Everyone knew a new coach and new systems might take some time to implement, but few could have imagined the result would be as poor as it has been.Well, on Thursday, the Oakland Raiders offensive and defensive coordinators started pandering for their jobs.The news broke through the Twitter account of Steve Corkran, a contributor to the Contra Costa Times and the Bay Area News Group.The first:
Off. coord. Greg Knapp said it takes at least a year for players to learn and function well in his system. Said it will show next year.
— Steve Corkran (@CorkOnTheNFL) December 14, 2012
And then, just ...
General Manager Reggie McKenzie was hired to bring stability to the Oakland Raiders. The idea was to start fresh and stabilize a team that was in a constant state of change over the past decade.McKenzie hired a new coaching staff, completely revamped the scouting department and began remaking the roster. The personnel would need to change, but the idea was that the rest would be stable. It’s now clear that not every hire McKenzie made was a good one and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp should be fired at the end of the season. It’s not preferable to change offensive coordinators ...
It was a big day in Major League Baseball today, and it indirectly affects the team I'm writing about. The top free agent in the game (Josh Hamilton, if you didn't know) signed a five year, $125 million contract to join the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. What this does is increase the rivalry between the power teams of the American League West: The Angels and Hamilton's former team, the Texas Rangers. This stokes the fire for what should be a compelling 2013 race...uh wait?The only problem with this sweeping narrative is that neither the Rangers nor the Angels won the ...
Alright, so it's a dream scenario, and one that is (almost) never financially possible. But in a sense this space is designed for dreaming.So imagine this setting: the Oakland Raiders have the opportunity to cut anyone they want without any sort of financial ramifications. Any players they want to keep would need to be retained at their current price.For replacements, Oakland would need to scour the free agent market and the draft (using its actual salary cap and draft picks). So it's not like they could cut Carson Palmer and sign Tom Brady—their ...
Oakland Raiders running back Darren McFadden returned last week following a four-game hiatus with 64 total yards and a touchdown. He tweaked his ankle, but escaped without seriously re-injuring it. Should you roll with Run DMC in Week 15 against the Kansas City Chiefs?Fortunately, McFadden played last week on Thursday Night Football, which gave his ankle extra time to heal for this week's AFC West showdown.Given McFadden's injury history, you'll have to keep tabs on the Raiders' practices to make sure he doesn't come up lame. If he is a go this week, he should be a rock-solid option.For starters, ...
The Arizona Diamondbacks solidified their starting rotation this week with the addition of former Oakland Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy. McCarthy, the Opening Day starter for Oakland in 2012, was plagued by injuries throughout the season, which ultimately came to an end after being struck in the head by a line drive against the Angels in September. A 29-year-old journeyman, McCarthy found his niche as a starter in Oakland. Over two seasons with the A’s, McCarthy posted a 3.29 ERA and 196 strikeouts. Without McCarthy, the A’s rotation is still one that is both strong and young. In 2012, the Oakland ...
The 2012 Oakland Raiders have been a complete failure. The running game has gone from good to terrible, the passing game is only good when the team is down three scores and the defense is making fans long for the days when Chuck Bresnahan was the defensive coordinator.The Raiders are a meager 3-10 and it’s hard to call this a progress report at all. Two of Oakland’s wins came against the Chiefs and Jaguars, which are the only two teams with fewer wins than the Raiders. The Raiders get to play the Chiefs for a second time on Sunday at ...
If there’s one thing we learned through Sunday night’s six-player trade between the Kansas City Royals and Tampa Bay Rays, it’s that Royals GM Dayton Moore really, really wanted James Shields.Although he ultimately got his man—as well as Wade Davis—it came at the steep price of top prospect Wil Myers, top pitching prospect Jake Odorizzi, former top pitching prospect Mike Montgomery, and 20-year-old third baseman Patrick Leonard, who’s far less notable relative to the aforementioned players. Before Moore ultimately traded away a healthy chunk of the team’s future, there were ongoing rumors that he was pushing for a straight trade ...
The Oakland Raiders are finishing up a disappointing 2012 season. New coach Dennis Allen has a team that lacks talent on defense, an offensive coordinator trying in vain to run a West Coast-style offense and a fifth-year running back that has yet to stay healthy for a full 16-game season. Oakland Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie is already looking towards the offseason, and here are three changes the Oakland Raiders organization must make in 2013.Begin Slideshow
The Oakland Raiders drafted Rolando McClain No. 8 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft to help shore up a porous run defense. As a top pick at middle linebacker, McClain would also be expected to be solid in pass coverage so he could play on three downs. McClain was big, strong and smart—he had the whole package. McClain was supposed to make an immediate and significant impact on the field for the Raiders. McClain was the anti-JaMarcus Russell and he was supposed to be the defensive leader that he was at Alabama. Unfortunately everything the Raiders needed McClain to be, ...