Debacle Reactions

Just a smattering of local feedback on yesterday's Jersey Beat Down:

Gutierrez says the Raiders are a "sad joke," and advises Tom Cable to steal Al's Towncar, drive it to Napa, and turn himself in for breaking Randy Hanson's jaw. Why? Because,

a little time in the pokey, solitary confinement if possible, would be so much better for your stress level, your general well-being and overall health than what you have to endure daily watching over this shockingly wretched outfit and its latest embarrassing performance.

Gary Peterson says things have never been so bleak for the Raiders:

So what happens now?

"You stay the course," Cable said.

Shudder.

Gwen Knapp comes a week late to the bash-JaMarcus party, after everyone else has moved onto to including the entire team, with her usual JaMarcus-bad logic, with a headline, "Russell's latest debacle proves he isn't getting it." It opens:

The Raiders backed up their coach Sunday. They lost a game so completely and atrociously that they confirmed Tom Cable's assertions that his team's problems went much deeper than the devastatingly inaccurate arm of quarterback JaMarcus Russell.

Okay, that was kinda funny, actually. Sorry Gwen. Just so nobody's left out, there were some bloggy reactions yesterday, too, from Tim Kawakami and Lowell Cohn.

Kawakami sees "greatness all around." His final bullet point:

It’s my fault. It’s Rich Gannon’s fault. It’s Lowell Cohn’s fault. It’s Monte Poole’s fault. It’s all of our faults, since… well, I’m sure Al and his miions will tell us why.

Heh.

Cohn says "Raiders are right there." It's short, and written in the 4th quarter before the game had actually ended. It's a pretty brilliant piece of black comedy, actually. Noting that at every press conference he gives, Tom Cable says that the Raiders are "almost there," Lowell blogs,

He never actually says where there is or if there is a there there...By the way, there refers to the absolute bottom whether Cable knows it or not.

Not good times for Raiders fan. In fact, these times are JaMarcus Bad.

Fat Kicker Toss: WTF?!

Here's a round-up of reactions to what will now be known as "Fat Kicker Toss:"

We'll start with Kawakami, since he's the one who coined "Fat Kicker Toss." He calls Cable an "amateur" and compares the interim coach's soon-to-be-brief tenure to the Gong Show.

Lowell Cohn: Nice knowing you, Coach.

Jerry Mac: No excuse.

Ratto: "I mean, in what universe does a play that relies on an 17-yard scamper by Janikowski make sense?"

Jason Jones: It wasn't the drunkenness; you saw that.

Gutierrrez: Silly? Dumb? Nah. It's the Raiders.

Peterson: Cable's mad, not a genius.

I'm sure there are more out there, but I'm kind of sick to my stomach after reading the above-linked pieces.

Okay, Then.

So Lance is still employed, and not commenting on any conversations he may or may not have or have had with Al Davis.

Meanwhile, Lowell Cohn laid out the case why Kiffin should be fired: because he's not a good coach. He's a dead man walking.

Gary Peterson goes with the soft bigotry of low expectations, says Kiffin deserves to keep his job and finish turning this around.

Ratto handicaps the situation. Ostler calls Al a "Drama Queen."

Meanwhile, the Rams have shit-canned Scott Linehan and hired Jim Haslett as their coach. So somewhere, somebody did something.

Who the Fuck is Randy Hanson? Also, John's Picks.

Good job by Dan and Sllaacs keeping up the blog while I've been out of action. I think all of the stupidity of the last week made me sick.

Anyway, so just what the Raiders the morning of a game with a division rival: More controversy. Some guy named Randy Hanson was suspended by Lance after the Monday Night Debacle of September 8 after he was overheard saying, "It's a good thing that Shanahan didn't have our players, or else he would have beaten us 1,000-0."

So now he's the latest assistant coach to come out and call Lance a liar, and what with all the injuries, I'll be shocked if we keep the game within 30 points today. The only inflection we're likely to see or hear is in Al's voice when he speaks to the media this week, if he was telling Corkran the truth. on thisAt least that will be interesting. Chargers win, 42-10.

Jerry has more on this, saying that Kiffin's big mistake was in not talking to Al before trying to fire Rob, etc, which is the same shit Shanny did 20 years ago when he tried to purge his staff of Art Shell and Tom Walsh. We all know how that ended up.

Again, I'm not saying Kiffin is the 2nd coming of Bill Walsh. He's clearly not. He's also probably a hypocrite, as Peterson argues so persuasively. But anyone who thinks he's the only, or even the main problem, is in denial. Deep, crushing, unhealthy denial.

The 49ers are playing pretty good football. It could be a shoot out in the dome. I like the 9ers, actually, 31-28.

I like Tampa over the Packers, in a squeaker, 17-14. Maybe even OT. Raiders fans will watch, wistfully, remembering what it was like to have a well-coached football team.

Jets-Cardinals. Maybe there's something to this trade speculation of Jerry's. I would trade every receiver who is not a rookie, and next years (likely Top-5) for Anquan Boldin. Do it NBA-style, so the cap numbers match. But that's just me. I'm weird, I want JaMarcus to be successful.

Oh. Cardinals win after they return 3 Favre INTs for six. I'd a double-bagged.

Peterson Makes Amends

His preview is pretty effing awesome.

The Hater of the Week: Gary Peterson

Granted, he beat me to the punch. But this one is going to be tough to beat!

The original article is here. I think Kiffin wants to win, and my previous post muses whether the Arizona game was his attempt to maintain control over his own ability to do so. Peterson makes the opposite argument, that Kiffin is just denigrating the talent on the team so he doesn't look so bad when the team goes down in flames.

I think Peterson's hate-mailers have a point. To make the assertion that someone is taking a dive is pretty extreme, and as a fan, it's the last thing you want to hear before the season even starts.

Well, the next to last thing besides, "It's fishy around here, man, so, actually, we're walking on eggshells around here, man."