Oakland Raiders need a heart transplant

October 28, 12:29 AMOakland Raiders ExaminerPatrick Patterson

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The Oakland Raiders are a team in dire straits. There is no need to reproduce the win-loss record that is haunting the Raider Nation. It is starting to seem like the losing is bothering the fans more than it is bothering the team, and that is a huge problem. The Raiders did not just lose their last game to the Ravens, they were thoroughly abused all game, but that did not stop Raider players from "having a good time" and celebrating throughout the game.

Pride and Poise
Before the slogans "commitment to excellence" or "just win, baby" there was "pride and poise." When Al Davis was first hired as a head coach in 1963 the Raiders were a joke of a franchise. The first thing he brought to the table was the concept of "Pride and Poise" meaning that regardless of whether things are going good or bad, his players were to play their absolute best.

With pride and poise, the Raiders immediately started winning. In Davis's first year as a head coach the Raiders had the single greatest single season turnaround ever. It seems that this year's incarnation of the Raiders misses the concept of playing with pride. In fact, there were times where it seemed like the Raiders yesterday were going through the motions having already given up on the idea of winning the game.

Just Win, Baby
The most well known of all the mantras that Al Davis brought to the Raiders is "Just Win, Baby." Once upon a time, that's all the Raiders did was win. These days, the wins have been few and far between. When linebacker Thomas Howard was questioned about his celebrating a tackle despite being well behind late in the game he said:

"I'm having fun. That's how I play. If we're up 30 or down 30, I'm going to give you what I am. I don't care what (fans) think. I love playing the game. You can't tell me I can't have fun if we're up 30 or down 30. It's what the game's all about."

The Raider Nation sure wasn't having fun watching that defense miss tackles and blow assignments whilst letting the Baltimore Ravens move the ball up and down the field. When the goal of the team is to win, and that goal is well out of reach, what is to be having fun?

Cam Inman of the Contra Costa Times says that the Raiders need a leader on defense. This echoes a post written on Thoughts from the Dark Side on October 7, 2008:

Al Davis is known for loathing disciplinarians as coaches. He believes that it is important for the locker room to police itself. Once upon a time that idea worked perfectly. The Raiders had their zany characters, but the core of the team was the solid vets with names like Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, and Art Shell. The guys could do what they liked away from the practice field, but once it came time to suit up, even the heartiest partiers went to work. The key to the success of the Raiders was the locker room leadership. In a more recent time, it worked once again as leaders like Tim Brown, Rich Gannon, and Jerry Rice kept the team together despite the lack of discipline from the top. Today's Raiders do not have those leaders, and that is reflected in the current doldrums in which the Raiders reside.

Apparently, someone has to step up to these guys and get them to realize that the most important thing is the team and winning. Apparently Howard believes in the old adage that its not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. Well, the Raiders need the ghost of Vince Lombardi to show up to remind these guys:

Winning is not everything, its the only thing.

DeAngelo Hall, who has been improving his game of late after a rough start, and is known for not being a team guy seems to get the clue when he said:

"I ain't celebrating. The point is to win. Not to make plays, but to win. You didn't see me celebrating one time."

Hall has the right idea. He needs to be louder in impressing that idea upon his teammates. The problem is that it seems systemic in Oakland that the concept of TEAM is forgotten over the individuals, and has been since Rich Gannon, the last great Raider leader, left town.

Back in September, Rob Calonge, of Thoughts from the Dark Side, wrote:

Tuesday, Tim Brown was on a sports talk show in Sacramento hosted by Raiders preseason play-by-play man Grant Napier and former Raider Mike Lamb. Brown had been on the field prior to the start of the game Monday night and said that he never saw any emotion from the players. There was no helmet slapping, shoulder pad hitting, or calls like, "Let's GO!" He accounted for their being no real team leaders, but instead individuals. He also said that even guys, like himself when he played, who would lead by example and tap a guy on the helmet and encourage him to get going was also a necessity for the team. According to Brown, he didn't see that.

In his press conferences, Tom Cable has stressed the idea of getting the Raiders to play together as a team, but the actions of the team seem to suggest that his preaching is not taking hold. He even recently defended the celebration during a beat down:

“You say, `Well, that’s because they’re a good defense.’ No, that’s the way they play, the emotion and energy they play the game with,” Cable said. “You have to respect that. I like it when our players have fun playing the game and enjoy playing the game. I’d like to be ahead by 20, though, because maybe it’s a little more fun, you know?”

Maybe a little more fun to be winning by 20? That is a long way from VInce Lombardi, or for that matter Herman Edwards's infamous:

You play to win the game.

The team across the bay is in a similar situation. They were playing with no heart and individual putting themselves above the team. Rather than saying its OK, their interim coach had this to say:

That is the type of kick in the pants that the Oakland Raiders need. They need it from the coaching staff. They need it from the team leaders. They need it from the owner's box. Until the Raiders get the heart of champions, which doesn't celebrate anything except winning, they won't be winners.