Tom Cable acknowledged the obvious today when he admitted that the Oakland Raiders have zero leadership on offense. That goes a long way to explain their complete inability to find the end zone or even create significant yardage. This revelation further erodes the confidence in JaMarcus Russell to live up to his status as a number one pick in the draft. It also begs the question of what is really going on when they are creating the rosters in Alameda.
(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
Leadership is critical to any unit on a football team. It was never so obvious as the change when Rich Gannon replaced Jeff George as the quarterback after the 1998 season. Under Gannon, the Raiders won the AFC West three out of four years, before he succumbed to injuries that would ultimately derail his career. In Gannon's last full season at quarterback the Raiders won the AFC West with an 11-5 record and an AFC Championship bid. Since then the Raiders have faced an implosion of epic proportions.
As it stands seven years later, the Raiders are completely inept offensively due to a complete lack of leadership.
Tom Cable acknowledged the lack of leadership today, "I don't feel like [the offense] has [developed vocal leaders]. I feel like that's one of the things we're up against here, trying to do that. And everyone's so worried about trying to be the one that makes the play to get it going. And really it's just relaxing, playing ball like you've always done. And I think leadership comes out of those guys who can handle this situation, handle the pressure of trying to get the ball across the goal line. And it'll show up. It'll come."
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The problem is that it appears that there is no one on the offense who can 'handle the situation.' If there was going to be leaders standing up, they would have done before the Raiders turned in their fourth straight sub 200 yard offensive performance. Since the quarterback is the leader of the offense, it would fall on JaMarcus Russell's shoulders to raise the level of the team around him. This has not been the case. It wasn't long ago that Russell extolled the virtues of thrown the ball away on third down to let "All World" punter Shane Lechler kick the ball away.
Despite Cable's concern about no vocal leaders, he doesn't need to be a vocal leader, "I don't know that being a vocal leader has anything to do with leadership. I think it's more, you know, how you carry yourself, how you present yourself. Your play. Your work ethic. All those things. So, to me, it never has been, for a leader, about, what he says; it's more about the example he puts out there every day. Whether it's game day, practice, off day, whatever."
However, with the words coming out about Russell's work ethic or lack thereof, it reinforces the complete lack of direction of the offense. Without leaders, this offense is doomed to continue to circle the drain. Somewhere, Tom Walsh is smiling.
You can also find Patrick Patterson on Thoughts from the Dark Side.
Comments
Tim Tebow.
I was thinking the same thing last night. Tim Tebow is a leader, I don't know how well he'll do in the NFL but he'll bring work ethic and leadership. Something this team definately needs. Let's get TEBOW
We don't need Tebow or any other big name first round Qb. What we need is an offensive line. Lets get the trenches fixed first then we can worry about a Qb. Cut Russell next year and draft linemen, offense and defense. That is what the difference is between the Successful Raider team and this one. The Raiders used to be big and powerful, a match for any team they met in the trenches. Now they are as good as other teams backups ...maybe.
I agree with rdr fan....let's work on the lines, like we should have done last year. WR's, and QB's will always be there...so many teams have GREAT backups that they would trade. When's the last time we had a scary Linebacker? Let's grab one of those too!
Tebow is probably not going to be a quarterback in the nfl. Please do not draft a QB in the first 5 rounds, we're just not good at it. There are tons of QBS in the league that we can get to come in (for somewhat cheap) and help turn things around al a Rich Gannon. We just need to do it like we did. Find a coach with a good system get a QB with a skill set to operate it, and draft O and D line. I like Gioanni"s idera of a nasty Linebacker as well. You would never see a Ray Lewis team get gorged by the run like we have. Sucks we are going through a total rebuild now. If we would have done it right 5 years ago we would be back on top by now.
Oh yea. The coach should be somewhat of a disiplinarian and the Qb has to have some kind of leadership ability.
Its Cable's job to put the best players on the field & win. If he says there's no leaders, what the heck has been doing? Sounds to me like he's begging to be fired. This joke of a franchise needs to be blown up and begun all over. Davis is a joke!
I love how Al Davis overpays for Tommy Kelly, Jamarcus Russell, Javon Walker, Heywood Bey and all the rest of the underperforming reaches he made as draft picks. the best part is nobody is showing up at the gate. this is a refelction on Mr. Davis and has inability to be competitive or even interesting. I'm glad thestadium is not sold out - it hurts Davis in the pocket book. I say boycott the games until Davis sells. At the veryleast, the fan's voice will be heard. Whether Davis is smart enoughto do anything about it is another story.
I agree boycott the raiders until their better or worth paying the cost of the ticket. Davis is done- he should salvage whatever legacy is left.
Here we go again blaming Al for the lack of effort being put out by the players. It's up to the players to get themsleves and teammmates ready to play. There is alot of talent on this team. But if no one wants to stand up and take control the ship sinks. Coaches have a hand at getting these guys ready to play. How can you go into a division game and not be fired up? If you ask any GM they would have taken JRuss in the frist round also. But the blame where it needs to be and thats the players and coaches.
New Mexico Rdr .. what r u smoking? THere is no disputng Davis has no skills is assessing talent. Davis is a loser - no one has lost more over the past 10 seasons
The Raiders are in trouble. They have 1 Offensive lineman (Robert Gallery) worthy of starting in the NFL, No Quarterback on the roster worthy of starting, 1 Running back worthy to carry the load (Michael Bush) possibly 1 reciever who never is allowed to play (Javon Walker), Tight End is the only offensive strenght on the team. The Defense is built very strange there is 1-descent DLineman Richard Seymour (precious 1st rd pick gone) 1 halfway descent linebacker (Thomas Howard) all the linebackers seem to fall back in to coverage with ball snapped, very strange, Namdi and Chris Johnson awesome rest of backfield still developing. Al Davis always drafts for that 1 player who can fill the last remaining need on the team who has the speed he loves. This team is 15-20 starters away from smelling a superbowl. We have had 3 coaches worth their salt John Madden, Tom Flores, Jon Gruden. It will take 7-10 years of really good drafting to compete with the really good NFL teams. Just my opinion
Well, I think Al Davis' dementia has finally kicked in! He probably thinks he coaching a high school scrimmage game each we play because he keeps letting loser rookies play for the commitment to misery. What about Javon Walker, Gradkowski, and Bush as starters????? Even McFadden is a waste because he keeps fumbling the ball and can't break it up the middle! Right now we've got one rookie who is holding his own and that is Murphy.
I am so sick and tired of seeing Davis undermine this team and then blame everyone esle for his micro-managing the team! Whatever happened to the GM he promised us this year?? No wonder no coaches, worth anything or players, unless Al pays mega-bucks wants to play for us!
What about no blitzes, and no zone coverage? When is Davis going to pull his head out of the sand and quit living in the 70's. How about turning the team over to the coaches and let's see what happens. Al yo've had 6 years and it's getting worse!
Right now the Raiders offense is in a sorry state. Leadership is paramount for this offense. Raidernation, lets remember who was the vocal leader of the Cowboys in the 90's. Michael Irwin refused to lose. I see some of that winning passion in Lou Murphy. JaMarcus has to find a way to get Lou Murphy and Zach Miller the ball. Michael Bush and Justin Fargas should run the ball. The core of this problem is JaMarcus and the offensive line. JaMarcus is to laid back and has to start being vocal to his offensive group. I only hope what happened in the Giants game, gave this offensive group an embarrassing wake up call!
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