raiders

PETE CARROLL IN SIN CITY LEADING THE RAIDERS MAKES SENSE ON ALL LEVELS

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In Steven King’s masterpiece, The Stand, the devil at the end of civilization set up camp in Sin City, Las Vegas. The Stand is about a pandemic that wipes out most of the population. All the survivors find their calling to be good or evil. The good set up in Colorado. The evil were led by a character named Randall Flagg, the devil. He had a full head of hair, trimmed up beard, had probably even seen the fountain of youth. You would think Satan or vampires that are hundreds of years old never age. The owner of the Raiders, Mark Davis, is trying to get back that razor’s edge that made the entire league regret playing the silver and black a long time ago, in a galaxy far away. Since the Raiders have moved from Oakland to Las Vegas, it has been musical chairs at the head coach position. The Vegas Raiders finally found their Randall Flagg to get back that edge and that is the ageless wonder 73 year old Pete Caroll who some may think is the spawn of the devil.

By the time next season starts up again in 2025, Pete Caroll will be 74 years of age. He for sure does not look like a guy in his 70’s. Caroll still has that upbeat energy and is a players’ coach. He can still build your franchise a winning culture and that’s why he got a three year deal with an option year for a 4th season with the Raiders. When Caroll took over Seattle, the only Superbowl the Seahawks ever made was in 2005 when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. In Carroll’s first season, the Seahawks won their division with a 7-9 record. They even won a playoff game that season. Carroll turned the Seahawks franchise around quickly as he started in 2010 and they won their first ever Superbowl with him in 2013. The Seahawks went to back to back Superbowls, but only won one of them. They should have won their second, but a bad play call in the last minute of the game down at the goal line ruined that as the Patriots intercepted a Russell Wilson pass that gave Tom Brady and New England another title. In 14 seasons in Seattle, Caroll had the Seahawks to the post-season 12 times. His record in Seattle was 137-89-1.

When the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020, they were a team on the rise. The Raiders had a solid head coach in Jon Gruden that was bringing back that winning excellence, “Just win Baby,” in his second stint with the franchise. In 2020 the Raiders finished 8-8. In 2021 the Raiders were off to a pretty good start with a 3-2 record. Then the league uncovered Gruden’s old racist emails from the days he was just a coach in Washington. Those were dark times just after the pandemic as there were plenty of racial tensions throughout the United States. The league was investigating Dan Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, and his dysfunctional franchise at the time. Gruden would step down from his head coaching duties and the interim job went to Rich Bisacia. It was Bisacia who went 7-5 as the H.C. and the Raiders made the playoffs but were a quick exit in the wild card round. The owner of the Raiders decided against giving Bisacia the permanent gig as the head coach. Instead Mark Davis would hire Josh McDaniels and that was a complete disaster. The interim head coach duties went to Antonio Pearce after McDaniels was fired and he led the Raiders over the Chiefs in a Christmas Day victory in 2023. That victory sealed the deal for Pearce. This time Davis gave the Interim Head Coach the full time gig the next season. Pearce and the Raiders in 2024 were one of the bottom feeders in the NFL. The Raiders would clean house and start fresh with a new General Manager and new Head Coach.

The last time the Raiders have been to the Superbowl was 2003 when they lost to their former head coach Jon Gruden who was traded to the Buccaneers. If you remember, Gruden’s Raiders had Tom Brady and the Patriots on the ropes in a 2002 divisional playoff game as they forced a fumble on the legendary quarterback and recovered the ball. A turning point in the game which could have been a dagger in the Patriots coffin but was overruled as the referees would dig something so deep out of their assholes. Suddenly the tuck rule was formed as his arm was going forward. The Patriots would win that game. The Raiders would trade away Gruden the next season which might have been the worst mistake this franchise ever made because of Tom Brady. If Raiders win the tuck rule game, do they get to the Superbowl in 2002? If the Raiders won that tuck rule game they may have kept Gruden for 2003 and may have beat the Buccaneers. Gruden with the Buccaneers knew everything about his former team the Raiders in that Superbowl to give Tampa Bay an advantage. The Patriots QB played well enough to beat the Seattle Seahawks in 2015, but Tom Brady was not on the field to seal the deal. The Patriots defense, which was led by Bill Belichick, and Pete Caroll letting his offensive coordinator call a pass play. This instead of giving the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch to run the ball in at the goal line cost Seattle and their head coach another Superbowl title. The Raiders have made Brady 10% of their ownership after he retired. Brady most likely is calling most of the shots. At one time, Brady, Raiders and Pete Caroll versus the Patriots were enemies of the state. They now have joined forces to resurrect Raider nation who last won a Superbowl in 1984 versus the Washington Redskins.

The AFC West is loaded with each team having one of the brightest minds in the game as their head coach. First the Kansas City Chiefs and Andy Reid are looking for a three-peat. Then Jim Harbaugh had the Chargers in the post-season in his first season in LA being hired by one of the worst franchises in football. Harbaugh has a great track record leading the 49ers to the Superbowl years ago and then recently he led his old school, the University of Michigan to a national championship win. Sean Peyton won a Superbowl title with the Saints and found a QB in the draft, Bo Nix, and he had the Broncos in the post-season this season. The Raiders were the only team in the division not to make the post-season.

The Raiders would be bringing in a very decorated head coach in Pete Caroll who has only sat out one season after leaving Seattle. Before Seattle he won the National Championship with USC in a 9 year stretch where he went 7-2 in bowl games. His college record in regular season was 97-19 overall. What if Seattle won back-to-back titles? You would be saying Seattle had their own dynasty, although not as big as the Patriots or present day Chiefs. Before Pete Caroll took the job at USC, he had gigs that did not go well with the Jets and Patriots in the NFL. That was many moons ago and Caroll has evolved and learned from those experiences. As an NFL coach, Caroll has a record of 170-120-1 as he is 30 games away from 200 wins in the NFL.

Every team in the AFC West has a better roster and quarterback than the Raiders. If you are Pete Caroll, do you think Aidan O’Connell can be the guy behind center in the future? He has made small strides. Do you think the Raiders set up a Caroll reunion with Russell Wilson? Wilson versus the Broncos intensifies that rivalry with all the wasted money Denver spent on the former Seattle QB and how he irked some of his teammates who are still playing there. Can Caroll set up that Legion of Boom defense like he had in Seattle? Maxx Crosby is a nice starting piece building that kind of defense. Caroll has his work cut out for him as this will be a project for him. His presence in Seattle meant he was an instant winner. For a guy like Mark Davis, who can’t even get his hair cut right with that bowl style do. He has not done well as an owner like his father Al Davis. You have to make a deal with the devils of the past to be the devils of the future like the red team in the division. Tom Brady was the first Lucifer who he let buy in. Now Brady thinks Carroll will give this Raiders team stability in the future starting with present times. The Raiders got their Randall Flagg. Now the AFC West teams not named the Chiefs have followed each other’s path of getting the MAN to help their own franchise get better and knock off Andy Reid and Kansas City. The sin city team may be behind the 8 ball, but these new hires could be in the Chiefs rear view mirror soon as objects are closer than you think.

UNLEASH “CHUCKY” IN THE BIG EASY AS THE SAINTS NEW HEAD COACH

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The New Orleans Saints hit rock bottom last week when they lost to the worst team in the NFL. The Carolina Panthers. The Saints steamrolled the Panthers in week one of the 2024 season putting up 40 points on a bad Carolina defense. It seems so long ago when the Saints started the season off 2-0 and had back to back games where Derek Carr and company lit up the scoreboard with 40 or more points. The Saints by far had the best offense in the league till that point. The season suddenly took a turn for the worst as the Saints now have lost seven straight games. The Panthers loss was the last straw for Saints ownership as they fired their head coach Dennis Allen after 9 games. The Saints have promoted their special teams coach, Darren Rizzi, who will be the interim coach for the final 8 games of the season. If the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, can be convicted of a felony, why can’t the Saints hire Jon Gruden who was forced out of the NFL for his insensitive private emails?

Jon Gruden is only 61 years of age and still has some years left in him to be a head coach in the NFL. The last time we saw Gruden was back in 2021 when he was in his second stint with the Raiders. He was in his 4th year of a ten year contract at the time & the Raiders had to use to pry Chucky out of his ESPN gig. The Raiders were 3-2 when Gruden stepped away when an investigation uncovered all the racists, anti gay, and misogynistic emails back from his Washington days when he was just assistant coach. In 2018 the return of Chucky to Raider Nation, the team went 4-12 as he inherited a losing program prior to signing the big deal to come back and coach in the NFL. The Raiders had salary cap issues. Gruden traded away many of his hefty priced defensive players like Khalil Mack for draft capital. Mack was a star with the Raiders as he went to Chicago. The Raiders improved to 7-9 in 2019. In 2020 Gruden had the Raiders at 8-8 for the year as the team was showing some promise and future potential. Gruden’s first head coaching job of his career started with the Raiders in 1998. In 2002 he had that Raiders team in the AFC divisional round on the road in New England.

Everyone knows what happened on January 19, 2002 when Raiders defensive back Charlie Woodson forced a fumble on Tom Brady in the snow. The ball was recovered by the Raiders. The Raiders could have won this game after forcing the turn over that was over turned and became known as the “TUCK RULE.” Somehow it was ruled incomplete pass. The new rule that favored Brady was officially implemented the following year. If the QB’s arm is moving forward, it’s an incomplete pass. I think the jury is still out on that famous play in the middle of a New England snow storm that year in 2002. The Patriots would hold on to the football. Then ice the game by scoring points from that lucky opportunity into points. This rule could have put a kink in the Patriots dynasty if they lost that game. It certainly changed the Raiders football landscape. If the Raiders pulled that game off on the road in New England, they may have won the next game which was the AFC Championship. They had a solid team. Would Gruden have been traded to Tampa Bay the next season if the Raiders won that game in New England? Gruden’s old team the Raiders would make it to the Superbowl without him as they had a solid QB with Rich Gannon. This was the team Gruden built. The Raiders had Jerry Rice and Tim Brown as Gannon’s two main weapons that year and the silver and black had the top offense in the league.

Gruden’s new team, the Buccaneers, was not a bad team either. Gruden basically took Tony Dungy’s old team and got them to the Superbowl to meet his old team, the Raiders. Tony was not able to get that team that far. Dungy would have his day in the sun with the Colts winning a Superbowl with Peyton Manning as his QB. Gruden would get revenge against his old team as he knew the Raiders inside and out and had the advantage. The Buccaneers destroyed the Raiders in that Superbowl. Gruden would eventually wearout his welcome in Tampa. Then Gruden stepped away from coaching to be a bright spot for ESPN for his NFL knowledge doing the games and drafts.

In the past the New Orleans Saints have made a big splash at the head coaching position from a former Superbowl winning coach. Back in 1997 the Saints took a chance on former Bears legend head coach Mike Ditka.

Iron Mike Ditka did not do well in New Orleans after a 5 year hiatus away from the side lines. The Saints should have never traded all their draft capital for running back Ricky Williams in 1999. The move doomed Da Coach and the Saints as Ricky would never pan out wearing a New Orleans uniform. Bringing back Chucky is a higher ceiling type of move than relying on Ditka back in the day. Jon Gruden has worked well with quarterbacks like Brad Johnson and Rich Gannon. Veteran QB’s that got new life under Chucky’s guidance. In the second stint with the Raiders he worked with Derek Carr and they have a special bond of quarterback and head coach. Carr needs new life pumped into his career as he’s beginning to look like a back up QB instead of a starter. Gruden in 2023 worked as a consultant with Dennis Allen’s staff to put together an offense that was fitted around the talents of Carr. Because of the ties they had together with the silver and black. Most people in professional sports or in life in general want to stick it to someone that did you wrong. The Saints play the Buccaneers twice a year in the NFC South which could interest Gruden enough to come to the Big Easy. The cost to bring Gruden back into the NFL would not be that crazy amount like that 10 year deal the Raiders locked ole Chucky up in his second stint. The Saints general manager Micky Loomis is one of the best in the league and should work well with Gruden to figure out what he needs and get it done. Obviously it all comes down to the NFL and their say on any situation involving Gruden. Gruden has been bringing the heat to the NFL and the Commissioner Roger Goodell about the leaked emails in a lawsuit. How come no one else was thrown under the bus on this investigation of the Washington franchise? Maybe something could be worked out there. Maybe Darren Rizzi will show the Saints something that he’s the guy for the job in the future. Something about Gruden in the Big Easy leading the Saints has some teeth to make some big headlines. To finally find the Sean Payton replacement.

The Saints need to get out of that salary cap hell before they actually get a team that can make it back to the playoffs. Gruden makes those tough decisions. Look at the Raiders when he took the heat from trading Khalil Mack. The Bears went to the playoffs in 2018 and quickly lost to the Eagles. Mack did not get any playoff victories in Chicago nor has he helped the Chargers get to the playoffs since he was traded to LA. I don’t think it will ever happen as this is more of a pipe dream than a reality for Gruden to even come back into the NFL. The black and gold Chucky voodoo dolls would be something to see down in the Big Easy. If Donald Trump can have the biggest job in our country and be a felon, why can’t Chucky get back into coaching in the NFL? The Saints should be the first franchise to give him a call. Trump has said a lot worse things than Gruden probably wrote on his computer and sent to his own circle of friends in private. If that is the case these days in life, well Gruden should be able to work again.