Written October 24, 2011
The guy facing the most heat today in the Bay Area is Hue Jackson, rookie head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Just last week Jackson seemed in total command of the situation, having dealt firmly and swiftly with a crisis, and he was enjoying playing games with the media regarding his starting QB for Sunday’s game.
That game, of course, was a complete disaster, made worse, in my opinion by Jackson’s decision to throw Carson Palmer to the wolves in the second half with the game already on its way to defcon 5. Worse yet, the post-game press conference revealed that Jackson and Palmer might have been on the same bus, but each was open to the idea of throwing the other under it.
Friday, we learned (courtesy of The Game 95.7 FM) that Jason Campbell learned of Palmer’s acquisition via texts from his friends. Two days after his injury, and one after his surgery, and no contact from the team regarding its decision to essentially end his days as the starting quarterback.
After the events of the last week or so, I started thinking about Al Davis. When Al hired a coach, he almost always hired one without experience. Sometimes they were young men (Madden, Gruden, Kiffen), and sometimes they were not (Shell, Callahan, Shanahan), but they didn’t have head coaching on their resumes. Obviously, Davis was a control freak, and there was a trade-off going on. Davis was going to put training wheels on the bike, and the coaches were willing to put up with that in exchange for the opportunity to be a head coach.
The problem, of course, would come when Davis and his coach would disagree about when it was time to take off the training wheels, which happened every single time. Sometimes those disagreements ended with a bang (Cable, Kiffin, Shanahan, Gruden) sometimes with a whimper (Callahan, Shell, Shell).
In Jackson’s case, however, the damn things just fell off, leaving him to fend for himself. Like most first time riders, when you first let go they do okay, but the further they go, the wobblier they get, and that’s exactly what we got from Jackson. The day after Davis’ passing the Raiders were still the “Pride and Poise Boys.” The week after his passing, they said and did everything right. It was interesting, though, that Campbell’s injury came just a few minutes before the halftime ceremony honoring Davis, and suddenly that bike was careening down the sidewalk.
The Raiders almost lost that game to Cleveland, due in part to an inexplicable decision by Jackson to pass up a field goal that would have iced the game. Immediately after the game, the Raiders started examining their options at QB, decided on Palmer, and started negotiating with the Bengals. By Tuesday, the deal was all but done, and the price was steep. Most observers doubted whether Davis would have signed off on that deal, and many of us (myself included) thought that was a good sign for the team.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday came and went, and all we saw was Jackson holding court with the media, playing coy about whom he would start. We found out Sunday after the game that Boller was the starter all the way, and that Palmer, according to comments he made, didn’t make a pass in practice with pads on all week.
Okay, hold on here for a minute. I enjoy the cloak-and-dagger part of football as much as the next guy, and lord knows Al Davis would have loved it, but when you have a QB that doesn’t make a pass with pads on, that guy doesn’t play on Sunday! You can actually make an argument that if he’s that far away from being ready to play, you shouldn’t have given up a 1st and 2nd round pick for him in the first place, but all that aside, there’s no way he plays that week in the game.
The Raider fans were rightfully shocked and dismayed with the outcome of the game, although I feel that the post-game revelations were far more concerning than what happened on the field. Palmer was saying that he didn’t expect to play. Jackson was saying that getting Palmer in the game was part of the plan all along. Let’s examine that for a second. What were we told was the reason why this move was destined for success for the Raiders? Why, it was the close relationship between Jackson and Palmer, wasn’t it? Jackson recruited Palmer to USC, and the two were both survivors of that toxic Bengals situation. That can form a real bond between people!
So tell me again how just a few minutes after the first game of this grand new venture these two men can be telling the media completely opposite accounts of their expectations regarding the plan? To me, that communication breakdown, combined with the failure of the team to be forthright with Campbell, are red flags for me concerning Hue Jackson.
Jackson was exposed last week as a rookie coach who thought he was bigger than the moment, and it turned out he was wrong. He careened down the sidewalk, and the bike overturned in the street. Luckily, no cars were coming, while he got pretty banged up, he gets to ride again. I think it’s also pretty clear that Amy Trask and Mark Davis need to get a football guy in there as soon as possible to help Jackson. He’s learning how to be a head coach, and to have him also managing these kind of situations is like asking your kid to learn bike-riding and juggling at the same time…without training wheels.