Angry Pope
All Raider
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2006
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Oakland Raiders wide receiver Jerry Porter, known for his many moods, has taken that phase of his personality to a new level.
His discontent with the organization was rumored for weeks, first floated by ex-Raider Lincoln Kennedy on a local radio show.
Porter, the Raiders' leading receiver last season with 76 receptions, confirmed on the first day of Raiders training camp he would rather be elsewhere, although he gave two rather conflicting interviews on the same day.
In a column in the San Francisco Chronicle, Porter stated his demand to be traded, detailed a shouting match with coach Art Shell shortly after the new coach was hired and said the argument began over his decision to train at a new home in Florida rather than at the club facility.
The same day, Porter told an Oakland Tribune columnist he was resigned to remaining with the Raiders for two more years until his contract voided, but confirmed his level of unhappiness.
"Everybody, no matter who you work with, has somebody at their job they don't like," Porter said in reference to Shell.
According to a Page 2 column in ESPN.com, Porter's problem with the Raiders goes beyond Shell. At a charity basketball tournament at Venice Beach on July 7, Porter seemed upset about Shell's choice of Tom Walsh as offensive coordinator.
Walsh has not coached in the NFL since 1994, when he was dismissed from the Raiders along with Shell, and he has been out of coaching since 1999. The Raiders had conversations with Mike Martz, who ended up as the Lions offensive coordinator.
"I'm furious," Porter said. "They might as well trade me. I wanted Mike Martz as my coach and a real offense that's proven in today's NFL. Not something dusted off from a bed and breakfast in God knows where."
Shell brushed aside the Porter issue, essentially echoing the notion that everyone in life must work with someone they don't like. If Porter produces on the field, Shell said, they would have no problems.
Porter then sustained a calf injury that caused him to miss two days of practice.
Meanwhile, Porter went to and from practice wearing a belt roughly the size of a boxing championship belt adorned with dollar signs. His T-shirt of choice for two days displayed two hands — one with an extended middle finger and the other pointing at whoever was looking at the shirt.
The bottom line on Porter is the Raiders would sustain a $6.45 million acceleration against the 2007 salary cap if they were to trade him.
There seemed to be no bitterness with Porter's teammates, who have come to expect the unexpected.
However, defensive tackle Warren Sapp did sound off on the Porter issue to Sirius Satellite Radio, a wide-ranging rant which included this choice blast:
"People talk about football being a family. It's not a family," Sapp said. "It's a brotherhood of men. In a family, if the baby is lagging behind, everybody waits for the baby to catch up. We can't wait for the baby to catch up. We've got to go."
CAMP CALENDAR: Raiders opened camp July 25. Practices are closed to the public except for selected guests and youth groups. Camp scheduled to break Aug. 23, before fourth of five pre-season games.
NOTES, QUOTES—Coach Art Shell renewed a Raider tradition by breaking out the "Pit Drill," also known as "Oklahoma," on the third day of camp. It is a basic football drill in which a running back carries the ball through a small gap as a defensive lineman tries to fight off a single-team block from an offensive lineman.
The sense of drama comes from teammates who surround the drill and cheer for their guy — offense or defense.
"You don't want to get beat in front of your teammates," tight end Courtney Anderson said.
Former Raiders coach John Madden, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 5, visited Oakland's camp during the first practice. One of Madden's first questions was whether Shell would use the "Pit Drill."
The drill is so old school most Raiders said they hadn't done it since high school, and defensive tackle Warren Sapp said he had never done it in his entire career.
"It's offense vs. defense so it's going to get a little heated and excitable, plus give us some comic relief at the same time," Sapp said.
—Linebacker Danny Clark, the team's Most Valuable defensive player two years ago and one of their most popular players, has been moved to second team in favor of Kirk Morrison.
Morrison started at outside linebacker as a third-round draft pick out of San Diego State and led all NFL rookies in tackles with 106. With Morrison moving inside, rookie Thomas Howard slated to start outside and oft-injured Sam Williams getting another shot on the strong side, the Raiders have their fastest, most athletic set of linebackers in recent memory.
Clark understands the philosophy, but isn't going to relinquish his job without a fight.
"I look at this as very temporary," Clark said. "This is not a different role, it's just some adversity that everybody goes through, and at the end of the day, I see myself as a starter on this football team."
Clark was running with the first goal line defense and backing up Morrison in the middle.
—NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw, a Hall of Fame guard who lined up next to Hall of Fame tackle Art Shell in the 1970s, noticed a difference with his old team the moment he stepped on the field in a visit to the Raiders training facility in Napa.
"The atmosphere is very different than it was a year ago when I was here," Upshaw said. "No one is running out of here to go to the chow hall or go lay down and rest. It makes me feel good to see because everybody else in the league is doing it. The Raiders didn't do this a year ago."
—Shell is promising running back LaMont Jordan will not be the lone ranger in the Raiders backfield this year. Jordan gained 81.5 percent of Oakland's rushing yards in the 14 games he played last season, the highest figure in the league.
Early on, Justin Fargas, whose playing time has dwindled in each of the past two years, has had some solid moments in the early days of camp.
"It's important that we have more than just LaMont Jordan carrying the ball," Shell said. "Justin is a guy we're looking at to see if he can carry the load."
—One of the focuses of defensive drills has been turnovers, and more specifically interceptions. The Raiders had just five in 16 games — the lowest total over a full season in league history.
"That's just horrible," second-year cornerback Fabian Washington said. "I know we would have won a lot more games if we had just had 15 interceptions."
The league average for interceptions in 2006 was 15.8 per team.
cont'd...
His discontent with the organization was rumored for weeks, first floated by ex-Raider Lincoln Kennedy on a local radio show.
Porter, the Raiders' leading receiver last season with 76 receptions, confirmed on the first day of Raiders training camp he would rather be elsewhere, although he gave two rather conflicting interviews on the same day.
In a column in the San Francisco Chronicle, Porter stated his demand to be traded, detailed a shouting match with coach Art Shell shortly after the new coach was hired and said the argument began over his decision to train at a new home in Florida rather than at the club facility.
The same day, Porter told an Oakland Tribune columnist he was resigned to remaining with the Raiders for two more years until his contract voided, but confirmed his level of unhappiness.
"Everybody, no matter who you work with, has somebody at their job they don't like," Porter said in reference to Shell.
According to a Page 2 column in ESPN.com, Porter's problem with the Raiders goes beyond Shell. At a charity basketball tournament at Venice Beach on July 7, Porter seemed upset about Shell's choice of Tom Walsh as offensive coordinator.
Walsh has not coached in the NFL since 1994, when he was dismissed from the Raiders along with Shell, and he has been out of coaching since 1999. The Raiders had conversations with Mike Martz, who ended up as the Lions offensive coordinator.
"I'm furious," Porter said. "They might as well trade me. I wanted Mike Martz as my coach and a real offense that's proven in today's NFL. Not something dusted off from a bed and breakfast in God knows where."
Shell brushed aside the Porter issue, essentially echoing the notion that everyone in life must work with someone they don't like. If Porter produces on the field, Shell said, they would have no problems.
Porter then sustained a calf injury that caused him to miss two days of practice.
Meanwhile, Porter went to and from practice wearing a belt roughly the size of a boxing championship belt adorned with dollar signs. His T-shirt of choice for two days displayed two hands — one with an extended middle finger and the other pointing at whoever was looking at the shirt.
The bottom line on Porter is the Raiders would sustain a $6.45 million acceleration against the 2007 salary cap if they were to trade him.
There seemed to be no bitterness with Porter's teammates, who have come to expect the unexpected.
However, defensive tackle Warren Sapp did sound off on the Porter issue to Sirius Satellite Radio, a wide-ranging rant which included this choice blast:
"People talk about football being a family. It's not a family," Sapp said. "It's a brotherhood of men. In a family, if the baby is lagging behind, everybody waits for the baby to catch up. We can't wait for the baby to catch up. We've got to go."
CAMP CALENDAR: Raiders opened camp July 25. Practices are closed to the public except for selected guests and youth groups. Camp scheduled to break Aug. 23, before fourth of five pre-season games.
NOTES, QUOTES—Coach Art Shell renewed a Raider tradition by breaking out the "Pit Drill," also known as "Oklahoma," on the third day of camp. It is a basic football drill in which a running back carries the ball through a small gap as a defensive lineman tries to fight off a single-team block from an offensive lineman.
The sense of drama comes from teammates who surround the drill and cheer for their guy — offense or defense.
"You don't want to get beat in front of your teammates," tight end Courtney Anderson said.
Former Raiders coach John Madden, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 5, visited Oakland's camp during the first practice. One of Madden's first questions was whether Shell would use the "Pit Drill."
The drill is so old school most Raiders said they hadn't done it since high school, and defensive tackle Warren Sapp said he had never done it in his entire career.
"It's offense vs. defense so it's going to get a little heated and excitable, plus give us some comic relief at the same time," Sapp said.
—Linebacker Danny Clark, the team's Most Valuable defensive player two years ago and one of their most popular players, has been moved to second team in favor of Kirk Morrison.
Morrison started at outside linebacker as a third-round draft pick out of San Diego State and led all NFL rookies in tackles with 106. With Morrison moving inside, rookie Thomas Howard slated to start outside and oft-injured Sam Williams getting another shot on the strong side, the Raiders have their fastest, most athletic set of linebackers in recent memory.
Clark understands the philosophy, but isn't going to relinquish his job without a fight.
"I look at this as very temporary," Clark said. "This is not a different role, it's just some adversity that everybody goes through, and at the end of the day, I see myself as a starter on this football team."
Clark was running with the first goal line defense and backing up Morrison in the middle.
—NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw, a Hall of Fame guard who lined up next to Hall of Fame tackle Art Shell in the 1970s, noticed a difference with his old team the moment he stepped on the field in a visit to the Raiders training facility in Napa.
"The atmosphere is very different than it was a year ago when I was here," Upshaw said. "No one is running out of here to go to the chow hall or go lay down and rest. It makes me feel good to see because everybody else in the league is doing it. The Raiders didn't do this a year ago."
—Shell is promising running back LaMont Jordan will not be the lone ranger in the Raiders backfield this year. Jordan gained 81.5 percent of Oakland's rushing yards in the 14 games he played last season, the highest figure in the league.
Early on, Justin Fargas, whose playing time has dwindled in each of the past two years, has had some solid moments in the early days of camp.
"It's important that we have more than just LaMont Jordan carrying the ball," Shell said. "Justin is a guy we're looking at to see if he can carry the load."
—One of the focuses of defensive drills has been turnovers, and more specifically interceptions. The Raiders had just five in 16 games — the lowest total over a full season in league history.
"That's just horrible," second-year cornerback Fabian Washington said. "I know we would have won a lot more games if we had just had 15 interceptions."
The league average for interceptions in 2006 was 15.8 per team.
cont'd...