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Air Davis Returns to Oakland
Published: May 25, 2009
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Since the beginning of time (or at least since 1963), it has been well known that Al Davis loves the deep pass. He won three Super Bowls by airing it out, and he’s been trying to do it again ever since.
In 2007, he drafted quarterback JaMarcus Russell with the first overall pick of the draft. With one of the strongest arms the NFL has ever seen, he is the ideal quarterback to build his team around.
This year, he drafted wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, with the seventh overall pick of the draft. With a 4.3 second time on the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine, he is the ideal receiver to pair up with Russell.
Davis hopes that Heyward-Bey is the next Cliff Branch, the blazing fast receiver who was a member of all three of the Raiders’ Super Bowl champion teams.
Unfortunately, it takes more than raw athletic ability to win in the NFL.
Great coaching is as important as ever.
The Raiders hired Ted Tollner as the team’s new passing game coordinator. After two seasons of Lane Kiffin and Gregg Knapp’s conservative short passing offense, expect Ted Tollner to take more chances and let JaMarcus Russell use his incredible arm to its full potential.
Ted Tollner is an indirect disciple of Don “Air” Coryell, the mind behind the high powered San Diego Chargers offense of the 1980’s. Tollner has held many offensive coordinator and offensive assistant coach jobs since 1987. He brings a ton of experience to the team and a ton of deep passes to the play book.
The Raiders have also built a dominant running game over the past couple years. Michael Bush, Darren McFadden, and Justin Fargas make one of the best offensive backfields in the league.
Tom Cable has sculpted the offensive line into a powerful run blocking unit with his zone blocking scheme. Jim Michalczik, Cal’s former assistant head coach/offensive line coach/offensive coordinator, was brought in to be the new Raiders offensive line coach.
Two of the league’s greatest offensive line minds will combine to make the Raiders dominate the trenches on offense.
This year, expect the Oakland Raiders offense to revolve around a dominant run game that sets up the deep pass.
Let the league be warned…the last time the Raiders did that they won Super Bowl XVIII.
A Look at the Oakland Raiders’ 2009 Coaching Staff
Published: May 15, 2009
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With the draft over and most of the free agents signed, it’s time someone took a look at the Oakland Raiders new coaching staff.
Last year, the Raiders fired head coach, Lane Kiffin, after just four games. The replacement was offensive line coach, Tom Cable.
Cable did a stellar job during his stint as the team’s offensive line coach, introducing a zone blocking scheme and helping the team to become the league’s sixth best rushing attack in 2007, followed by the 10th best in 2008.
Cable was made the teams official head coach on February 3. With a head coach in place, it was time to start building a new coaching staff.
To replace former offensive coordinator, Greg Knapp, the Raiders decided to just make Ted Tollner the team’s passing game coordinator.
Tollner has 46 years of coaching experience at the high school, college, and professional level. His most notable experiences were tutoring Jim McMahon at BYU in 1981 and being the head coach of USC from 1983-86, leading the team to a 26-20-1 record and a Rose Bowl victory, along with a Pac-10 title.
The Raiders made Paul Hackett their new quarterbacks coach, giving him the responsibility of shaping JaMarcus Russell into the franchise quarterback they expect him to be.
Hackett spent last year working on special projects for the Raiders coaching staff. He has 40 years of coaching experience, recently as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach from 2005-07, working with new Raiders quarterback, Jeff Garcia, in the 2007 season.
He was also the New York Jets’ offensive coordinator from 2001-04, leading them to the playoffs in three out of four seasons. In 2004, the Jets had the 12th ranked offense in the NFL, which included the third ranked rushing attack with running back Curtis Martin leading the league in rushing that year.
Replacing Tom Cable as the offensive line coach will be Jim Michalczik, who has coached the offensive line at the University of California for the last seven years. During his time there, Michalczik mentored seven first-team All-Pac 10 selections. He also helped produce seven 1,000 yard rushers while at Cal, including J.J. Arringtion who rushed for over 2,000 yards in 2005.
John Marshall has been chosen to replace Rob Ryan as the team’s defensive coordinator.
Marshall is entering the 30th year of his NFL coaching career, which has brought him two Super Bowl rings. His most recent stint as defensive coordinator came with the Seattle Seahawks from 2005-07, helping the team reach Super Bowl XL.
John Marshall also coached the linebackers at USC from 1977-79, helping the Trojans to win two Rose Bowls as well as a National Championship in 1978.
Following Marshall from Seattle is Dwaine Board, who will coach the defensive line in Oakland as he did for the Seahawks from 2003-08. In Board’s first season with Seattle, he helped bring the league’s worst rushing defense up to 19th in the NFL. That’s the kind of turn around the Raiders need right now.
The Raiders seem to have built themselves a very experienced new coaching staff. All of these new coaches have had success somewhere and will look to bring that success to Oakland.
The experience and knowledge these coaches bring can only mean good things for a very young team. It seems this year the Oakland Raiders really have made a commitment to excellence.
Remembering the 1976 Oakland Raiders
Published: May 12, 2009
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When it comes to great teams in Raiders history, many teams come to mind. Between the 70’s and 80’s, the Oakland Raiders were the winningest team in all of professional sports.
Jim Plunkett and the Raiders of the 1980 season became the first wild card playoff team to win a Super Bowl. The 1983 Raiders crushed the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII while Marcus Allen set the game’s record for rushing yards. The Raiders of the early 2000’s and their high powered offense also deserve mention.
However no team epitomized the Oakland Raiders quite like the team of 1976. No team was as crazy off the field, especially with their owner’s approval. No team struck quite as much fear into opposing teams on the field. This is why the 1976 Oakland Raiders are my favorite team of all time.
Al Davis and John Madden had a great philosophy for running their team: You can be who you are off the field as long as you win on Sunday. This meant many practices with hangovers, late nights before games, and whatever antics the players brought with them. It also meant a lot of wins.
Leading the team at quarterback was Ken “the Snake” Stabler, known for his 4th quarter comebacks and off the field antics. Though not in the typical sense of the word, Stabler was a true leader who had the respect of his teammates and opponents alike.
Stabler was blessed with a great set of targets to throw to. Hall of Famer, Fred Biletnikoff, was the prototype hard-nosed possession receiver, while tight end Dave Casper, also a Hall of Famer, was always a big clutch play waiting to happen.
However, most teams feared the speedy deep ball artist, Cliff Branch, even more than Casper and Biletnikoff. I have no idea how Branch is not in the Hall of Fame.
The offense was also fueled by a great offensive line. Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, and Dave Dalby made up arguably the best left side of any offensive line in the history of the game. This line made life easy for running backs like Clarence Davis and Mark Van Eeghen.
The defense struck fear into all opposing offenses. Jack “the Assassin” Tatum and George Atkinson made the hardest hitting safety duo in the games history, while Hall of Famer Willie Brown and Skip Thomas, a.k.a. Dr. Death, made one of the best cornerback duos ever.
As if that secondary wasn’t enough, Hall of Famer Ted “the Mad Stork” Hendricks and Phil Villapiano made a linebacking corp no team looked forward to facing. It was also the Raiders first year with the late John Matuszak at defensive end, a giant who was a crazy on the field as he was off of it.
The Raiders dominated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI. Oakland’s offense put up 32 points, led by the stellar performance of Super Bowl MVP, Fred Biletnikoff. Meanwhile, the Vikings offense was shut out in the first half and managed 14 points in the second half.
The Raiders defense showed up in full force as rookie receiver Sammie White found out when Jack Tatum and Skip Thomas knocked his helmet off with a vicious hit (pictured above).
The Oakland Raiders of 1976 were the most feared team of all. They had seven Hall of Famers (if you include John Madden) and quite a few more players who should be in there. They were and still are the true epitome of the Silver and Black.
