I bet you are super excited to read this blog post simply based on the title. Or maybe because it is my first on my website since the Chalk Talk blog, but I want to delay your enjoyment for just a few seconds. Not literal seconds.
It is a new year and I wanted to take a second to thank all of you for following my content through the different platforms it has been generated. I started blogging several years ago on a site hoping to explain football to readers in the UK and most of you found my work on JBB, we will not mention the full name due to their own idiocy, but now I have done my own thing with the live commentary. I am beginning to rethink what my plans are for the next season due to personal changes and I believe I will put a poll on Twitter. I have received an offer to join another site and I am deciding between that or my own thing.
All that being said, thank you all for the amount of fun you have brought to talking ball and I look forward to continuing to engage everyone. Except the idjits. You guys can pound sand.
This season has been far from what anyone expected for the Raiders this season, unless your name is Ryan and said the team would go 7-9, then hats off to you, heck of a call my man. Of course it went nothing like anyone assumed it would in terms of how the team lost. This season was truly difficult because all of the things we as fans assumed were solid, turned out to be liquid.
After the final game and loss of the season on New Year’s Eve, Mark Davis quickly and mercilessly delivered the deathblow to Jack Del Rio’s time with the Raiders. It was done in such a way that I truly felt like he was done slightly dirty and handled it like a man. Thavic t is, until Greg Papa started dropping bombs on his radio show on 957 The Game. Between Greg Papa and Vic Tafur’s article after the game, I was left truly dumbfounded.
So here we go, the first VEGAS post of the New Year.
The Value Bomb
In order to make VEGAS work for my means in this blog post, I will most definitely be stretching the definitions of words. To that end, the Value Bomb occurred during Greg Papa’s radio show when he discussed the amount of money that would be spent paying coaches who would no longer be on the staff under the new Gruden Regime. Most fans know that coaching contracts are fully guaranteed, which means the next three years of Jack Del Rio’s extension will be paid to him in full. This means the Raiders will be eating approximately 4 million dollars per year for the next three years.
Considering the amount of money that Mark Davis will be shelling out of his pocket for the building of the future home of the Raiders, this is nothing to scoff at. More importantly, if you also count up the value of the nearly two dozen assistant coaches who will also be whacked, there is nearly 24 million dollars of dead salary about to be paid out over the next three season. Yes, coaching contracts have offsets and many of these assistants including Tice, Downing, Pagano, and others will become employed quickly. What is most notable here, is the decisive way Mark Davis acted and he did not allow his pocket book to think for him, much to my own personal surprise.
The real cherry here, is the ten million dollar salary rumored to be heading Jon Gruden’s way to take this job. Early on there was a rumor that Gruden would also receive a small share of the team to compensate for payment. This concept makes a lot of sense if you are Mark Davis in the same way a new tech firm will pay out in future shares rather than current cash. The problem here is it sets a bad precedent around the NFL for compensating coaches and can create some dirty practices. Which infers the Patriots would take full advantage. Outside of that, you still have to convince 24 owners that it is a good idea, and I am just not sure you will be selling Ol’ Jerruh on that one.
Some believe this arrangement would give Gruden absurd authority. I highly doubt out. Firstly, he is not buying in, he is being compensated similarly to Billy Beane with the Athletics. Secondly, Mark Davis’ title is “Managing General Partner”, and this is because he is the majority owner of a large group of partner owners and his majority stake gives him the overall authority to make franchise decisions. Unless someone buys out that quantity there will not be another person to unseat him.
The Enigma Bomb
Of all the bizarre and ridiculous things that came from Greg Papa’s show today was the bomb he dropped regarding the coaching staffs’ treatment of Carr during a full team meeting after the second Chiefs’ game. Papa stated that the coaching staff called out and embarrassed Carr in front of the entire team and it took a huge chunk of his pride. It also took the small amount of respect I had in reserve for Jack Del Rio and flushed it down the nearest porcelain receptacle. What would a coaching staff gain from calling out the 125 million dollar quarterback? If anything, call out the wide receivers who cannot seem to figure out the route concepts. Call out the offensive line who cannot figure out how to block consistently on outside zone runs.
Better yet, blame the offensive coordinator who completely changed the entire offense so it had nothing in common the year before. On top of that, blame the offensive coordinator who somehow could not for the life of him figure out the value of playaction, or moving Cooper into the slot, or power runs, or another absurd multitude of things that even half competent offensive coordinators figure out by playing Madden.
“(incoherent mumbling)”
“Hold up. Mike Tice lied about the interest Downing had across the NFL to make sure Mark would sign off on allowing Musgrave to not be retained?”
“(more incoherent mumbling)”
“Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Mike Tice joined forces with Jack Del Rio to push Downing out of the majority of playcalls? What is going on???”
(credit scroll with Twilight Zone theme and a video of me eating Frosted Shredded Wheat)
-Welcome to Bizarro World-
The GIF Bomb
Perhaps I will admit going into this one that I am definitely stretching my own definitions for each of these letters in the acronym. There is one thing to take away from this entire ordeal that is worthy of being on a repeat GIF and that is the coaching staff that Gruden is reportedly putting together.
It is a new year and I wanted to take a second to thank all of you for following my content through the different platforms it has been generated. I started blogging several years ago on a site hoping to explain football to readers in the UK and most of you found my work on JBB, we will not mention the full name due to their own idiocy, but now I have done my own thing with the live commentary. I am beginning to rethink what my plans are for the next season due to personal changes and I believe I will put a poll on Twitter. I have received an offer to join another site and I am deciding between that or my own thing.
All that being said, thank you all for the amount of fun you have brought to talking ball and I look forward to continuing to engage everyone. Except the idjits. You guys can pound sand.
This season has been far from what anyone expected for the Raiders this season, unless your name is Ryan and said the team would go 7-9, then hats off to you, heck of a call my man. Of course it went nothing like anyone assumed it would in terms of how the team lost. This season was truly difficult because all of the things we as fans assumed were solid, turned out to be liquid.
After the final game and loss of the season on New Year’s Eve, Mark Davis quickly and mercilessly delivered the deathblow to Jack Del Rio’s time with the Raiders. It was done in such a way that I truly felt like he was done slightly dirty and handled it like a man. Thavic t is, until Greg Papa started dropping bombs on his radio show on 957 The Game. Between Greg Papa and Vic Tafur’s article after the game, I was left truly dumbfounded.
So here we go, the first VEGAS post of the New Year.
The Value Bomb
In order to make VEGAS work for my means in this blog post, I will most definitely be stretching the definitions of words. To that end, the Value Bomb occurred during Greg Papa’s radio show when he discussed the amount of money that would be spent paying coaches who would no longer be on the staff under the new Gruden Regime. Most fans know that coaching contracts are fully guaranteed, which means the next three years of Jack Del Rio’s extension will be paid to him in full. This means the Raiders will be eating approximately 4 million dollars per year for the next three years.
Considering the amount of money that Mark Davis will be shelling out of his pocket for the building of the future home of the Raiders, this is nothing to scoff at. More importantly, if you also count up the value of the nearly two dozen assistant coaches who will also be whacked, there is nearly 24 million dollars of dead salary about to be paid out over the next three season. Yes, coaching contracts have offsets and many of these assistants including Tice, Downing, Pagano, and others will become employed quickly. What is most notable here, is the decisive way Mark Davis acted and he did not allow his pocket book to think for him, much to my own personal surprise.
The real cherry here, is the ten million dollar salary rumored to be heading Jon Gruden’s way to take this job. Early on there was a rumor that Gruden would also receive a small share of the team to compensate for payment. This concept makes a lot of sense if you are Mark Davis in the same way a new tech firm will pay out in future shares rather than current cash. The problem here is it sets a bad precedent around the NFL for compensating coaches and can create some dirty practices. Which infers the Patriots would take full advantage. Outside of that, you still have to convince 24 owners that it is a good idea, and I am just not sure you will be selling Ol’ Jerruh on that one.
Some believe this arrangement would give Gruden absurd authority. I highly doubt out. Firstly, he is not buying in, he is being compensated similarly to Billy Beane with the Athletics. Secondly, Mark Davis’ title is “Managing General Partner”, and this is because he is the majority owner of a large group of partner owners and his majority stake gives him the overall authority to make franchise decisions. Unless someone buys out that quantity there will not be another person to unseat him.
The Enigma Bomb
Of all the bizarre and ridiculous things that came from Greg Papa’s show today was the bomb he dropped regarding the coaching staffs’ treatment of Carr during a full team meeting after the second Chiefs’ game. Papa stated that the coaching staff called out and embarrassed Carr in front of the entire team and it took a huge chunk of his pride. It also took the small amount of respect I had in reserve for Jack Del Rio and flushed it down the nearest porcelain receptacle. What would a coaching staff gain from calling out the 125 million dollar quarterback? If anything, call out the wide receivers who cannot seem to figure out the route concepts. Call out the offensive line who cannot figure out how to block consistently on outside zone runs.
Better yet, blame the offensive coordinator who completely changed the entire offense so it had nothing in common the year before. On top of that, blame the offensive coordinator who somehow could not for the life of him figure out the value of playaction, or moving Cooper into the slot, or power runs, or another absurd multitude of things that even half competent offensive coordinators figure out by playing Madden.
“(incoherent mumbling)”
“Hold up. Mike Tice lied about the interest Downing had across the NFL to make sure Mark would sign off on allowing Musgrave to not be retained?”
“(more incoherent mumbling)”
“Whoa whoa whoa whoa. Mike Tice joined forces with Jack Del Rio to push Downing out of the majority of playcalls? What is going on???”
(credit scroll with Twilight Zone theme and a video of me eating Frosted Shredded Wheat)
-Welcome to Bizarro World-
The GIF Bomb
Perhaps I will admit going into this one that I am definitely stretching my own definitions for each of these letters in the acronym. There is one thing to take away from this entire ordeal that is worthy of being on a repeat GIF and that is the coaching staff that Gruden is reportedly putting together.
Newest #GRUMORS #Raiders
— Complementary Football (@holistic_pickle) January 3, 2018
5 yr 50 mil
Reggie stays
Guenther: DC
Morton: OC
Gannon/Olsen: QB
Callahan/Washburn: OL
Bisaccia: ST
Heimerdinger: Personnel ?liaison?
That is a ridiculous coaching staff potentially. Two names I want to hit. The first is Paul Guenther. Paul has been the defensive coordinator with the Bengals for a couple of years now, taking over for Zimmer when he took the Vikings head coach position. The Bengals have really created an interesting niche with their defense and the use of double A gap blitzes and sugar looks. Basically what the Bengals like to do is get into nickel (5 defensive backs), and blitz both linebackers directly at the center collapsing the front of the pocket not allowing the quarterback to step into his throws.
What you see here is commonly called a “sugar” look. The two linebackers will play up on the line of scrimmage and the defensive line will spread out into a wide 9 look which forces the offensive line to fan out wildly upon the snap potentially leaving huge blitz lanes up the middle and not allowing the offensive line to double team effectively.
Behind this, the Bengals generally play cover two or quarters coverage which means a lot of two high safeties. All in all, this package fits the personnel of the Raiders very well, but they will still need to acquire a proper three technique defensive tackle and potentially a new edge rusher to replace Bruce Irvin (we will get to that in a bit). Resigning Bowman would be ideal, drafting Roquan Smith would be dynamic, and the cornerbacks fit the skill set so there is no need to cut them if it is not necessary.
The second name is Heimerdinger. Brian to be specific, was 28 years old when he became the Director of Pro Personnel for the Jets in 2015 and is now with the Cowboys. Not much has been mentioned about this addition except for the off handed report, but if you think of the need to find a guy to deliver the thoughts and wishes of Gruden to Reggie McKenzie’s front office, this would be a solid compromise to ensure everyone is on the same page. The Raiders need a competent front office man to keep Gruden in check and assist him in evaluating talent. Reggie has never been a big ego guy, I do believe he would be open to a slightly decreased role and added direction from Gruden to evaluate the type of players he wants.
The Anderson Bomb
Generally I use this spot to pick my favorite item, but in this case I am picking the one I feel has vindicated old ideas of mine. I was adamant before this offseason that the Raiders needed to stay young and allow Carr and Mack to set the tone and lead. They instead added veterans such as Marshawn Lynch and Jared Cook. These two in particular, along with Bruce Irvin and Michael Crabtree have been outed for acting outside the normal for players and the coaching staff refused to correct their actions.
Combine this with the airing out of Carr in a team meeting and I can completely understand why Derek would potentially push to see something change radically and if he pushed for Del Rio’s ouster, I will not hold it against him. As far as I am concerned, all four of these players should not be retained going into this offseason. If the Raiders also cut Sean Smith and David Amerson, the team could generate nearly an additional 40 million in cap space approximately. Free agency this year will have a couple intriguing wide receivers involved in Sammy Watkins and Allen Robinson, some overpriced cornerbacks, and Ziggy Ansah. If Allen Robinson and Conley were added at wide receiver, while retaining Bowman, Carrie, and Autry, and in the draft adding Chubb or Landry, Jones or Phillips, the Raiders could address a ton of needs very quickly. Add Mark Andrews at tight end round three and you are cooking with gas.
I bring all of this up because the Raiders decided to add significantly older free agents who in turn ended up doing their own things and did not respect the leaders of this team. When the Raiders add talent they need to do so in a way whereas the free agent talent understands their role and whose team this is. Guys over the age of 30 with odd personalities contributed to tearing this locker room apart if you believe Vic Tafur’s article. That is inexcusable both by Reggie for adding them, and the coaching staff not keeping things on track.
The Stud Bomb
Let’s cut to the chase. There is only one person who comes out of this mess smelling and looking like a million bucks. Well in this case fifty million, and that is Jon Gruden. I am highly skeptical of Jon Gruden especially in terms of talent evaluation and roster building. That said, I know Jon has been dying to work with a quarterback like Derek Carr and Derek has done plenty of fawning over Jon. Before the 2014 draft when Carr did Gruden’s quarterback camp, these two were like long lost lovers making oogle eyes at each other.
Greg Papa today told a story of Gruden wanting to come back to Al and the Raiders in 2009 and it almost happened in 2012. What we will see this week is rumors about who he is lining up to coach with him while Mark fulfills the Rooney Rule. After Saturday’s Wildcard game I anticipate we will hear that Gruden has accepted the job and he will have what he has always wanted. A chance to be the Savior of the Black Hole turning even the most bitter skeptics like myself into sobbing children when he fulfills the SuperBowl destiny Al hired him to attain.
To end this on a somewhat somber note, I really do wish Al was here with us to see Gruden come home. I was a sophmore in highschool when the Raiders lost that game and it hurt even more knowing Gruden did it to me. I am ready to believe and to buy in, I just wish I did not have 15 years of trauma to quell my optimism. If Mark pulls this off, all I can say is he would have done his father proud in these last couple of years and he would also prove that he is becoming a pretty decent owner. At least a respectable one you can laugh with because of the hair cut not laugh at. Well, maybe laugh at a little.