The Oakland Raiders Are Bullies Again: Hue Jackson Finally Speaks

The Oakland Raiders have a storied history of success, but for the past few years success has been hard to come by for the Silver and Black. The tough persona, the “in your face” play, the win by any means attitude had gone adrift.

Last season, I watched the Raiders play the Washington Redskins when a bystander described the Raiders as soft and weak. Though I was offended, I pondered the remark, asking myself, “Is that what the Raiders perception has become in the minds of opposing fans? Had the Raiders eclipsed their dark demeanor and fallen into the abyss of the NFL downtrodden?"

Since being hired in January, new offensive coordinator Hue Jackson has been silenced. But today he spoke out about his objective, which is to create a "bully" of an offense, and that he plans to turn the Raiders back into the winning franchise they are supposed to be.

Had the Raiders abandoned their bully-style of clobbering opponents into submission and become cupcakes? Had they gone from Irish whisky to Shirley Temples—from Darth Vader to the 10 year old bully victim?

Then Hue Jackson answered the question: "We're trying to build a bully here. We want to go back and take our football team and understand what the Raiders tradition is. I think every player that wears that helmet understands what we're trying to build here each and every day, and it's about competing. It's about going out there every day and being the best at what you do, and I think our guys are taking that challenge."

Jackson has been quiet for quite awhile but today he confirmed that the soft persona is gone and the Raiders are on track to continue their tradition of excellent. And excellence to the Raiders Nation means bullying all competition.