Post by TheShadow on Dec 14, 2003 9:22:27 GMT -5
www.timesstar.com
By Monte Poole
HE WAS A ROOKIE head coach, and his team was marching through the NFL, defying convention along the way.
We praised his work, marveled as he presided over his team's comeback, suggested that none of his colleagues had done a better job.
It was easy to glorify Raiders coach Bill Callahan, to promote his candidacy for 2002 Coach of the Year. Some in the media did, including me.
One year later, fans and observers are joining local and national media to debate whether he'll coach the Raiders beyond Dec. 28.
Frankly, it's not much of a debate -- and it gets a little more one-sided each day.
While the movement to dump the coach provides powerful and overwhelming evidence, the argument to keep him in Oakland offers but two contentions.
One, the 2003 Raiders have been decimated by injuries.
Two, it would be cruel and wrong to fire Cally so soon after he led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl in nearly 20 years.
The injury defense is undeniable and valid. Featured in starting roles for today's game against Baltimore are, among others, the third-string quarterback, a third-string linebacker, three second-string offensive linemen, two second-string defensive linemen and a second-string safety.
But the notion that Callahan led the'02 Raiders, that they were a product of his superior gamesmanship, is just plain folly.
As the'03 Raiders have unraveled, numerous players, mostly veterans, have expressed their frustrations. While we understand fingers tend to point when adversity is at hand, their portrait of Callahan renders him less than a budding coaching legend.
Sometimes it's a vague criticism, other times it's a pointed comment.
Sometimes it's an outright accusation, other times you have to pry between the lines to see it.
Sometimes it's spoken by the player's silence, other times the player is practically screaming to be heard.
Then there is this bit of commentary, rarely solicited and offered by many with only slight variation: A lot of this same stuff went on last year, but nobody got caught up in it because the Raiders were winning.
That remark alone takes some of the mystery out of that four-game losing streak last season, including three losses to teams that failed to finish above .500.
The resounding message is that Callahan was not the captain but the VIP passenger on a vessel guided mostly by a group of highly motivated veterans.
Rich Gannon, who was voted league MVP, was motivated because he's Gannon and because he railed against being labeled as a Jon Gruden discovery/creation.
Jerry Rice and Rod Woodson, Hall of Fame locks with nothing left to prove, were motivated because Father Time's raspy whisper was becoming a shout.
Tim Brown was motivated because he had seen it all in his time with the Raiders and understood better than anyone that it would get no better, certainly not for him.
Bill Romanowski was motivated because he was 36 and his head was starting to sound like the attic floor of an old house.
It's no secret that Callahan, who never had been a head coach at any level, leaned heavily on all of these men, or that the players and coaching staff were united in their equal desire to assert themselves in the absence of the departed Chucky.
It all came together last season, with the Raiders maximizing their talent and going about as far as they could.
Raiders owner Al Davis surely found joy in his new hire's willingness to bury opponents, as seven of Oakland's 11 wins were by at least two touchdowns.
But Callahan's strategic limitations have been exposed this season. He looks more and more like a one-gadget coach, blindly devoted to his beloved passing game.
If his play-calling over the past two weeks is any indication, he realizes his time is short and has decided to go out his way.
Though Cally admitted after the Denver loss that the Raiders ran "very well," he had Rick Mirer, the aforementioned third-stringer, trying to pass them to victory even while the game was close.
Same last week in Pittsburgh, and it was obvious Mirer was overmatched.
With the prospect of sweeping change in the off-season, Callahan can't be saved. His work this season makes it too tough for Al and senior assistant Bruce Allen to recruit talent for the 2004 season.
Still, hiring Cally was the right move at the time. It was a veteran team, and he was extremely familiar with the personnel. Al didn't want drastic change, and the Callahan hire ensured the players understood that.
Though Al probably realized he didn't have another John Madden, a long-time assistant who possessed the qualities of an effective head coach, he had to be convinced he did not have another Joe Bugel, a good line coach, a decent man and a thinly disguised puppet as a head coach.
What he got was something in between.
Callahan brings the intensity as well as Madden did. He finally let it fly in public two weeks ago, in the wake of the loss to Denver. There are players on this team who believe in him.
But Callahan's credibility, team-wide, is only marginally better than what Bugel had. Same for Cally's ability to feel the pulse of his squad and inspire it to greater heights.
The Raiders denied "quitting" on Cally last week, despite such insinuation from Steelers Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward, but how many times as a player, ever, admitted "quitting" on a coach?
In the end, Callahan is like any other coach, only as good as his team allows him to be. What's salient is that this is working against him now about as well as it worked for him last season.
The difference that can't be ignored, though, is in his relationship with his team.
When he was feeling his way, Callahan was a much better listener.
Now that he is making his way, he doesn't hear as well. He doesn't look nearly as good.
By Monte Poole
HE WAS A ROOKIE head coach, and his team was marching through the NFL, defying convention along the way.
We praised his work, marveled as he presided over his team's comeback, suggested that none of his colleagues had done a better job.
It was easy to glorify Raiders coach Bill Callahan, to promote his candidacy for 2002 Coach of the Year. Some in the media did, including me.
One year later, fans and observers are joining local and national media to debate whether he'll coach the Raiders beyond Dec. 28.
Frankly, it's not much of a debate -- and it gets a little more one-sided each day.
While the movement to dump the coach provides powerful and overwhelming evidence, the argument to keep him in Oakland offers but two contentions.
One, the 2003 Raiders have been decimated by injuries.
Two, it would be cruel and wrong to fire Cally so soon after he led the Raiders to their first Super Bowl in nearly 20 years.
The injury defense is undeniable and valid. Featured in starting roles for today's game against Baltimore are, among others, the third-string quarterback, a third-string linebacker, three second-string offensive linemen, two second-string defensive linemen and a second-string safety.
But the notion that Callahan led the'02 Raiders, that they were a product of his superior gamesmanship, is just plain folly.
As the'03 Raiders have unraveled, numerous players, mostly veterans, have expressed their frustrations. While we understand fingers tend to point when adversity is at hand, their portrait of Callahan renders him less than a budding coaching legend.
Sometimes it's a vague criticism, other times it's a pointed comment.
Sometimes it's an outright accusation, other times you have to pry between the lines to see it.
Sometimes it's spoken by the player's silence, other times the player is practically screaming to be heard.
Then there is this bit of commentary, rarely solicited and offered by many with only slight variation: A lot of this same stuff went on last year, but nobody got caught up in it because the Raiders were winning.
That remark alone takes some of the mystery out of that four-game losing streak last season, including three losses to teams that failed to finish above .500.
The resounding message is that Callahan was not the captain but the VIP passenger on a vessel guided mostly by a group of highly motivated veterans.
Rich Gannon, who was voted league MVP, was motivated because he's Gannon and because he railed against being labeled as a Jon Gruden discovery/creation.
Jerry Rice and Rod Woodson, Hall of Fame locks with nothing left to prove, were motivated because Father Time's raspy whisper was becoming a shout.
Tim Brown was motivated because he had seen it all in his time with the Raiders and understood better than anyone that it would get no better, certainly not for him.
Bill Romanowski was motivated because he was 36 and his head was starting to sound like the attic floor of an old house.
It's no secret that Callahan, who never had been a head coach at any level, leaned heavily on all of these men, or that the players and coaching staff were united in their equal desire to assert themselves in the absence of the departed Chucky.
It all came together last season, with the Raiders maximizing their talent and going about as far as they could.
Raiders owner Al Davis surely found joy in his new hire's willingness to bury opponents, as seven of Oakland's 11 wins were by at least two touchdowns.
But Callahan's strategic limitations have been exposed this season. He looks more and more like a one-gadget coach, blindly devoted to his beloved passing game.
If his play-calling over the past two weeks is any indication, he realizes his time is short and has decided to go out his way.
Though Cally admitted after the Denver loss that the Raiders ran "very well," he had Rick Mirer, the aforementioned third-stringer, trying to pass them to victory even while the game was close.
Same last week in Pittsburgh, and it was obvious Mirer was overmatched.
With the prospect of sweeping change in the off-season, Callahan can't be saved. His work this season makes it too tough for Al and senior assistant Bruce Allen to recruit talent for the 2004 season.
Still, hiring Cally was the right move at the time. It was a veteran team, and he was extremely familiar with the personnel. Al didn't want drastic change, and the Callahan hire ensured the players understood that.
Though Al probably realized he didn't have another John Madden, a long-time assistant who possessed the qualities of an effective head coach, he had to be convinced he did not have another Joe Bugel, a good line coach, a decent man and a thinly disguised puppet as a head coach.
What he got was something in between.
Callahan brings the intensity as well as Madden did. He finally let it fly in public two weeks ago, in the wake of the loss to Denver. There are players on this team who believe in him.
But Callahan's credibility, team-wide, is only marginally better than what Bugel had. Same for Cally's ability to feel the pulse of his squad and inspire it to greater heights.
The Raiders denied "quitting" on Cally last week, despite such insinuation from Steelers Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward, but how many times as a player, ever, admitted "quitting" on a coach?
In the end, Callahan is like any other coach, only as good as his team allows him to be. What's salient is that this is working against him now about as well as it worked for him last season.
The difference that can't be ignored, though, is in his relationship with his team.
When he was feeling his way, Callahan was a much better listener.
Now that he is making his way, he doesn't hear as well. He doesn't look nearly as good.