Q&A with Owner Al Davis
August 2, 2007
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Raiders Owner Al Davis addressed the media after Wednesday morning's practice session at the team's Napa Valley Training Complex and discussed numerous topics including the passing of coaching legend Bill Walsh and the current state of the Silver and Black.
Al Davis: I start by saying that this is a week of devastation for me. Six months ago, I spoke with Bill Soliday [Oakland Tribune] on the phone, relative to several issues. We had just named a coach, and he also wanted to know about the legacy of Bill Walsh as to what I thought it would be, never dreaming that I would get up Tuesday morning and see Bill write a beautiful article about Bill Walsh and what I had said six months before. Actually, Bill was preparing for something that I thought could be forestalled, and I would fight with him to keep it from happening, what happened Monday.
Bill Walsh was a fierce competitor, a competitor of mine, a close friend. He was a rival, He represented an organization that we were fighting for, and fighting against, but yet, our friendship endured, and I can only tell you how proud I am that approximately two to three weeks ago, Bill came to our place to the Oakland Raiders complex to watch practice, to meet our new coach, to talk about life as we've always talked about it. And it wasn't always football. We used to laugh and say what are we doing with these football organizations, and here we are talking about world events as if we know something about it, and we always say that not everyone who writes about us knows what's going on with us, so how do we all know all the facts about the world events and all, but we seem to think we did.
I wanted to say that one of the things that he wanted, and one of the things I hope to put in place, was something that came to my mind, a few years ago when Bill King died, and we all went over to the stadium to have lunch and celebrate Bill King. It was a chance to bring back all the old people, and get together for one more time, writers, players, contemporaries, media people, just everyone, for that luncheon, for what I call the great Bill King. But what I hope to do, is with your help, and if someone can come up with a perfect solution, we name an award, a quarterback award in this country, after Bill Walsh. What we would do at the end of the year, when the award is given, have a luncheon, and I don't have pride of authorship, but right now the luncheon would be at McAfee [Coliseum]. It's big enough to handle loads of people and bring back everybody. Especially, a lot of the old-timers, who don't get a chance to meet with each other from time to time, and I thought it would be thrilling, it would be an inspiration to us all. He's deserving, when you work on the West Coast, relative to not coming from the East Coast, and I had an advantage, because I knew every writer on the east coast, when I came out here. Not all of them, but I got to know them all. Bill never had that. He never got the glorification or what he deserved, relative to what he contributed to professional football. What he represented to professional football, and what stands out there today, is just unparalleled. He did a magnificent job, and we here on the West Coast have to wake up and realize that not everything happens at the Heisman, the Maxwell Award, and all these awards, that are given back East to great contemporaries and great people, and see to it that we too, our culture, has developed people, and certainly he represents the West Coast, California and all those things.
Bill Soliday wrote that I said that one of the things that motivated Bill Walsh was his fear of failure. And I believe that strongly, there's no question, that he wanted this thing that happened to him, I can tell you some unique stories and so many great stories of how he fought, how he fought to get where he got. It wasn't easy when you're 47, I'm not sure if it was 47, 48, as to how old he was when he became head coach of the 49ers. Bill came in there, and make no mistake about it, Bill's first year, Bill's second year, and then at the start of the third year, I can only tell you, when Bill was 1-2, I think at the start of the third year, he started to doubt himself, but with the urging of others, that you fought for this your whole life, don't give it up, go get it. You've got a good team, go get it. And he went out and got it. And he did it.
Q: Did you go to Bill's house Saturday night?
Al Davis: Yes, we went down to see him [and] spent about an hour to an hour and a half with him, John Madden and I.
Q: Would it have worked with Walsh coaching a Raiders team overseen by you?
Al Davis: Yeah, it would. Let me say this. The terminology that Bill used, he got from the Raiders. By terminology I mean language that he used by calling plays and all of that. I want to win. If I were coaching, and that's maybe a problem that I do have, when I do sign players or take players, I think of it as if I were coaching what I would do with them. Someone pointed it out, the difference between us was he believed in the quick strike. By that I mean the slants and the crossing patterns and all of those things that were newer to professional football. I believed in the vertical strike. It's quick but it's deep. They would have to prove to me that they can stop us from going deep. Yeah, we got along on football.
Q: Did Bill Walsh retire too early?
Al Davis: Oh, yeah, he made a mistake. In my opinion? Oh, he knew he did. He retired too early. He didn't need to retire. He still would have left a tremendous mark. He didn't have to retire. But everyone goes to their own drummer. Everyone goes at it their own way.
Q: How did you become aware of him as a potential assistant?
Al Davis: He had been around quite a bit at Cal and Stanford, and I was well aware of what those schools were doing. I used to go up every Saturday when they'd play at home, and sit up in the end zone and watch who they were playing. Just watch. Relax. Even when I was coaching.
Q: What do you remember about him as an assistant?
Al Davis: He was quiet. He was learning, and he was a good guy. He coached Tom Flores. I think Tom would give you great perspective; he was the quarterback and Bill was the backfield coach. But we had a great cornerback who's one of our scouts, Kent McCloughan, and Kent said to me the other day, 'I'd say hello to Bill, and he'd say hello to me. But I'm not sure Bill really knew who I was.' Bill was quiet in the beginning. He was feeling his way. But he was good. He was a bright guy.
On the Acquisition of QB Daunte Culpepper
Al Davis: Lane has done an excellent job of getting this team to a point. But we expect it, that's what we hired him for. He's just doing his job. The biggest thing I worry about is injuries. We got a chance, we've got some good players. We got a chance to show something, but I worry about injuries.
[Daunte] Culpepper, the only thing I'd say about Culpepper right now is he takes me back several years, we've had great success through the years with guys like Culpepper, of giving him a little time to heal, a little time to get back in stride, not pushing him, not rushing him into something. One of our greatest players, one of
the great players of the National Football League, should be in the Hall of Fame, again I say - but Jim Plunkett won two Super Bowls. I don't know how much more you can do in football. Jim Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy, Jim Plunkett won the Rose Bowl. We had great success with Jim, we had excellent success with [Rich] Gannon, though we didn't win a Super Bowl. We've always had a lot of quarterbacks around. In recent years we stopped that. And then the minute somebody gets hurt, we've found ourselves in trouble. If you remember, Gannon got hurt, we went to [Marques] Tuiasosopo up in Detroit. In a short period of time in Detroit, he got hurt in the first quarter. And there we are with [Rick Mirer] playing quarterback, our third quarterback. Daunte is going have to take a little time, we're going to go slow with him. But he was a great talent. Whether we can get it back or not, it's worth the chance. I don't think that you judge a quarterback the way he practices every day. Actually what you're finding out a lot of times is what he can do and what he can't do. So, you don't ask him to do that at some other time where he can become error-prone. The idea is to find out about everything. Let him try everything right now and let's see what they can do, relative to the future. And we don't judge him every day. Maybe the coach does from time to time, cause coaches live in a different pressure-cooker than I do. But I think you stop and watch and you wait and you see who can win for you, who can help you win some games.
