Al Davis Misunderstood Or Passed By?

Several fans, media outlets, and analysts like to point out everything wrong with the Raiders and say it's because of Al Davis, the game has passed him by, and the team is still among the league's worst. 

This offense is much closer to being respectable than most people believe. They see six years of failure and think it’s on a down-hill slide collecting more bleep on the way down. If you look at the past six years as two different periods of time, you’ll see an antiquated offense when Art Shell was head coach and an offense built for 2009 this year.

However, if you really look at this team, you see a team built through the draft and young FA’s. Yes they’ve made mistakes via FA and the draft, but overall they’ve added 11 starters or primary backups like Trevor Scott via the draft in ’07 & ‘08’s draft. Sprinkle in DHB and Louis Murphy and the offense really has a chance to take off this year or at least play the most respectable it has in years.

Look at the difference in quality of depth and starters at both teams:

Art Shell’s Raiders offense

2006 Season Depth Chart

QB Aaron Brooks, Andrew Walter

FB Zack Crockett, ReShard Lee

RB Justin Fargas, ReShard Lee, “Joe” Echemandu 

TE Randall Williams, Courtney Anderson, John Madsen

WR Jerry Porter, Ronald Curry

WR Randy Moss, Johnnie Morant, Doug Gabriel 

LT Robert Gallery, Chad Slaughter

LG Paul McQuistan, Barry Sims

C Jake Grove, Chris Morris

RG Kevin Booth, Corey Hulsey

RT Langston Walker, Brad Badger

Tom Cable’s Raiders offense

2009 Season Depth Chart

QB Jamarcus Russell, Jeff Garcia

FB Lorenzo Neal, Oren O’neal

RB Darren McFadden, Michael Bush, Justin Fargas

WR Chaz Schilens, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Johnnie Lee Higgins, Javon Walker

LT Mario Henderson, Khalif Barnes

LG Robert Gallery, Paul McQuistan 

C   Samson Satele, John Wade, Chris Morris

RG Cooper Carlisle, Marcus Johnson

RT Erik Pears, Cornell Green

Except for Moss, Fargas, Gallery, Grove, Booth, and Walker no one else on the 2006 roster should be or will start anywhere in the NFL this year. Maybe Ronald Curry but he was a joke last season with the amount of drops and is now a Lion. The backups from the 2006 team have struggled to play or have since retired from the game due to lack of getting signed and or interest from other teams.

As you notice the changes in the overhaul of this offense over the last years, you’ll see a difference in how the team acquired the talent and how this team has depth, something not seen in Oakland in years. 

Special teams play has been dramatically upgraded in speed and young talent. In 2006 Chris Carr was both the PR and KR and had to find another job this offseason after the Titans let him go. Now Johnnie Lee Higgins & Justin Miller are the special teams studs back there with far more speed and open field ability than Carr. Just adding various players like Isaiah Ekejuba who have the speed to get downfield and the tackling ability to man the position has made huge strides.

On offense speed and technique has been a major factor in the upgrades. Along the offensive line Cable has finally brought in the necessary pieces with Khalif Barnes, Erik Pears, and the trading for Samson Satele. Although Satele struggled against 3-4 DT’s in Miami’s man scheme, he should thrive in the zone blocking scheme as he’s more-than athletic enough to play C in a ZBS.

The sad part about all of these upgrades is how the media and certain fans still treat the Raiders. They see the current team as a major part of the last six years but can’t differentiate the period after Al fired Art Shell and the period before he fired him.

There’s a dramatic difference in youth, depth, and overall better starters on this year’s team that would start elsewhere, something for which no one has been able to say for a Raiders team for years. Players would leave and mouth off about the team only to get cut or sit on the bench on another team.

For the first time in several years the offense fields a very respectable unit for which if two parts stand up and deliver this year then the whole offense will be among the league’s best. If Russell improves on last year’s numbers and the O line improves then this team can take off or at least play respectable football.

Too many times last season stupid false-start penalties put the team and Russell in a bind. If this year’s O line plays with less mistakes (something they did the last six games) and Russell improves on his play last season, a threat of a passing attack would make the rushing game top 5 if not better.

This whole team is going to play much better sound football than what’s been seen in recent years. Why sound so optimistic? Based purely on talent on offense compared to 3 years ago this team should do remarkably better.

The talent on this offense is comparable to top teams in the NFL, the question is can it be motivated and coached into becoming a really good product? Art Shell, Norv Turner, or Bill Callahan didn’t have the depth or speed on offense that Cable has at his disposal.

For those who hate Al, think about what this team has become talent wise as of today’s team, not the teams over the last six years, especially the team Art Shell lead with a Bed & Breakfast offensive coordinator.

I admit Al’s made plenty of mistakes but do see a future based on today’s roster and think there’s plenty of possibilities. I see the glass as half full. I’ll admit after the first game of the ’06 season I saw the glass half empty but have seen a revival of sorts in rebuilding this team from the ground up and think there are a lot of good things that have occurred recently.

This team is built to compete for the next 10 years with Russell, McFadden, Bush, Miller, Schilens, Higgins, & DHB on board.

Al’s done a remarkable job since 2007 and that’s how I’m going to look at it. He’s made obvious errors like re-signing Terdell Sands to a monster contract and trading for DeAngelo Hall combined with the signings of Javon Walker, Kwame Harris, and Gibril Wilson. However he’s also brought in several other FA lineman and other key players who’ve served solid special team roles or provided solid depth.

Just rethink your position on Al Davis based off of today’s offense. Defensively it’s way too early to determine how they’ll be with John Marshall and an offense that can be on the field for 40 minutes a game because they have a top 10 rushing attack and a threat of a passing attack. Add Nnamdi, Morrison, Howard, Kelly, & Scott into the mix and you are looking at a great start to a good D. 

I can name several fans who can’t see any of the good that’s occurred on this team over the past 3 years and won’t unless the team makes the playoffs or Al dies. Even if the team wins a super bowl then it wont’ be because of Al, it’ll because of Tom Cable or something else because it can’t be Al’s fault when they do win again because “the game has passed him by."