The Underdog

I think they were both wrong to air any of this out through the media. In a case like this, the boss bears more responsibility for the situation even if the underling was the greater cause of the problems. That's part of being the boss. Kiffin seemed to not get that responsibility for items out of your direct control comes with the job of being the 'Man'. Hence, Davis is (correctly in my view) getting extra heat for the current problems since he *is* the Man.

Davis is the man and his decisions have made the Raiders the equivalent of a short season single A baseball team. No talent in the front office, on the sidelines or on the field would explain their sorry plight.

Al Davis isn't at the top of his game anymore, that doesn't make him a bad guy per se but it's pretty clear he needs to let go of the controls.

Adam,
Al hinted to bringing a GM in at the end of this season. He said it would be a "local guy" too.
He also said he was preparing his estate for his son. He mentioned, "In 2011, that rule comes back. You know it’s down to about 10% in 2010 or no estate tax and then I think in 2011 or 12, right in there, the estate comes back… you have to correct me, does it go back to about 48%?"

When asked if limited partners could buy the team outright, he said no; but "No, as long as we’re alive, and then there’s the possibility of Trask. I think I want to do something for her. That’s Amy Trask. Other than Carol and Mark, no… other than maybe her."

So, I'm reading this as he wants to "hand over the reigns" to his son in 2010, when there is no estate tax (unless that changes with the new-soon-to-be-President). If it does change, and the estate tax % is higher than it is currently, then it could be as early as next season. Since his son, Mark, doesn't really want anything to do with the Raiders on a football front, I think he is also setting it up as a co-ownership with he and Amy Trask. Couple that with a "new GM" coming at the end of this season, and I think the Raiders would be back in the swing of things.
What are your thoughts?

Adam,

I think what Howie Long said on Sunday hits the nail on the head. You cant be a brand new coach, given an opportunity to coach an NFL team, then 13 games into the season ask your owner if you can get out of your contract to take the Arkansas job. Al had a right to be pissed. On top of the fact, that anyone who knows anything about Davis knows loyalty is a big deal in his world. Even amongst all the chaos, I think the overall decision was smart. New coach who understands the environment and hire a good football GM in the off season.

Word through the grapevine is that his son would hire a true football person in as VP immediately.

Al has made some pretty big mess ups, but he's made some solid picks as well. Tyvon, and Mr.Sands, are looking like really good moves. He set the DT market for Sands' signing, and after an off field loss for his family, the man is putting together a solid and healthy season.

There's some solid players who want to play ball for the Raiders. Fargas is coming back and coach Cable has a lot of personal respect from his position tasks among the big guys who pave the way.

Nnamdi is a CB that every team in the league wants. Burgess was a signing that got some major production and people tried to say he was part time material. Howard played very well and has an NFL bloodline. Bill B said Tommy Kelley was their best lineman and Sapp was still on the team and playing well at the time. McFadden is a can't miss item and Michael Bush was a Heisman contender who made it back from a Sr. season injury.

There's some good picks, but too much static goes along with it. The scholarship system, some people who are hurdles in the front office, varied rivalries with the league playing out against him.

A lot of the beat writers have actually been giving Davis a wide berth out of respect for the man's contributions to the sport. Some of the sharks would come out if media assigned people from out of the local circuit to one of those press conferences on follow up. The people writing there on the local scene know he just builds filler to sell copy, they couldn't be happier to let him speak his mind. The meat eaters would be those outside those genteel ranks who would try and dissemble Davis when he gets in such modes.

It could be that Al has some long standing background items on supposed tampering. You really think he wouldn't go the extra mile into getting dibs on someone who did him wrong to the degree he feels occurred?

Call Goodell's bluff. He destroyed evidence on spygate and was rumored to be sweating brass balls over a possible Congressional appearance on other things. He'd hate a counter suit of some type to drive additional discovery, especially the man who could black their eye over anti trust matters.

Push. Back. Hard.

"Dance with who brought ya," Al Davis helped bring pro football to this point, time to Dance with the Devil.

As for the media and its Al Davis with hunt, he needs to take this matter into the confidence of name that is part of football history and who has major Bay Area credentials, in addition to world wide prominence.

Schedule the man a good week with Art Spander. If you dislike his opinion before the session, even better. This will remove any sense of booking a 'yes man' interview. Sun Tzu:
"So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will fight without danger in battles.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself."

Known knowns are not that way if they are perceived differently. Thus subjective material can even be used against you. Objective material that can always be the case, on how others view the information.

A talk with Mr.Spander will probably properly frame any such discussion. This is bigger than just your team or even the league. The new stadium and a proposed high speed state railway could both secure coming future Olympic bids and you have interest in shaping those items in your favor. Someone with an international reputation could probably help you cultivate that kind of ability to expand your game plans.

OT question, Adam.

When going with a silent or timed count, the Center uses vocal signals to his teammates in anticipation of the first sound cadence.

What words or terms best used that and did not conflict with other traditional signal calls or terminlogoy?

Mr. Murder

If we were running a play, "On the first sound." We ran a play that was really basic or one we had run enough during practice, that if adjustments needed to be made, we would all know what our assignments were. On the way up to the line of scrimmage I would be giving reminders to the other linemen. Things to look out for so to speak. If the defense was in something we hadn't seen we would run the play and get what we could or the QB would call a TO. Then the play caller would take his sharpie out and cross that idea off of the playlist.

I hope this answers your question. I'm not sure If I understand the specifics of what you are asking.

Adam, what is the main differense between Tom Cables ZBS and the one Colletto had you guys running ? I noticed that the center seemed to trap more under Colletto, in fact the center seemed to pull more, or am I delusional, I watch the line play more than the ball carriers as we know who is controling that usually wins in the long run..

We run the kids an unbalanced and go off first sound.

Not for surprise so much as to limit the other team's response time. If they don't pick it up we run to the numbers. If they overload that way we set up a sweep with the wing man back the other direction.

It's as close to series based football as I can get these guys to call, but with the count items there's things we need to take care of. The center usually has some signal commands to do that let our guys know to listen for the quarterback.

He does all kinds of instruction to players on rotation before getting under center. We run off the first cadence bark so he can still do instructions before he gets under the center. Everyone looks back until they see him get under center and sometimes the linemen don't get perfectly set. The refs give us our share of leeway after the first two possessions. We took the kick to get our O going off the design but the penalties got our guys. Their HC screamed so loud about players not lined up that our guys were looking to him for instruction like it was our HC.

We're just trying to make it easier for the players to get on the same page.

Last week was the first full game we did it and we won, but we had several turnovers from other formations. We still outgained them three to one, had two scores called back, and the Qb ran out of bounds when he could of had a 40 plus yard td(he went in untouched). He still had over 200 yards rushing and we had first downs in all but three team possessions.

This week it's the team with the best record and we can't leave three scores out there.

This isn't my system though. Usually we take his best idea and add to it.
Last year it was split backs running the cross buck. We needed better time to let the crossing action develop and he would try and bring the slot down to wing and it always signals that we were running, he didn't seem to connect that the other teams were keying the change.

So we went double tight and brought our best WR down to TE(my preference anyways, he can come across the formation better on routes). Suddenly our cross buck was gaining 20 yards a play and the other team didn't know who had the ball. We'd even run the flanker for a fake past that and sometimes the other team only had one player know who really had the ball and if we got past him it was off to the races. Our TE became the best pass catcher in the league.

Even our refs had trouble, it was like the hidden ball trick, without having to hide the ball under a shirt.
The second TE was extending the edge so the timing would be perfect, that let the counter step develop. It was nice to see entire teams running after one of four players(and into one another)on every play and then pointing back and forth about who had what assignment and where the ball was.

The new backs are not nearly as explosive so trying that is not getting us the big plays. We've got like a 20 yard gain the best time and any true halfback would of had six points.

So, since we lack the true explosiveness outside of the QB, everything is going back to the numbers game. Keeper sweeps, it's like a game full of Vick higlights but we need to expand the playbook. He's also our best defender and I want the team to have other things to work with so he can get a break from being numero uno.

We also plan on adding more ways to get him the ball as a receiver when one of the OL gets to QB(better pure passer, and the assistant coach's son).

We also need to have some cadence for true passing downs to try and get a feeebie throw from an offsides, or to key us a blitz and make them hesitate, or to see the coverage assignements as guys lean to their player.

We can't just go first sound if something happens to our best player because the line chemistry will be changed. We've got to get some series based things off cadence for other formations. We will not have the same kind of speed from the position either.

Cornelius did so well this past week in becoming the take charge guy that a QB must be. We just needed to add more of what he does best to what we do. If I can get him into some isolation routes and always make a defender wrong on his receiver reps it will grealty accelerate his passing reads. Our other coaches will try and combine my series and sometimes we get players too close one to another, they number the receivers and tell him to throw to that player so he has no true choice and ends up forcing passes. The numbers choices aren't always even matching what the defense does. We have a stick(curl flat) and they combined it with a sprint out series and the safety usually ends up covering two. Or he calls a route a flood(only it isn't) it's just all go. I told him we needed a flood series to move chains with so he just runs everyone downfield and calls it a flood, only it isn't.

The best I've been able to explain it is in basketball terminology at times. We go spread I want crossing(or dual) routes like a motion offense(WCO/Walsh in fundamnetal terms) and backfield action matching the wing/triangle offense from basketball where the backs flow on the perimeter or underneath in relation to the running passer. The action always does that, the LOS players can change concepts.

That way someone is always open for a long handoff underneath and one of the LOS receivers always comes open off man or zone on the rub or concept.

He says the kids don't understand but they do. They get concept football.
I'm waiting for him to tell the success that basketball teams have from doing the full court pass every time they pass the ball inbounds.

Cut through the lane then find the open spot, find your perimeter launch point off that action. It is organic and changes as the play develops.

My first season with a Jr.Raiders team we'd run four concepts, check either direction or a handoff. It took all of four hours to get them doing directional checks right every time no matter how many cadence signal changes you did before calling "hut."

Although one of the twins would get it wrong if you did not use the cadence signal. The signal he got like clockwork. If you told him right or left he'd get it wrong. A player asked which cadence signal went which way, I pointed the direction of the cadence calls, then he said "ohh, that means I go left" as the light bulb clicked, and he pointed that direction.

"You fool! HE SAID LEFT!"
Said the twin, pointing with his right hand to the right side of the formation...
we joked with his brother that he got the directional smarts chromosones, them being identical made that moment even more fun.

The other 'coach' didn't like the system from my rookie year. He never had us use concepts in games. That guy's doing time now. I wasn't really the HC with the mutiny, so I try not to do that with this team, just add to what they are doing so it can be maximized.

Back to series football. Since we do the overload sweep and they get reverse calls or action wrong, we always end up running the action the same direction as the call. Numbered gaps(I prefer to have a call hole because the gap numbers change based on the front and some players in the rotation don't pick up on that fact without a whole lot of reps). Call hole and direction, one for inside, one for outside.

So instead of doing a counter action off that formation, what we call a reverse is actually a lead sweep(same as last year). We don' run belly enough already so I want to add a dive series to it while the sweep action from unbalanced continues behind that quick handoff.

Then we've got two possible actions to counter teams. One overloads the point, some teams load up outside on both sides(the Eagles who we might scrimmage on Thursday) and we're facing a 50 front from the coming team. The second action would be going inside, their defensive tackle gets in a four point stance but he doesn't really do much. He's already tall and just straightens up. His feet are too wide to not get bullrshed as well. They try to bear blitz the MLB with the g-c-g covered. We gap tight enough to kill that but if we push the DT hard enough we should be able to control that gap and force them to fill it with extra help. Then we'll pull off that mismatch or run outside overloads in either direction. Our passing lineman learned to pull Cal style last week and was gleeful at getting outside on sweeps. He was getting all the way outside and corners would curl up like larvae seeing him come at them.
The team we scrimmage has its weakest line mismatch at the same gap(even has the same attributes), our most powerful linemen are to that side. Even with the front different the gaps should remain the same off a covered blitzer. We hope to deuce that side to mike and move that guy somewhere to the next area code. If you handle their biggest player it gets in their head. Then we're getting extra blockers to their team captain as well. They'll have to switch to a 4-4 and that's when our cross buck comes back because the east-west action fakes get the extra people at level two running into one another.



They fill the gap off us running at their supposed strong point, we can power off that and get extra numbers the other way.

Then they have to commit even more people to the LOS. We can run the ghost sweep off either action as well. We can even time it with a shoulder fake/counter step and end up running it like a veer/wide belley.

It should be part of the series, no longer just right/left stuff. That's guesswork by our HC, lines can go man up and slant right or left and that has the same odds of beating you.

It should go hard cadence so you can signal the series action off their front. If one of the plays always tracks downhill you can at least get that every time.

I'd go more into the series signals, but that's relative to certain concepts. Most teams go state/city on the tags for calls. Whatever works best, I use the actual concept name for the actual play call at the starting level, they need that down and can get in with whichever system they end up playing at.

My HS has a coach who was with the team I'm now with. He took notes when I talked with him after my first season was over and they were still playing. He was the OC and would change the play on the front from five yards outside the QB's ear. It's all about the players, I want the Qb learning to do that. I basically tried to have him intergrate his check calls to the quarterback with directional signals and discussed ways to hide those as well. Now the QB controls the huddle and the coaches are on the sidelines. To accomodate some of this the referees have been pretty patient. They are excellent men who do the HS circuit and tell many a story about being the most unpopular guys in town and the object of scorn from sideline parents and coaches on every Friday night, but they sure do love the game and uphold the rulebook regarding intent. Anyone trying to hurt a player is trying to hurt the game, anyone trying to mislead outside the boundary of live action doesn't get away with it.

They see more football on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday than we see on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That doesn't keep them from keeping up with the latest TO or Ocho rant, rules controversy, or SEC showdown. Don't hate player, don't hate the game, don't hate the refs. Love the challenge.

Full or half slide difference?

Who was the best protection back you worked with?

Have the feeling you might say Kaufman, Garner, or Fargas for their effort, but guys like Ritchie fall under a different category.

Best power back, best true fullback, best pure halfback. You played with several really great ones in each category.