Nov 19th 2008 9:25PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Eagles, Raiders, NFL FansI’m sure most NFL fans are sitting around tonight thinking to themselves, “hey, I wonder when Warren Sapp is going to say something crazy again?” What’s that you say? You’re not thinking that? Well, too bad, because he’s struck again.

Lately, Sapp has been spouting off all sorts of nonsense, from telling Oakland offensive tackle Kwame Harris he couldn’t block Sapp’s daughter, to calling his former teammate, Keyshawn Johnson, a “naughty word for a female dog.” And that’s when he’s not screaming in the general direction of Raiders owner Al Davis.

Well, apparently he crossed some sort of line when he went after Keyshawn, and Sapp’s mom didn’t exactly approve of her son’s potty mouth. From NFL.com’s Adam Schefter:”A week ago I took a shot at an old teammate of mine and I really felt like I crossed the line,” Sapp said. “My mother was watching that show and she gave me a buzz and said, ‘You know what, that’s wrong because you and that boy and the kids and all of your families have played together and won together and you’ve got to apologize.’Yeah, Warren, play nice with your friends.Continue Reading

Nov 17th 2008 10:57AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Jets, Raiders, NFL Media Watch, NFL Vide

Even the most knowledgeable of NFL fans have trouble explaining the way the league handles their broadcasting rules. You can show this game until this point, but not against a team playing at home, but not when a full moon is in the southern sky.

Usually the NFL only now cuts off the ending of a game when another game is coming on (even if it is on another channel). Forty years ago today, NBC decided to cut from switched off a Jets-Raiders AFL game to show the movie . The Raiders, who were trailing by three with 1:05 left in the game, scored 14 points and won the game. Everyone outside the Pacific Time Zone missed the comeback.

Several things came from this game.

Continue Reading

Nov 16th 2008 12:00PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, AFC West, NFL Fans, NFL Coaching, NFL RumorsI can’t envision a situation where someone of sound mind would agree to take the Raiders’ head coaching gig, given what’s happened since owner Al Davis fired Bill Callahan in 2003. We’ve seen Norv Turner, Art Shell, Lane Kiffin and now Tom Cable amass 17 wins in four-plus seasons. Staggering.

So maybe Oakland’s best hope is to find an eager, young, bright football mind, someone who would use the opportunity to get some experience, while changing the culture of losing in the process. You know, somebody like, say, Lane Kiffin.

Or maybe not. The ‘ Gary Myers has a suggestion: Former Giants coach Jim Fassel fits the profile to be the Raiders’ next head coach: He wants to coach again. After the Lane Kiffin disaster, Al Davis is not going to hire another coach barely out of diapers. The hot assistants are not going to want that land mine as their first NFL head coaching job. So that leaves the recycled coaches. Myers points out that Fassel lost out to Herm Edwards in Kansas City, Scott Linehan in St. Louis and Kiffin in Oakland, which raises more questions than it answers, I think. Fassel, who took the Giants to the Super Bowl in 2000, couldn’t beat out three guys who have subsequently run their respective teams into the ground, and two of them have already been fired?Continue Reading

Nov 15th 2008 12:35PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Dolphins, RaidersFormer defensive tackle Warren Sapp has never been at a loss for words, especially when Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders are the topic of discussion. If you’ll recall, earlier this season Sapp fired his first shot at his former team when he told us that, pretty much, they were going to suck.

A few weeks later, when the Davis vs. Lane Kiffin saga was just about to hit its peak, Sapp reminded the 80-something-year-old Raiders owner that Cliff Branch wasn’t ready to step out onto the field and haul in bombs from Jim Plunkett. Beyond that, he’s also voiced his displeasure for the Dolphins’ wildcat offense, and informed the football-watching public that he isn’t exactly a fan of Keyshawn Johnson.

Who’s next on Sapp’s agenda? Starting left tackle Kwame Harris, naturally. From Mike Florio at PFT, quoting Sapp on his WQAM radio spot in Miami:Continue Reading

Nov 15th 2008 1:15PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, AFC West, NFL FansHere’s the deal: two big-name, offseason free-agent acquisitions, cornerback DeAngelo Hall and wide receiver Javon Walker, are no longer available to facilitate the team’s decent into repugnation (just made that one up, but it seems oddly fitting). Hall, and his seven-year, $70 million contract have been jettisoned, and Walker declared his 2008 season over because of a bad ankle.

(Gretz punched some numbers into his old schoool TI-35 and figures that, given Walker’s set to make $12 million this year, he’s pulling down $800,000 per catch. Splendid.)

It gets worse, though. The Raiders are not only out $20 million in actual dollars for the 16 games played by DeAngelo Hall and Javon Walker, but will also see both players take up a good chunk of salary cap space in 2009.

With Hall having been waived, the Raiders will have $5.833,334 in “dead money” under the 2009 cap, according to league figures. Furthermore, according to the ’s Jerry McDonald, Walker’s contract virtually guarantees the team will have to pay him a $5 million bonus despite his injury. McDonald continued bearing bad news: “Should Oakland pay the guarantee as stipulated and then cut Walker, the 2009 cap charge $14,166,667 to terminate the relationship. Combined with the Hall dead money, that’s $20 million in dead money.”

I think NFL commissioner Roger Goodell should give the Raiders an uncapped 2009 just to see if it would make a difference. Given this, I’d wager no, but some sort of cost-of-doing-business-with-Al Davis salary adjustment doesn’t seem unreasonable.

Nov 13th 2008 7:30PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, NFL InjuriesJavon Walker has been, pretty much, a tremendous failure for crazy Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders this year, hauling in only 15 passes through the teams first nine games of the season. And at $12 million dollars this year, that’s only $800,000 per catch. And that one touchdown? Yeah, that cost $12 million.

All of that aside, Walker suffered an ankle injury in this past Sunday’s 17-6 loss to the Panthers, which saw the Raiders unable to take advantage of four Jake Delhomme interceptions. It was a performance that ultimately led to Davis making his offensive coordinator a glorified fan for the remainder of the season.

So, how bad is Walker’s injury? According to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, bad enough to end his season, and perhaps, his tenure as a Raider.Continue Reading

Nov 11th 2008 1:30PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, Redskins, AFC West, NFC EastThe Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg caught up with the newest Redskins player, DeAngelo Hall, and we finally learn why the self-proclaimed* “Fastest Man in the NFL” got run out of Oakland after just two months. Shockingly, it had nothing to do with his inability to shut up long enough to actually cover somebody. Weird. “It wasn’t so much that it didn’t work. Al Davis is a great guy, he’s an honest guy, and what he told me was, ‘We’re not as good as I thought we were as a team, so we need to try to clear up some [cap] room.’ Obviously I was the last guy to come in. That’s just the kind of person he is. He’s a very honest, straightforward, to-the-point kind of person, and he said I was the last one to come so I was the first one to go. He’s a stand-up guy, he’s very true to his players and that’s what makes him so likable in this league.” First, it’s hard to take somebody seriously when they begin with “Al Davis is a great guy.” Maybe he is, but his current reign of terror and not-so-great-guy organizational decisions suggest otherwise. Second — and Steinberg points this out — Hall was the first cut because he was the last player to join the team?

That’s how it works in Oakland? Does this mean Darren McFadden could be out of work in the near future?Continue Reading

Nov 11th 2008 3:00PM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, AFC WestWhen your team has scored 16 points in its previous three games, I suppose you have to do something different to light a fire under your players. And that’s exactly what Oakland head coach Tom Cable has done, as he’s stripped offensive coordinator Greg Knapp of his play calling duties. Well, that’s certainly something, but how much it will help remains to be seen.

I believe this is where you can insert some comment about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

From Steve Corkran of the Oakland Tribune (via MDS at PFT):Knapp was stripped of his play-calling responsibility last week and told that he won’t be used in that capacity for the rest of the season, a person in the front office said Monday. Raiders coach Tom Cable presumably is in charge of the play-calling. However, he made no mention of the switch at any point last week, after Sunday’s game against the Carolina Panthers or in his weekly news conference Monday.Continue Reading

Nov 12th 2008 10:15AM by Adam Gretz (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, AFC WestRaise your hand if you didn’t see this one coming. So, yesterday, I talked about how Raiders coach Tom Cable, presumably unhappy with his team not scoring any points, decided to take away offensive coordinator Greg Knapp’s ability to call plays.

Well, as it turns out, the story was only half-right. It’s true Knapp is no longer able to call plays, which is probably a good thing based on recent results, but it wasn’t Cable who stripped him of the ability.

It was Al Davis! From Nancy Gay of the :”Knapp just happened to be the next in line to be a scapegoat,” said one source, speaking on the condition of anonymity but eager to clarify who stripped the play-calling duties from the offensive coordinator. Under Davis’ orders, Knapp had been calling plays since shortly before head coach Lane Kiffin was dismissed Sept. 30.Oh, Al. Everything else remains the same, of course, deck chairs and what not. And I feel the need to point it out again, but, Jim Harbaugh … stay away! Far away!

Nov 10th 2008 12:35PM by Ryan Wilson (author feed)
Filed under: Raiders, RedskinsBy most accounts, DeAngelo Hall is a loud-mouthed jerk, and not only that, he’s awful at his job.

Apparently, neither mattered to Al Davis, who traded a second- and fifth-round pick to acquire Hall, and then signed him to a seven-year, $70 million contract.

That lasted eight weeks, which, generally, is how long it takes the blatantly obvious to dawn on the Raiders organization. Davis kindly sent Hall on his way, but not before having to pay him $8 million for one being the NFL’s worst cornerback. I’m not exaggerating. Just ask the all-knowing Peter King:Continue Reading