Ryan Is Out

Per Schefter, the long awaited move for Rob Ryan to leave and join his old friend Eric Mangini has happened. The Raiders' ship continues to empty, with Rathman making a lateral move across the bay. Maybe once John DeFelippo leaves, Cable will hire Jeff Jagodzinski, fired by John's dad at Boston College for interviewing with the Jets.

Meanwhile, in Al's world, it seems that "acting quickly" is relative.

Finish It

1:09 remaining, with a 31-24 lead. Now is the time for Rob Ryan's defense to hold the line and close one out.

Schneider's crew did his job with a touchback. Now it's Ryan's turn to hold the Bucs under 80 yards. I'd like to see a heavy dose of 91 (the rook) and 56.

DO IT!

Early Pre-game

The coffee is on for today's home tailgate. A slightly different scene from last week's attendance at the NFL's ninth-ranked tailgate. And for some reason I'm watching one of those newfangled pop stars sing "God Save the Queen" instead of SeaBass warm up with 76-yard FGs. Thankfully they've cut over from Wembley just in time to see a pretty lame JLH opening return. And here comes JaMarcus.

Regarding that tailgate ranking, why in the world is the Green Bay tailgate ranked behind Buffalo's? Green Bay's is ahead at every level of ranking. Clearly, there is some algorithm by which length of tailgate factors into these rankings. Why would you want to attend an inferior tailgate longer? Dobolina, can you explain?

So far it's Ryan-1 Ryan-1 in Baltimore. Kwame looking Kwamish being blown by early for a sack. And Michael Huff is back in center field making a nice play to help Hall break up a deep throw.

Oh no...why did JaMarcus concede that safety? With these Tackles, he has to learn to get rid of the ball faster.

Rob Ryan: Rex is an Arrogant Ass.

Gotta love Rob Ryan getting after his twin brother Rex in advance of Sunday's game at Baltimore. I say stuff like that about my brother all the time. Loved this:

Q: Have you spoken with your brother Rex this week?

Ryan: I keep quiet and like to be a professional. He’s an arrogant ass. Other than that, he has some big bullies to stand behind, just like I do. But great players make great defenses, and two of the best defenses in the league are going to show up Sunday.

Q: Is your father going to step between you two?

Ryan: No, he’s a Raider fan.

While I would have loved to see Rob punch Tom Walsh in the face a couple of years ago, the 16 sacks since the first game is a testament to the hard work of this defensive unit. Yes, the run D is still a little troubling, but they made Brett look every bit of his 39 years on Sunday.

Clayton: Al Interviews Lance's Replacements

Here we go again. Yawn.

What a dump truck organization.

Keep the Drama Coming.

We should be talking about Darren McFadden's coming out party and how badly we pummelled the Chiefs today.

Jerry McDonald has a must-read column about Kiffin's week and how he's unfazed by the questions of his job description, and how even after all the hullabaloo, the defense played some Kiffin ball, bringing blitzes and pressure all day.

Jason Jones writes in his wrap-up that he has a source telling him Kiffin would keep his job if they won today, but he still can't guess what will happen. He has a great quote from Nmamdi calling the talk "redundant," since he's had four head coaches in his six years. He's got to be the smartest player since Steve Young.

And then here comes Nancy Gay throwing a big bucket of gasoline on the fire. Apparently Rob Ryan will be the coach, maybe by the end of next week. The defensive staff has circled the wagons and wants Lance out of the building, pronto. And she predicts that Davis is going to give Lance a good assfucking, Shanahan-style, by citing insubordination and claiming breach of contract due to his sassy mouth. She also rounds out the Nmamdi quote; needless to say, he doesn't approve. Isn't that why he came to camp on time, because he liked the direction the club was headed?

"I think it would hurt us a lot. We're just starting to gel and starting to do things well, so I think that would kind of mess things up. I hope that's not the talk. Is it?"

Stay tuned...

Nothing beats being a Raiders fan, huh?

NFL Total Access.

NFL Total Access just showed the actual video of the Rob Ryan press conference. And it's much worse than it reads. Rich Eisen quipped that Ryan will be ready for a Coors Light commercial in a couple years, and used to segue into a "Greatest Hits" montage of coach press conference melt downs.

Kawakami Predicts.

Tim Kawakami of the Merc says Davis will fire Kiffin in the bye week, and Ryan will be gone next season, and the debacle will continue.

Interesting comparison to the Art Shell/Mike Lombardi feud of '06.

Speaking of Lombardi, he touches on the feud this morning as well. The more I read of him, the more I read his rips on the Raiders as sadness, not bitterness. I think he really loved working for the Raiders, and wanted to make things better, and couldn't. I don't know enough to comment on his skill as a football executive, but I do know bitterness. And this doesn't sound like bitterness to me.

Ratto Goes There.

In his column today, Ray Ratto brings up the time Buddy Ryan punched Kevin Gilbride in the face at the end of a 1993 Houston Oilers game in which Gilbride's offense was sucking ass.

I really wish I could find a video of this.

Anyway.

I always thought Rob should have punched Tom Walsh in the face. But Ratto has some interesting new info: that Rob and Lane are barely speaking. According to Jason Jones' transcript of Ryan's interview, which was a couple of questions longer than Jerry's, when asked if Lane and Rob still share "grooming tips and beers," Ryan replied, "Hell yeah."

I didn't really believe that. Jerry wrote yesterday that Ryan's presser was supposed to accomplish two things: defend his players and refute Lane's "Rob and the owner run the defense and it's their fault we suck so don't blame me" rant the day before. Ratto's column confirms this. And he asks a great question: Why would Al spend $200 Million (not really, more like $50) in the off season and then not want fire Lane because he's worried about $4 million? Just to ruin his career? Does he even care about the Raiders any more, or is only interested in settling personal, petty scores?

So anyway, we're in dysfunction junction, and to make it even more awesome, Mario Henderson will start at left tackle.

At least Jared Allen's not in KC anymore.

It Gets Uglier.

So Rob Ryan gives a press conference that basically contradicts everything that Lane Kiffin said the other day.

Awesome.

Maybe Dan's right, and I need to embrace the drama.