Oakland Raiders Head Coach Hue Jackson: Bold, Brash and Takes Responsibility

Players and fans alike have to love the new attitude that has emerged in the East Bay via the Oakland Raiders’ new head coach Hue Jackson

Fresh off a 28-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, it's easy to point the finger at Jackson and say that the Carson Palmer trade and the who will start drama was a distraction and he didn't have the team ready.

Save your breath—he will most likely say it himself.

Jackson does what he pleases and doesn't seem to answer to anyone but himself.  He will go for it on fourth down without even blinking. Heck, he has done it in Raider territory, for crying out loud (see Cleveland game).

Game in and game out, Jackson seems to add a new wrinkle on offense, special teams or wherever he thinks it will give the team an edge. If a play is called and goes wrong or is not executed correctly, it’s only one man’s fault, according to Jackson—his!

On Sunday against the Chiefs, Jackson pulled the plug early in the third quarter on quarterback Kyle Boller in favor of newly acquired Carson Palmer.  Palmer clearly wasn’t ready. 

“Carson Palmer didn’t lose the game, Kyle Boller didn’t lose the game, Coach Jackson lost the game,” said Jackson at Sunday’s post-game press conference.

On Sunday it was the players throwing the picks; it was the players who couldn’t get off the field on third down. This doesn’t mean a thing to Jackson. He takes full responsibility.

“We lost. I did not get this team truly prepared to play to win,” said Jackson.

The fiery coach doesn’t back down an inch when asked to take responsibility for a loss.  On Sunday he was asked directly if the team was ready for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs.

“Obviously we weren’t, if you look at it,” Jackson said. "That’s all on me, I’m not going to put that on my football team."

On a 3rd-and-short early in the game against the Chiefs, Jackson sent in quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who lined up as a wideout and went in motion before taking position under center.  The play didn’t work, as there was a flag on the play.  Jackson was questioned on whether Pryor was ready to convert the third down.

“We practiced it—what do you mean was he ready?” asked Jackson.  “I don’t think it was a penalty personally, but they called it."

The Raiders’ new coach is not afraid to take chances.

In 2011 Jackson has already called a fake punt and a fake field goal, with both working to perfection.

The latter resulted  in a touchdown, giving the team a spark on a day when their starting quarterback was knocked out of the game.  The former set up a Raiders field goal against the Houston Texans that caused their opponent to have to go for a touchdown in the final seconds instead of a winning field goal.

When the dust settles on the Carson Palmer trade and the Raiders get some key players back on the field—Darren McFadden and Sebastian Janikowski, to name a few—the team should be able to get back on track.

Jackson has done an excellent job of getting the team to forget about a loss and move on. The Raiders have not lost back-to-back games in 2011. 

“This is a really good football team in there, we need to get healthy and we need to go to work, that’s what were going to do,” said the coach.  “We will close ranks, we will march together and we will get better.”

The quotes for this article were taken first hand at the Oakland Raiders postgame press conference in Oakland, California, on Oct. 23.