When one coach is better than three
The conventional wisdom regarding the Raiders' offensive line last season went something like this: These guys are in a dream situation. The head coach (Art Shell) and one of the offensive line coaches (Jackie Slater) were Hall of Fame offensive tackles, and the other O-line coach, Irv Eatman, was another good blocker who played 11 NFL seasons. With all of that knowledge wafting around, the Oakland linemen would succeed by mere osmosis.
I bought into the notion, as did many fans and writers. Obviously, all that wisdom never panned out. The 2007 offensive line may have been the worst in Raiders history. I wasn't around for the gloomy days of 1961-62, but Jim Otto was the starting center then, and that's a pretty good start.
So in the wake of last year's 2-14 season and 72 sacks, it must be asked: Was the O-line coaching trust more of a hindrance than a help? It struck me as entirely possible. Shell, Slater and Eatman each must be confident in his own experience, techniques and strategies. But did the three jibe? And did they deliver consistent messages to the players?
I asked Robert Gallery at a mini-camp in late March. Gallery, more than anyone, could be expected to lash out at the Shell regime, but he didn't take the bait. "Last year is last year, I don't really want to go into it," he said. "It was what it was, and it doesn't do any good to talk about it now."
But this morning I finally got somebody to address the issue. Of all people, it was the normally understated and positive center Jake Grove. Speaking about new line coach Tom Cable, Grove sounded as though he had been waiting to get something off his chest.
"We've got some direction," he said. "We've got a leader this year that is teaching us one thing, and we have one way to do things. All the coaches, they're all teaching the same thing. And last year we had three or four different thoughts of how to do things. It kind of screwed everybody up."
Grove said it was especially hard on Gallery and Langston Walker, the starting tackles. They were consistently identified as the biggest culprits in last year's breakdown. But all of the linemen occasionally got mixed messages from Shell, Slater and Eatman.
"Every day," Grove said. "I wish all those guys the best. But it was tough. I think it was tough on all of them, because they wanted to all teach us what they thought was right. There's more than one right way to do it, but you can't do it three different ways. It just doesn't work. - Don't change it up every single day, because you don't ever master anything. I think that's kind of what was going on last year. This year's definitely refreshing."
Cable, by the way, has emerged as the Assistant Coach Most Likely to Blow a Gasket on the Practice Field, and to Thoroughly Entertain the Media While Doing It. He's constantly red-faced and howling at someone, usually in words unprintable even in the blogosphere.
And now, a few additional notes from the first three mini-camp practices:
So much for my alert that Gallery has claimed the left tackle position. This morning he alternated there - and at right tackle -- with Barry Sims. The three interior positions remained constant: Paul McQuistan at left guard, Grove at center and Cooper Carlisle at right guard. Am I the only one surprised that McQuistan seems to have an early leg up on Kevin Boothe? I thought Boothe was clearly superior during their 2006 rookie season.
Here's your first-team defensive line, at least through the first day and a half of this camp: Derrick Burgess at left defensive end, Warren Sapp and Tommy Kelly at the tackles, and second-year man Kevin Huntley at right defensive end. Because of the $4 million signing bonus the Raiders paid Terdell Sands in February, I really expected Sands to start this season. So far, I haven't noticed him take one snap with the first defense. Ditto for Tyler Brayton, who is playing exclusively at defensive tackle.
The linebackers in the first-team base 4-3 right now are Thomas Howard, Kirk Morrison and Sam Williams. I can't call Williams a surprise, but I figured he'd at least be splitting reps with Robert Thomas - another defender re-signed in February, this one with a signing bonus of $1.5 million. So far, Williams is getting the nod.
For what it's worth, your first nickel back right now is Stanford Routt, considered to be on the hot seat after the Raiders took Cincinnati cornerback John Bowie in the fourth round.
Wide receiver Johnathan Holland, the seventh-round draft choice who dislocated his right shoulder Friday, was walking around with his arm in a sling today. Wide receiver Mike Williams (hamstring) and fullback Justin Griffith (ankle) also were held out, but wide receiver Carlos Francis was back in action after hurting himself on the last play Friday.
Posted May 5, 2007 3:04:22 PM
Permalink:
http://raiders.pressdemocrat.com/default.asp?item=591952
