Texas Southern Student Analyzes Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs Data

On Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, Brandon Dural, a public affairs major at Texas Southern University (TSU), in Houston, Texas, analyzed historical data for the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of this week’s matchup between those two teams.

He has been an NFL fan for several years. He was willing to be interviewed for this article, and told us what this data says about this week’s game.

 

Interview

Damali: What does this data tell you?

Brandon: Based on the data, Oakland should be the favorite to win.

Damali: Give me more details.

Brandon: Oakland has a higher winning percentage. They have gone to more Super Bowls and won more. However, Oakland has a tendency of running the ball more, while Kansas City has a tendency of passing the ball.

Damali: Looking at the 2009 data for the first half of the season, what do you think?

Brandon: Based on the September game, I feel as though this game will go down to the wire. In other words, whoever has the ball last will win.

Damali: Is there a particular player that may influence the outcome greatly?

Brandon: Since one of Oakland’s star players, Darren McFadden, is returning after injuries, he should have an impact on this game.

His dynamic speed and explosiveness combined with the physical power of running back Michael Bush will give Oakland a one-two punch that will wear down the weak defense of the Kansas City Chiefs. 

I have watched both teams play against my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Oakland is more physical this season.

Damali: What else would you conclude?

Brandon: Oakland has a good secondary, led by Nnamdi Asomugha. The Raiders should be able to cover the receivers for Kansas City.

Kansas City has been struggling to have a running game. The Chiefs recently released their starting running back, Larry Johnson, due to off-the-field issues.

 

Brandon Dural loves to analyze sports data. He is a member of Bleacher Report, and he joined the Sports and STEM community. He is excited about the opportunity to write and publish his own articles in the near future.

Brandon’s Prediction:  Oakland 17, Kansas City 14

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Tom Cable: Good, Better, Best Comparisons with Selected Two-Year Coaches

Is Tom Cable the best NFL coach during his two-year tenure with the Oakland Raiders? Are others doing better during their two-year tenure?

The focus of this article is to do selective comparisons of Tom Cable with other NFL coaches with only two years experience in the head coach position.

First, Tom Cable’s win-loss percentage is not the worst for a two year career as head coach.

In the group studied in this selection, some head coaches had win-loss percentages lower than Cable. Numbers such as .2, .071, .133, .267, .2 are in the list.

This series of numbers make Cable look above average with his win-loss percentage of .3, to date.

There are other coaches during the history of the NFL whose numbers were .667, .588, .458, .842, .469, and .435.

This series shows us that the win-loss percentage can be as high as .842 for a head coach with only two years under his belt.

Elgie Tobin coached 23 games, with 16 wins, three losses, and four ties, giving him a win-loss percentage of .842. 

Tobin coached during the early years of professional football in the United States. We admit that so much has changed since the early years.

Tobin is historical in more than one way. Wikipedia said:

“In 1920 , Tobin coached the Pros to win the first ever NFL Championship. The very next season, he split the team’s coaching duties with Fritz Pollard , making Pollard the first African-American coach in the NFL.”

A cluster of data listed before and after Tom Cable in an alphabetized list is posted:

No. in list     G     W     L     T     W-L%

28               14   1     13    0     .071

35               10   3     7      0     .3

40               32   13   19     0     .406

43               15   2     13     0     .133

47 Cable       20   6     14     0     .3

49               32   15    17     0     .469

51               30   8      22     0     .267

There have been 449 head coaches in the history of the NFL. The data is comprehensive.

Other comparisons are forthcoming. A series of articles making selective comparisons will be posted for your consideration.

In the 21st century, we don’t have to guess about who is good, better or best. We have ways of measuring to find our answers.

So far, we know our coach is not the best, but he is not the worst. Perhaps, he is “just right” for the part of his tenure with our beloved Oakland Raiders. He has a young coaching career, and a young team.

It is reasonable to say, that both the coach and the team are experiencing “growing pains.” Time will tell the whole story…wait and see.

 

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Sports Writing Inspires a Search For Insights, Revelation, Illumination

When a man’s face is lined deeply, it prompts me to wonder where has he been, what has he accomplished, and how he feels about his life.

The code name for the man above is JCI. He is pensive. He is smart. He shows emotion only during certain, very private circumstances.

I asked to take a picture of JCI in Nov. 2009. He agreed.

The beauty of the picture is the sunlight and how it shines so vividly, enhancing the image of a man, now 66 years old. The beauty in the picture is the inspiration for this article.

The picture touched me, deeply. The first time I took a picture of JCI, after we had absolutely no communication for about 26 years, there was a similar image, with rays of light, and the colors of a rainbow, subdued, yet visible.

It was as though God was telling me to encourage JCI, and others, through my writing.

I have tried to do so.

I write. I take pictures to capture moments like the one shown in the photo. You don’t really plan for pictures like these. It just happens by divine timing and arrangement.

The picture profiles a man who has made his mark in history. I, however, veil him in mystery, until the complete story is written, published, and recorded.

He is a man who has always been kind to me. He encouraged and inspired my writing since 2007. He even suggested I write about sports.

I, then, must write about sports as aggressively, and passionately, as he played his sport. I do so in honor of him and his generation of sportsmen.

So here I am. Bleacher Report is my platform. The stage is set for the telling of a great adventure.

The articles are my rehearsal performances. Each one rising higher in interest, and, perhaps, excellence. I am experiencing a crescendo of creativity in sports writing.

In any case, it is catharsis for my soul. For in America, your dreams can be deferred and busted. In America, your hopes can be crushed and crippled.

But this is also the America that has a balm in Gilead, a place to be restored, respected for your contributions, and forgiven for your debts, and forgiven for what your debtors may owe you.

Some may wonder why I write so often. I can answer in a candid way. My writing is spawned by unusual events and other things in my life.

The bird on the field during the Oakland Raiders game inspired several stories.

The feather on the ground the next day squeezed out another creative outpouring.

A second feather near my car on a third day and in almost the same position, this one wet, caused me to connect to a Gideon experience.

And, on that day that I became pensive, I looked down and I found a watch, a symbol of time, perhaps, of God’s timing.

I have had my sign to go to writers’ war, to discuss issues in sports, in life, and circumstances in the life of those I have carefully observed during the years.

I have witnessed some who were talented and gifted in sports, but who have been crushed by accusations and the media.

I have watched great men crumble, because they have stumbled in their moral decisions and positioning. Once crumbled, only a few of those men have their images restored and redeemed in the sports media.

Another case of media madness may currently be puncturing the life of Tom Cable, and that puncture could be a death blow, not only to his personal career, but to the continuity and flow of growth and improvement we so earnestly expect for the Oakland Raiders.

Some may say that life is cruel, for Cable’s transgressions, as all of us have them, pounced forward in the media at a time when he could be distracted from a challenging career as head coach of the Oakland Raiders.

So, why do I write? I write to offer alternative ways of thinking. I write to nudge those to believe in something that they cannot see with the naked eye.

I write to inspire. I write to search my own soul, to purge myself of any bitterness or pain that my life struggle may have aimed in my way, like a shotgun that blasts pellets to cause damage in many places in the lives of a human target.

As I write, I am healed. The testimony of my growth and healing rises up like a tidal wave and floods into the lives of all who hear me through my writings.

I write because I think. I think, using words, numbers, pictures, and symbols, all of which have messages embedded in them, pregnant with wisdom and knowledge, yet waiting to be released.

My type of thinking is enhanced by a revelation, from time to time, from a ray of sunlight from above, which symbolizes the illumination of the Holy Spirit. I sometimes “know” because something moves the scales from my eyes, somewhat like Paul, and I can “see” deeply and clearly.

The “call” or “anointing” on my life and writing attracts others on this site with a similar mission to write. Although we do not know each other by having a physical presence, we somehow connect in another domain.

I say this because I know how I met Leroy Watson on this site. Then there is Brent, who watches my writing and often responds with more insight and depth. There are also Kevin L. and many others.

When I started sports writing, I had no idea of the acidic, pungent comments that can be made about Al Davis, the Oakland Raiders, and even the Raider Nation. It is as though there are some who believe themselves above others, failing to realize the cyclic nature of life. Once up, now down. Once down, and, again, up.

There have been senior athletes who left professional sports, bruised and broken. Some are like birds with broken, little legs, hopping along to their next destination.

You would think that someone would be the Good Samaritan and pick them up, patch their little legs, hold them in a temporary cage, until they can spring forward, and fly on their own, again.

I have observed that the Good Samaritan did not show up in time in the lives of some retired athletes. Some senior athletes have died with broken hearts.

So I write to tell their stories. And by telling, perhaps, someone will stretch forth a helping hand.

Finally, I write to bring illumination, light, and understanding of those truths that may have been hidden in the shadows of these men’s lives.

And the Word says it so clearly:

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.

Isaiah 9:2

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Interview With an Ordinary Oakland Raider Fan

It’s time for a survey. Rather than assume people think a certain way, it is better to gather data and make an assessment. 

I thought I would interview an ordinary fan in a small town.

I visited a gentleman who loves professional football. He is a fan of the Oakland Raiders. He looks at the games on a big screen television.

I asked him several questions.

INTERVIEW

Damali: Did you watch the game between the New York Jets and Oakland?

Jefferson County Interviewee (JCI): Yeah. What ‘s wrong with those boys?

Damali: Are you talking about the Oakland Raiders?

JCI: Yes, of course.

Damali: I don’t know. That’s why I am asking you since you have been a fan for more than 39 years. What do you think about JaMarcus Russell?

JCI: He is not a leader, in my opinion.

Damali: Tell me more.

JCI: Those guys don’t seem to know their plays. They need to study their plays.

Damali: Is there any hope for them this year?

JCI: No response.

Damali: Did you watch the game with San Diego?

JCI: Yeah. They did a little better. They aren’t aggressive enough to win the game when the pressure mounts up near the end. During the days of Madden, Blanda, Lamonica, and others, that just didn’t happen.

Damali: Well, I don’t want to ask you too many questions and get you tired. Can I take a picture of you?

JCI: Yeah, sure.

(He fixed his cap, and straightened his shirt.)

Damali: I have to go now and get back to Harris County.

JCI: Be careful. Be good. Bye for now.

 

 

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Oakland Raiders: The Addiction Of Loss, The Recovery Of Win

Addictions can sap the life out of a man, his family and his friends. Addictions can sap life out of life. An addiction to losing can sap the energy and life out of a team of talented professional football players such as the Oakland Raiders.

Dealing with the reality of a situation is what I believe in. After looking at the data for the past five years, I saw a losing pattern between Oakland and San Diego.

That “addictive” pattern needs to be broken today.

Why am I calling it addictive? It keeps recurring. It is probably affecting the self-image of the players when they see the facts. It’s “messing with” the spirit of the Raider Nation.

The Oakland Raiders can break that addiction to losing by changing their reactions and strategies, and move toward recovery, starting immediately.

I know that some folks out there do not want to hear the truth. Knowing the truth, however, can set you on a new course, a new path, and new trend toward recovery from whatever is sapping the life out of the team, and the Raider Nation.

Having started my teaching career in Harlem, I once taught people who had a heroine addiction. One of them was named Lewis Louis. He had been addicted to heroine for a very long time. Lewis wanted to get rid of his addiction. During the years he sought recovery, the research was not fully complete on methadone.

The tragedy: he became addicted to methadone. He died. Yet, Lewis was one of the most gifted students I had taught during those years between 1968 and 1971.

His addictive, losing behavior of drug use cut his life short and truncated his opportunity to use his gifts. Lewis never received his A in the math class. He died before the semester was complete.

Let’s just say that Lewis stayed in “a state of losing” too long. If only he had broken the pattern earlier, then his story would have ended differently.

Now to apply this type of thinking to the Oakland Raiders. The “losing pattern and addictive behavior of falling into a losing state” must end. It can not go on too long.

As far as I am concerned, we hit rock bottom a few days ago. It’s time to get up off the ground, clean up our act, and start a recovery stage in the history of the Oakland Raiders.

The Raiders need to wash the stench of losses off their muscular, strong bodies; shrub up and down with an anointing of recovery, stop wallowing on the ground level of the statistics, rise up, clean up, straighten up and fly right.

A senior gentleman who would have been 86 years old this year would say, “Down it and get from ’round it.”

So, put down the losing behaviors and get from ’round the losing streak, and move to recovery, from this moment on.

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Oakland Raiders: Object Lesson From Your First-Grade Teacher

Let’s make it plain and simple. This is your object lesson for today.

Look at the blackboard and take good notes:

Go Raiders! Get a touchdown, Oakland Raiders.

Grab the football and hold on to it. Look at the picture to get an idea of what we are teaching today. This is your object lesson for today.

Now go back deep into the recesses of your mind and remember the time you first knew that you were good enough to aspire to play professional football.

Think back, all the way back to elementary school when you played touch ball. I think you called it that.

You were good then, and you are even better now.

You may have wobbled a little when you were short and young, but now you walk with a swagger and have a new attitude.

Don’t disappoint those teachers from every level of schooling that you completed, Oakland Raiders. Give them something to get excited about. Get a touchdown!

Furthermore, keep the other guys from getting those touchdowns. Enough is enough.

I watch my students smirk at me on Mondays. I listen to my relatives telling me about what’s been happening for five or six years.

Let me tell you right now: I don’t want to hear it.

I want to see a touchdown.

Just imagine I am your tough, first grade teacher with the big paddle (before those laws on paddling were put in place).

She stood over you, tall and stern, like a giant in those days, telling you to get your homework done and to get to class on time, not sometimes, but everyday.

Well, here she is again. Come on, use your imagination! She’s standing over you, again, with a big paddle. Only now you are the giant, and she looks like a petite senior citizen.

Yeah, you are taller and bigger than she is now, but you have that kind of respect for her that you just can’t let her down.

She demands a touchdown. You muster up the strength, skills, and power to execute those plays and make one, if not two or maybe three.

That teacher that you are imagining has on the T-shirt that reminds you of military fatigues. She is looking at you eye-to-eye, telling you to go to war, football war, and aim for victory. Her message is loud and clear.

She’s ready to give you a grade on Sunday evening.

You get inspired.

You don’t want a C-, or D or F. You want an A.

In fact, you want more than an A for effort, you want an A for outstanding performance, for efficiency and effectiveness.

Class dismissed.  

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Oakland Raiders: Be on Guard, Toughen Up

Research is a good thing. Sometimes, you get a shock when you see the results.

I am so curious I spied on the data for the San Diego Chargers. Let’s call it reconnaissance. On second thought, it cannot be called spying because the data is in the public domain.

The goal of my research was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our opponent. Comparisons are sensible so the Oakland Raiders clearly know what they are coming up against.

Someone commented I should spend time discussing the Oakland Raiders, rather than searching out the strengths, weakness, and points of vulnerability of the opponents of the Raiders.

How immature that comment was. In war, even in football war, you need to study your opponent.

What you find will not always be easy to digest. For example, I looked at the 50-year history of the San Diego Chargers. During their existence, there has not been even one shutout.

Alert! Toughen up, Oakland Raiders. Even if you are tempted to party, sip a drink, and overindulge (a little) this week, don’t do it. Please, focus on preparation for the game.

I had this great idea of comparing their shutouts with those of the Oakland Raiders.

This research was an eye-opener. Unless I am missing something, the Chargers have never had a shutout during the regular season in their 50-year history.

Another approach I used to gain insight was to calculate what I call “differentials.” These are the differences in the score between the Raiders and their opponents.

The total differences in final scores between the Raiders and their opponents is negative 124, or -124. This means Oakland needs to work harder, play harder, and think smarter. Oakland has allowed the opponent to score 124 points more than they have.

It is difficult to sugarcoat these numbers.

All we can say is, “Get out there, and play like you mean it.”

This, then, is a reality check for us. Don’t dare go into the game without being buttressed and ready to play hard.

Enough said!

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Come On Oakland Raiders, Learn From My Generation of Overcomers

Life is not always a bowl of cherries. Sometimes you’ll have hard times; sometimes good times.

I started respecting Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders more than 38 years ago. There are several reasons for this respect and support.

Davis took some chances on some NFL players who other folks denied opportunity. He came under criticism then; he comes under criticism now.

He seemed to defy the odds. And most times, he won. In fact, the history of the Oakland Raiders franchise is so strong, that the win-loss ratio is still above teams like San Diego, and others.

My generation of professional football players did not make the kind of money that is made by the young players in the 21st century. The support system was not even strong in the past.

Raw talent is what most of the players had who attended universities like Texas Southern University, Prairie View University, Tennessee State University, and others. They got in the door to play with the Oakland Raiders and other teams because of their talent, nothing more, nothing less.

I have always been observant. I love to dig deep, do research and look at issues and events from every perspective, including all dimensions.

I hear folks write and pronounce doom on the Raiders. They do it to the Raiders, and they do it to me and others. I don’t listen to their pronouncements. I listen to something bigger than you and me, and I do believe in self-determination as well.

When I was younger, say, 1960, the year the Raiders got started as a franchise, I actually wanted to be a doctor. My school counselor discouraged me. I looked at him, an African-American man, and I thought, “He is limited and he wants to limit me.”

When I was near 40 years old, I wanted to study for a doctorate in mathematics. Folks discouraged me. Did I listen to the naysayers? No. I went on and participated in a doctoral program in mathematics, studying subjects like differential equations, topology, advanced statistics, complex analysis and more.

All of this has prepared me to study and analyze situations in sports, and other areas. It is hard to pull the wool over the eyes of someone who knows how to ask questions, to delve deeper and to be aware of faulty reasoning, and analysis that is not built on complete and exhaustive data.

So, here I am on Bleacher, on a watch tower, discerning how situations are handled and how decisions are made. I enjoyed my B/R title of “analyst” but now I am a columnist. I enjoy that title, too.

Earlier today, someone asked about me applying to be a feature columnist. I did apply. I was rejected. Did I quit? Did I get disappointed? Did I get upset? No. Not one bit.

My entire career as a woman in mathematics and engineering has been “spiced” by rejections, from time to time.

Those losses, those rejections “fuel” my soul, and I rise up higher and higher each time those limiting decisions and hindrance raise up against me. I expect the Oakland Raiders to do the same, or even better.

So, here is wisdom for the current Oakland Raiders. Learn from a grandmother, from a woman who has been fueled by attempts to limit or hinder. Rise up, young men. Demonstrate your strength and talent.

And remember these words, given to me by someone:

“All things work together for good….”

Did a shutout happen? It will work it’s for good.

Is the season not going the way you thought it should go in 2009? Look yourself in the mirror and say, “It is for my good, for now.”

Finally, learn the lessons of wisdom from earlier generations and grow strong and powerful in your pursuit of excellence. Pursue excellence, Oakland Raiders, because that is a part of your motto!

Take heed: You are overcomers. No weapon formed against you shall prosper. You are being prepared for victory, if not now, then certainly real soon.

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Oakland Raiders: Be Steady, Sturdy, and Study

I have been steady, and sturdy in my attentiveness to the details of the history of the Oakland Raiders. After a heartbreaking 38-0 loss to the Jets last Sunday, it has become quite easy to identify the Raiders’ vulnerability, and what needs to be done against future opponents.

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Oakland Raiders: You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down

There is a mystery in the Raider Nation.

The lesson to be learned is “You can’t keep a good man down.”

This lesson is deep and profound. And, here I go, again, with my perceptions, connections and ongoing research.

Sometimes, I believe, something is trying to tell us to wake up. I watched the game, and my heart was saddened. Then, I thought: It is just not our time, yet. Not yet!

Still something hit me, like a brick, when I saw the score 38-0.

Take a look at the picture of a picture that I took when I accompanied a retired Oakland Raider to a research library (above). I showed the former player the proclamation that a mayor of his area made when his region was producing so many fine NFL players.

As he looked at the book, I noticed, when I studied the picture, that the number “38” was emblazoned on his hat. As always, I took out my camera and I took the above picture.

This happened in 2008.

I asked him when he got it and he told me. I asked, “Why the No. 38?” He did not answer.

Now what is weird is that this senior NFL player is the same one I sought counsel with on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009.

Now, I did not make direct contact with him on Friday, but I did think of him again today when I saw that number 38, as in the number of points the Raiders allowed.

When my son and I would visit him, I would tell him the story of the man who laid at the pool for 38 years. The man laid there and said that he could not get to the pool in time to be healed or restored.

Apparently, this lesson was learned by the senior NFL player. He said that when he went shopping with his relative, he selected the cap with the No. 38 on it. And, he is doing so much better these days.

I was inspired to leave him a message that Oakland has been struggling and we need some advice, some help, some wisdom, or better some of what his generation of players had when he was active.

This connection is a rare probability. There is no doubt about it.

A lesson needs to be learned.

I have said it before and I am saying it again. Perhaps there is something beyond the understanding of the natural eye that is going on. Maybe some deeper things are unfolding right before our eyes.

I do research. I document everything. If I had not taken this picture and stored it, I would not have been able to make the connection of the 38 on this NFL retiree’s cap and the 38-0 score at the end of the game on Oct. 25, 2009.

When it all becomes clear, you will have this article and you, too, will be amazed at what is going on in another realm, as I will be.

Be encouraged. Don’t be dismayed. Just remember that the man at the pool of Bethesda was restored after the 38th year.

So, see today as the first day of a new era in the history of the Oakland Raiders.

It is a thought, a very powerful one, if I may say so.

The lesson we can glean from this is “You can’t keep a good man down.”

We can generalize the theorem to say, “You can’t keep a good Oakland Raiders team down.”

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