel's slot.
So what to do? Well, at this point the team may as well change its motto to "Wait Till Next Year". They are sucking in every facet of the game because Al Davis is a stubborn old fool who refuses to admit that the game has changed. It's no coincidence that the Raiders were the best team in the league when Jon Gruden coached them, and have been among the very worst since he and Davis clashed and Gruden went to Tampa Bay.
I suppose there's something to be learned here about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, or about refusing to acknowledge error and take corrective action, but some things are just to obvious to be reiterated.
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