Burden Of Proof: The Worm In The Apple

An Essay by GG Eden of Australia/America

When the Raiders were most successful, three things stood out:

1) Al Davis had a football mind working alongside him in a GM-like and/or scouting capacity.

2) Davis wasn't surrounded by yes-men, was open to being challenged, and was able to take a back seat to their X&O principles/ideas.

3) It was during an era of post-war football when the tactical side of the game was still fairly new. It was all about man vs. man, pure athleticism, and sheer toughness.

At some point during the 1980's to early 1990's, those three things started to change. As football, became more complex and evolved, Davis refused to adapt in business practices and football philosophies. Davis instead tightened his control and surrounded himself with people who did not challenge him. This approach will always only be a recipe for disaster, whether it's in life, business, politics, or sport.

This began a decade-plus stretch of mediocrity, and the onset of multiple coaching changes. Broken up by a brief return to pre-eminent days when Bruce Allen was "GM" and a true X&O disciplinarian coach (Jon Gruden) had more influence in the football department.

Davis pushed these types away and tightened even more control. This began an even worse decade of more multiple coaching changes, poor scouting, inflexible football philosophy, and ever-embarrassing PR/administration incidents. All resulting in a downward spiral to become the laughing stock of American pro-sports, both on and off-field.

But the delusion, false advertising, and empty platitudes continue with annual talk of returning the Raiders to greatness, 'team of the decades', 'commitment to excellence', even prematurely describing a dispassionate and struggling rookie QB as "great". All this to continue pulling the wool over fans' eyes, keep them buying tickets and merchandise. Don't think, don't complain.

It's all recorded in history. There is a litany of proof that Al Davis' scouting, football decisions/philosophies, and business practices have resulted in a laughing stock organization.

It's worth analyzing the two facets of an NFL franchise.

Business Facet:
To hell with the fans who financially and spiritually contribute to the organization. Irrespective of what the fans want, Davis' perception of the Raiders is that it's a boy in a bubble; a play-thing for his amusement. Like a hobby for an old retiree who has nothing else to do with his time. There is no accountability or duty at his end toward the fans. Nothing is owed to them. They are meant to just buy the product and digest it no matter how bad it tastes. This kind of ruthless and indifferent thinking is antiquated.

The way the current state of the organization is headed, with constant blackouts, ever-increasing anti-Davis sentiments from Raider Nation, and the inability of the City of Oakland to fund a new stadium, it leaves yet again a perfect escape-clause to trade-in the NorCal fans/money for the SoCal fans/money. As though the current fan rebellion is the cause not the effect, and would validate a decision to relocate when really it's the reverse. The product on the field is the cause for the fans outrage and rebellion.

Football Facet:

Structure
Firstly, it's worth noting that Al Davis as commissioner of the AFL was in charge of the war to bring players over to the AFL from the NFL. He's thus always been a player's owner, over-paying for talent that doesn't merit such rewards. Sometimes you have to over-pay, but the open checkbook policy as a fishing net is going to catch a lot of over-priced sardines too.

Secondly, Davis has set up a structure in the Raiders where the players can mail it in and ignore the head coach without reproach from ownership. There’s disarray and confusion among staff/coaches/players. Head coaches can't make football decisions; the organization is a daily soap-opera of in-fighting and dysfunction.

Davis must think he’s Paul Brown. But Paul Brown was a literal football god. Davis is just a hard-nosed businessman who fell into football as a way to make money. His grasp of football is superficial.

Compare actual X&O students/teachers and cutting-edge scouts to Al Davis. The HC's/GM's out there like Bill Polian, Bill Parcells, Ozzie Newsome, Rex Ryan, Mike Holmgren, Bill Belichick, etc, understand football at a deeper level than Davis, and have a far keener eye for football talent.

Teams like Indianapolis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, New England, and Philadelphia are doing consistently well because A) they have an owner who keeps his nose out of football, B) they have a GM and HC who are the football think-tank, C) they draft and acquire intelligently, D) their actual playbooks are modernized, incorporating many required complexities of the ever-evolving pro-football game.

Some of these similar teams in Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, may not win a Superbowl this year or in ten years. But the point is that they operate with the kind of structure that is needed today. Them not winning a Superbowl would not validate Al Davis' 1970's/80's Superbowl winning methods.

One of the best organizations in Davis' era was the Cowboys owned by Murchison. He kept his nose in the money side, had Schramm as GM and Landry as HC, with Brandt in scouting. They were able to hold that structure in place for many years enabling the Cowboys to become a winning team thru that period.

Naturally, you have to hire the right GM and HC, to find the right chemistry. If you hire bad or inexperienced ones like Dominik in Tampa Bay or Millen in Detroit, then it's going to handicap the franchise too. But the important thing is putting in place a structure that fosters accountability and meets the demands of modern football success.

NFL franchises today have grown enormously compared to 20 or 30 years ago---the amount of staff required, the whole engine room operation and marketing/business side of it.

We're all for mom and pop stores in the modern world of tasteless corporations. But you can also go too far the old school way, fail to adapt, and wither on the vine of football relevance.

Davis isn't bigger than the Raiders. All the Raiders success was achieved with great input and influence from hundreds of players, administrators, scouts, and coaches. Not this false notion of “one man”.

Scouting

Davis reminds one of a horse-racing gambler. He falls in love with specimens, or likes the name of a horse, or a horse reminds him of some other past horse as the driving force of which horses he bets on.

Any GM/HC who neglects drafting and pumping young Offensive/Defensive Linemen and Linebackers thru the roster annually to increase their standard, has little understanding of football. Davis’ track-record in the last 20 years is evidence of that. Many gripe about how poor the Raiders OL/DL/LB are, citing it as reasons for our Offensive and Rush-Defensive woes in order to deflect blame away from Davis. When really that is something he has willfully neglected for so many years.

Sure, you need athletes in the NFL. It’s only getting faster, stronger, and taller every season. But Davis annually drafts the prospect with more athleticism than football skill. This is relevant to the tactical side of football because Davis' antiquated Air Coryell over-dependence makes him value a QB purely for his big arm, not his football acumen, leadership, intangibles. This makes him value a WR purely for his speed. Compare Sean Payton's complex modernized X&O playbook to Davis' over-simplified Air Coryell philosophy.This system requires/values purely a big arm and overpays $40m guaranteed for that raw physicality even when all the warning signs of that player's limitations and problems were clearly evident pre-draft.

Tactics

Davis has always needed X&O head coaches to make his teams good.

Davis' "coaching" resume is very thin. Back in the day when you dropped back 7, threw the ball downfield, and used minimal blitz/all-man coverage. It was a time when it was all about athletes and physicality.

Football hasn't changed so much that this tactic as a variety won’t work. But as a bread and butter it's antiquated because football has evolved. Despite the increase in athletic prowess the game has far more tactical layers today than in the past.

We've seen an evolution of specialist players, formations (offensive and defensive); and with rule changes making the game softer and more pass-happy, there are more wrinkles now. Introduction of the 3-4, continued evolution of the 3-4, the spread, WCO, wildcat, motions and fake blitz techniques, etc.

Even if you run a very simple philosophy, you still need a structure in place that holds all accountable---players, coaches and GMs. That disciplines players. That gives the HC power to authorize personnel changes, depth chart changes, and tactical/philosophical adjustments/adaptations.

In Conclusion:
It is highly illogical and wrong for Davis to continually fire head coaches hired to do his deeds, to be puppets to his X&O desires, to handicap them with players they did not want drafted, and not hold himself accountable. He needs to sell the team or step aside from the GM/coaching side of it.

The problem is that Al Davis is a megalomaniac and seemingly can’t live with other people getting credit for success the Raiders achieve. This is very childish. He holds his own on-field product at the gunpoint of mediocrity and embarrassment rather than appear wrong or as "just" an owner.

Al Davis can window-dress it with annual talk of returning the Raiders to greatness and empty platitudes like 'team of the decades' or 'commitment to excellence', but it rings hollow when he refuses to restructure and adapt to meet the modern demands of excellence.

I was one who was an Al-apologist and backed him post-Gruden. I gave him a year or two to get the situation sorted out. Then out of weakness of tolerance, I gave him another year or two. But now, after 7 years of embarrassment on and off-field there is proof in the pudding. You can go even further back and see a litany of evidence in the last twenty years that highlights the worm in the apple of the Raiders organization.

There’s a difference between hearing and listening. Between looking and seeing. Many of the fans are still deluded or still too tolerant.

If you hire a group of blind people as architects, you can't then berate them for being incapable of drawing diagrams. Look to the boss who continually hires cheap, untalented linemen and linebackers.

The root of all this is Al Davis’ structure and philosophy.

Davis has strangled the life out of this organization. It’s time for a breath of fresh air.