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Why Al Davis Is A Bad Owner

The firing of Lane Kiffin as head coach of the Oakland Raiders is hardly unexpected. But I really didn’t expect Al Davis, the owner, to hold that press conference, following the firing, to assassinate Kiffin’s character publicly.

A lot of people have criticisms of Davis, many of them valid; e.g., he’s running his franchise into the ground, he’s out of touch with the modern game, he’s old and ugly. Some claim Davis is unbalanced, but his press conference certainly should have dispelled that notion.

Davis is entirely lucid. Which makes what he did during that press conference all the worse. No matter how much you hate an employee, you don’t throw him under the bus. You sever ties and that’s it. Any time you say something negative about an employee or business partner in public, you’re making yourself look bad, not the other guy.

Davis’s manifest complaints about Kiffin may prove true. It may well be that firing Kiffin was the right thing to do. But for a 79-year-old businessman to act so childish — effectively, pinching pennies by not paying Kiffin’s outstanding $2 million salary, and badmouthing someone he had ample opportunity to vet before hiring him — speaks far more about Davis than it does Kiffin.

(I recognize that to most people, $2 million is a lot of money. The franchise, however, is worth nearly $900 million, in spite of being valued 31st of 32 teams by Forbes; $2 million to ensure the overall health of the franchise [since that's the reason Davis supplied for firing Kiffin] is nothing, taking into consideration how much the franchise is worth. Forbes also says the Raiders will generate an estimated $28 million in operating revenues this year; while $2 million is a sizable chunk of that, again, in relation to ensuring the health of the organization, it’s nothing.)

There’s a reason Kiffin was hired: He was the best candidate willing to take the job.

There’s a reason Kiffin had been the fourth Raiders head coach since 2002: No coach was given the time and freedom needed to rebuild the franchise following the Super Bowl XXXVII loss and subsequent retirements. The kind of patience being show toward Herm Edwards, rejuvenating the Kansas City Chiefs, is what’s needed, but Davis is too impatient and meddles too much.

There’s a reason Rex Ryan, the Raiders’ defensive coordinator, wasn’t promoted to head coach after the firing: He doesn’t want the hot seat; not when he can cause all the problems but pay none of the penalties. (Fourth-quarter defensive collapses against the Bills and Chargers cost the Raiders two of their three losses.)

Only poorly run companies and the government lop off the head to cure the cancers eating away at the body. And only a buffoon would then spit that head on a pike at the front gate, because it only serves to warn potential replacements that their heads are next.

Scott Linehan Wasn’t The Only Problem in St. Louis, Either

I have considerably less compassion for Scott Linehan, who was fired as head coach of the St. Louis Rams the day before Kiffin was fired. But the Rams have more problems than the wrong coach.

The Rams don’t play football well. If you have the 30th ranked offense and 31st ranked defense, your team is truly awful, and most of the blame for that lays squarely at the feet of the coaches.

The median experience on the Rams is 5 years, so they can’t blame journeymen for the trouble; the woeful Browns are younger but not quite as bad.

The Rams can’t blame the salary cap, because they’re well under it; there’s plenty of money for free-agent hires (and there’s a better-than-even chance the cap will be gone in a couple years, anyway).

I would argue the Rams have the best (or, at least, most consistent and reliable, even if it hasn’t shown lately) quarterback in the NFC, Marc Bulger; one of the best receivers in the league, Torry Holt; one of the best (if given to injury) left tackles in Orlando Pace; one of the best (if given to injury and drunken driving) pass-rushing defensive ends in Leonard Little; and a dangerous (if given to holdouts and whining) running back in Steven Jackson.

Those five elements ought to make the Rams exceedingly competitive, especially considering they play in the worst division in the league, the NFC West (where a .500 team could wind up winning the division). However, they’re easily the worst team in the league; I look at their schedule and can’t see more than four wins.

Last year, injuries could easily account for the Rams’ poor performance. This year, the only thing beating the Rams so far is the Rams.

Linehan was responsible for the culture of his team. He’s responsible if talented people fail to perform up to their abilities, especially if they consistently fail to do so. Leadership is giving people a goal, explaining their roles in achieving that goal, giving them the tools to accomplish those roles and motivating them to perform the role as best they can. These are all absent in the Rams.

The question is whether Jim Haslett, promoted from defensive coordinator to replace Linehan, is going to be able to turn that around. I doubt it.

While head coach of the New Orleans Saints from 2000-2005, Haslett produced some potent offenses, even though he was saddled with Aaron Brooks at quarterback.

However, the Saints of the early 2000s had just as many problems stopping opponents from scoring as the Rams do now, and again, a lot of that falls at Haslett’s feet. I’d argue that Haslett has more talent on this Rams defense than he had at his disposal while head coach of the Saints, but he’s been defensive coordinator of the Rams for two years and they are clearly going backwards on defense.

That is a bad sign. I don’t necessarily believe that the Rams will go winless, but they are clearly not right between the ears, and the only way to fix that is the way the Falcons are doing it: a total purge.

Were Two Weeks Enough To Change The Culture In New England?

So I was wrong; the New England Patriots defense isn’t capable of keeping the score low. At least, they can’t if their opponents run the read option like some bunch of Patriot League college scrubs.

That Week 3 loss to Miami was a total embarrassment, and it, too, is mostly the fault of coaching. Seriously, defensive coordinator Dean Pees must have seen the option back at Kent State, and it wasn’t all that long ago he was head coach there.

Of course, Pees couldn’t stop woeful Mid-American Conference opponents from hammering the Golden Flashes every Saturday, either, so I suppose Miami’s beat-down shouldn’t have been a surprise.

The Patriots’ problems began on the second drive. Seven pass plays, three runs, which is the exact opposite of the ratio they should be using. Two sacks, followed by an interception at the Miami 18, and the game was over right then and there, with 6:20 left to play in the first quarter.

The Pats ran 19 times for 78 yards, thanks in large part to falling behind quickly. They threw 35 times for 137 yards, meaning the running game (4.1 yards per carry) was actually more productive than passing (3.4 yards per pass), a truly rare outcome.

Surely, coach Bill Belichick sees the light and has realized that the West Coast offense isn’t going to work, and he’s going to have to be able to control the clock in future games lest more ludicrous beat-downs like the one they got from the Dolphins be in the offing.

The Pats must run the football. I realize that Laurence Maroney and Lamont Jordan have significant difficulty remaining healthy. But they still have Heath Evans, Sammy Morris and Kevin Faulk. One or more of them must pick up the load, because Matt Cassel clearly cannot throw the ball more than 25 times a game, especially if pressure is coming up the middle.

The Patriots must keep their offense on the field — the defense proved two weeks ago that it lacks both speed and stamina — but Cassel can’t be trusted to see around a zone. That means running and lots of it.

Again, I know that power running is not Patriots football: They aren’t built to do it and don’t have the “thunder and lightning” backs generally required to run the ball 40+ times a game.

But they better find a way. Even though the schedule is weak on paper, it’s clear that the Patriots could actually wind up fourth in the division unless they can keep time of possession at least even, if not significantly to their advantage.

All the links in this article at del.icio.us: http://delicious.com/dhvrm/nfl_week_4_2008