It seems that many in Raider Nation are upset that Hue Jackson was fired by new general manager Reggie McKenzie after going 8-8 in his only season at the helm.
Good move? Maybe. Only time will tell.
People have to realize that McKenzie wants to put his own stamp on the team, and as general manager, that's certainly his right. He obviously saw how the Raiders choked down the stretch and felt wholesale changes were in order.
After Jon Gruden left for Tampa Bay, the Raiders sorely lacked a good head coach; a good leader. I'm sure much of the reason is that previous managing general partner Al Davis, who passed away this past year, couldn't find guys that shared his philosophy and could deal with his frequent meddling, for lack of a better term.
I think the Raiders' job could be a good one again if Al Davis' son, Mark, and Amy Trask let the football people run the team. In my opinion, owners should weigh in on money/contract issues and what free agents to go after, but leave the day-to-day stuff to the coaching staff. We know that doesn't happen in certain NFL cities.
The Raiders have some real talent. If you talk to most NFL people, they will tell you that the Raiders played below their talent level and should have won the division. Some feel that the Raiders, man-for-man, were more talented than the Broncos.
The thing the Raiders lacked this year was discipline. The team has always committed stupid penalties as far back as when I covered them in the John Madden and Tom Flores era.
Maybe that's something that McKenzie felt the only way to clean it up was to get rid of the coaches who couldn't control it or limit it.
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The Associated Press came out with a story last week that college presidents would favor a four-team football playoff to determine a national champion.
NCAA President Mark Emmert was in favor of it as long as it didn't grow beyond that. He doesn't want to see a 16-team playoff because it would ruin the bowl season.
Maybe somebody should put Emmert's photo next to the word idiot in the dictionary. The guy makes no sense.
Heck Division I-AA, II and III have 16-team football playoffs. I don't see Emmert worried about those players playing too many games, and I will bet the GPAs of the lower-level schools are probably much higher than of those athletes at the perennial powerhouses.
A four-team playoff won't solve much. There are too many one-loss teams getting shafted by polls that you could make an argument for being in the top four. Football is a game that should decide its final rankings on the field and not by biased human beings.
Case in point: How does Stanford fall down several spots, behind both Oregon and USC, after losing in overtime to Oklahoma State thanks to two missed field goals? I have no issue with Oregon being No. 4 because the Ducks beat Stanford. The Cardinal should have been ahead of USC because the Cardinal beat USC in Los Angeles. Head-to-head needs to count for something.
