BustedKnuckles
Footballguy
With all due respect and for the record, let it be known that I and those who know football, object to the hiring of Tom Walsh. This was a mistake and we know ahead of time that it is. I know this because we have seen this Cat's calls and offense before. I will be proven correct as always and I can tell you in advance before it all sinks, I told you so. I wash my hands.................................. but will continue to support the team. In the mean time I am catching a life boat for this team is on a collision course for the rocks. The Raiders are a team stuck in the past and are too close to the forest to see the trees. Teams will run circles around us and the only hope Shell had was a decent Offensive Coordinator. That hope is gone and so is mine of any chance of a common sense approach to the game of football in the year 2006. I am sorry but the commitment to excellence died when the commitment to people and good coaches did. It was a noble gesture to extend the hand of reconciliation to Art Shell, but you know and I do too he will only be given two years, in the mean time the game of football has passed Shell and Walsh by. This will be proven painfully and publicly for the world to see as the Raiders attempt to run there 1970's, disco era offense, this year in 2006. If any one believes that this roster is a good one they do not know football and they have been deceived. Athletes will be added yes, but it will all be in vain once again. The Raiders have become a socially ######ed team stuck in a time period in a by gone era and they have not grown or progressed. The Raiders can try and convince themselves that it is the same game it has always been all they want, but we will witness our quarterbacks get killed and an offense which will not work. I regret to inform the Raiders and all my Raider brothers that my team has turned me into a critic. Let it be known though, I am a critic like a coach just trying to do my job of lobbying the team to make some common sense moves which they are no longer doing. I am like a Doctor simply calling out the symptoms and offering advice a patient must follow to get better. The diagnosis of the Raiders is not good I'm afraid, we are a team, which has two years to live. The team, the fan base, Art Shell has two years and with the hiring of Tom Walsh we will fail next year and I know this before we even suit up. I love my team but I don't know if I can even stand to watch their demise. My love for this team will not allow me to whitewash this, the Raiders are a bad team and there is now no realistic hope for a turn around in a Tom Walsh lead offense. I know this because I know football and I know the Raiders. I hope by some large miracle they prove me wrong but this is what you can expect next year. If the Raiders run their Offense exactly like they did in 1994, this Raider Fan, is what you will see from a Tom Walsh lead Offense:
I) He will solve our Kerry Collins' problem, because he will get Kerry Collins killed just as he did Jeff Hostetler. Hostetler was sacked fifty times in 1994 and he really got beat up and injured. The problem here was in Walsh's system where it required the quarterback to hold on to the ball 3.5 to 4.0 seconds before getting rid of it. With all due respect, remember and comprehend that the speed of this game and its athletes has changed over the years, so, try this versus Pittsburgh next season and see what happens. Do you remember Derrick Thomas getting four to five sacks against us a game and going to the pro bowl every year just off playing us? Yeah, you do, and you tried to forget that, but now you are starting to remember.
II) You can expect the Raiders to lead the league in penalties just as they did in 1994 with 156 penalties. You see, many of those penalties in '94 were holding calls. That Offensive line, which was better than last year's by the way, was desperately trying to protect their quarterback--trying to protect Hoss, who was holding on to the ball too long in this ancient, fossilized vertical offense from the Jurassic Age. (Leather helmets anyone?)
III) As in 1994, you can expect the Raiders to always run on first downs and, as a result, defenses will counter this with eight men in the box, in a 5-3 Cover 1 Defense, and they will shut our running game down. Despite this, you can expect to see Walsh run the ball, straight up the gut, on some second-and-long situations. Back then Tim Brown was seen on the field throwing his hands up in the air like, "What the F*?!" when Walsh called plays that were not appropriate for down and distance. Brown's gestures were exasperation that was directed directly at Walsh's play calling.
IV) You can expect the play to be very conservative with a lead and he will not to play to win on Offense, he will put that burden on Rob Ryan's shoulders while we will all be biting our nails.
V) You can expect us to go into trips and multi-wide receiver formations only on third down and long situations.
VI) You will see us go to a no-huddle offense only once, as Walsh did in one particular game versus Tampa Bay to win the game, never to see a no-huddle again.
VII) You will see very predictable play calling and no half-time adjustments whatsoever, ever. No adjustments to things as simple as a team going eight men in the box, as was evident in the playoff games to the Bills in 1990 and 1993. Yeah we did lose those playoff games and yeah no adjustments were made to them simply crowding the box?
VIII) You will see fights on the sidelines between Walsh, his quarterback, his receivers and that same puzzled look on the face of Art Shell as we saw in 1994. You will see Shell lose the locker room and not be able to get it back with a headset on Walsh's dome.
IX) If the Raiders have a quarterback that has a pair as did Hoss, he will change his plays in the huddle as did Hoss in 1994. Why? Because Walsh's plays did not make any sense back then, nor will they ever again in this modern era of football. I am sorry. Currently, we have no Marcus Allan's, Bo Jackson's or Eric Dickerson's to cover for a return to that outdated offensive system that will not work; nor for this current group of players on offense.
X) This list could keep going; but suffice it to say, ESPN reported at the end of that season that Hoss had had enough of that offense. ( This was reportedly a factor in Walsh and unfortunately Shell being shown the door.) All Coach Shell needed though, in retrospect, was a new Coordinator.
What do we need then? I have said it before and I'll keep saying it until this ship is either sunk or is turned around. We need:
1) An Offensive Coordinator that Coach Shell can trust and not have to worry about losing his job over.
2) A Coordinator who knows how to run a Vertical Offense and a West Coast Offense.
3) A Coordinator who knows to go vertical from twenty yard line to twenty yard line and West Coast in short yardage and in the Red Zone.
4) A Coordinator who can go either Vertical or West Coast offense based upon which will be most effective versus an opponent.
5) A Coordinator who is not so fricken' predictable in his play calling.
6) One who can make half-time adjustments.
7) One who is not afraid to change the tempo of the game by going no-huddle and who won't sit on a lead.
8) One who can keep a defense guessing and force it to make adjustments while exploiting match ups. (Which is to say, run an offense that dictates to the defense.)
9) One who can manage the play clock well.
10) One who will not get our quarterbacks killed, thank you.
XI) And one who will play to win.
I will eat every word if I am wrong, but it will be the first time that I ever knew of. The Raiders only hope is if they recognize these short coming of the past, not repeat it and do some things that are much different than what they tried before because it did not work. It obviously did not work and I am sorry but that is the reason why Art Shell and Tom Walsh were let go after the 1994 season.
West Side Pirate
Columnist Raidernews.com
:X
I) He will solve our Kerry Collins' problem, because he will get Kerry Collins killed just as he did Jeff Hostetler. Hostetler was sacked fifty times in 1994 and he really got beat up and injured. The problem here was in Walsh's system where it required the quarterback to hold on to the ball 3.5 to 4.0 seconds before getting rid of it. With all due respect, remember and comprehend that the speed of this game and its athletes has changed over the years, so, try this versus Pittsburgh next season and see what happens. Do you remember Derrick Thomas getting four to five sacks against us a game and going to the pro bowl every year just off playing us? Yeah, you do, and you tried to forget that, but now you are starting to remember.
II) You can expect the Raiders to lead the league in penalties just as they did in 1994 with 156 penalties. You see, many of those penalties in '94 were holding calls. That Offensive line, which was better than last year's by the way, was desperately trying to protect their quarterback--trying to protect Hoss, who was holding on to the ball too long in this ancient, fossilized vertical offense from the Jurassic Age. (Leather helmets anyone?)
III) As in 1994, you can expect the Raiders to always run on first downs and, as a result, defenses will counter this with eight men in the box, in a 5-3 Cover 1 Defense, and they will shut our running game down. Despite this, you can expect to see Walsh run the ball, straight up the gut, on some second-and-long situations. Back then Tim Brown was seen on the field throwing his hands up in the air like, "What the F*?!" when Walsh called plays that were not appropriate for down and distance. Brown's gestures were exasperation that was directed directly at Walsh's play calling.
IV) You can expect the play to be very conservative with a lead and he will not to play to win on Offense, he will put that burden on Rob Ryan's shoulders while we will all be biting our nails.
V) You can expect us to go into trips and multi-wide receiver formations only on third down and long situations.
VI) You will see us go to a no-huddle offense only once, as Walsh did in one particular game versus Tampa Bay to win the game, never to see a no-huddle again.
VII) You will see very predictable play calling and no half-time adjustments whatsoever, ever. No adjustments to things as simple as a team going eight men in the box, as was evident in the playoff games to the Bills in 1990 and 1993. Yeah we did lose those playoff games and yeah no adjustments were made to them simply crowding the box?
VIII) You will see fights on the sidelines between Walsh, his quarterback, his receivers and that same puzzled look on the face of Art Shell as we saw in 1994. You will see Shell lose the locker room and not be able to get it back with a headset on Walsh's dome.
IX) If the Raiders have a quarterback that has a pair as did Hoss, he will change his plays in the huddle as did Hoss in 1994. Why? Because Walsh's plays did not make any sense back then, nor will they ever again in this modern era of football. I am sorry. Currently, we have no Marcus Allan's, Bo Jackson's or Eric Dickerson's to cover for a return to that outdated offensive system that will not work; nor for this current group of players on offense.
X) This list could keep going; but suffice it to say, ESPN reported at the end of that season that Hoss had had enough of that offense. ( This was reportedly a factor in Walsh and unfortunately Shell being shown the door.) All Coach Shell needed though, in retrospect, was a new Coordinator.
What do we need then? I have said it before and I'll keep saying it until this ship is either sunk or is turned around. We need:
1) An Offensive Coordinator that Coach Shell can trust and not have to worry about losing his job over.
2) A Coordinator who knows how to run a Vertical Offense and a West Coast Offense.
3) A Coordinator who knows to go vertical from twenty yard line to twenty yard line and West Coast in short yardage and in the Red Zone.
4) A Coordinator who can go either Vertical or West Coast offense based upon which will be most effective versus an opponent.
5) A Coordinator who is not so fricken' predictable in his play calling.
6) One who can make half-time adjustments.
7) One who is not afraid to change the tempo of the game by going no-huddle and who won't sit on a lead.
8) One who can keep a defense guessing and force it to make adjustments while exploiting match ups. (Which is to say, run an offense that dictates to the defense.)
9) One who can manage the play clock well.
10) One who will not get our quarterbacks killed, thank you.
XI) And one who will play to win.
I will eat every word if I am wrong, but it will be the first time that I ever knew of. The Raiders only hope is if they recognize these short coming of the past, not repeat it and do some things that are much different than what they tried before because it did not work. It obviously did not work and I am sorry but that is the reason why Art Shell and Tom Walsh were let go after the 1994 season.
West Side Pirate
Columnist Raidernews.com
:X