In the wake of the Raiders' 24-0 exhibition shellacking Saturday night, coach Lane Kiffin looked like a guy eager to go home and jump in the hot tub.
With a live toaster.
That may be overstating things. Then again, to characterize him as discouraged might be understating things. For those of you who missed it, here were the highlights of Kiffin's postgame debriefing:
"Our pass protection was not very good. We missed probably at least four blitzes. Guys bounced off guys and came free or we just got beat. I was very discouraged. It just kind of reminded me of who we are."
And:
"Unfortunately I think that I saw what I already knew."
And:
"You get some injuries like this, and now depth matters. If you don't have it you better go find it."
To be fair, Kiffin was slightly more upbeat when discussing the Raiders defense in the first half and Javon Walker's four catches. He insisted he wouldn't read too much into an exhibition game. But NFL coaches make those kinds of observations all the time.
What you rarely hear are the snippy sound bites Kiffin has been dropping all summer: I'm reminded we're not very good. We need someone to go out and get us some players. You know how it is around here; I can only do so much.
Once upon a time, Bill Callahan called the Raiders "the dumbest team in America in terms of playing the game." You sensed he knew it was his ticket out of town even as he was writing it.
Kiffin's comments may not be as provocative. But they are equally subversive, because it's clear he is making them for effect. Every time he denigrates his players, or issues a call for more talent, he is blowing a raspberry at Al Davis. Kiffin is telling the world, "Can you believe this bag of elbows I have to work with?"
It makes for lively conversation around the water cooler. But it's not especially becoming of Kiffin, who presumably wants to coach elsewhere after his self-imposed sentence with the Raiders expires. Moreover, it's potentially ruinous for a team hoping to avoid a sixth consecutive season of double-digit losses. Which, by the way, would be an NFL record for futility.
This then, would be the question of the hour: How long does Davis allow this charade to play out?
Can we just say it? Davis and Kiffin don't get along. They're the odd couple, without the laugh track or witty repartee. You get the impression that if the final two years and $4 million of Kiffin's contract weren't an issue, they'd gladly go their separate ways at the speed of sound.
If you're Davis, why would you let that be a sticking point? This past offseason the Raiders signed Walker, defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, safety Gibril Wilson, offensive tackle Kwame Harris, cornerback DeAngelo Hall and rookie running back Darren McFadden to contracts totaling $284 million, $103.5 million of which is guaranteed.
Davis has a well-documented aversion to losing power struggles. The more public they are, the more he hates to lose. As noted, Kiffin is making this thumb war more public every time he opens his mouth.
So why not hand him the relative pittance of a $4 million severance for a) the satisfaction of telling him to go pound sand, and b) the good of your team? Leave it in his office in pennies, if you want. There might be some therapeutic value in watching him haul it out to his car, one wheelbarrow full at a time.
This doesn't address the obligatory poser that follows the firing of every Raiders coach, namely: OK Einstein, what now? But it beats the alternative:
Watching your team drift ever closer to the regular season, captained by a guy who can't wait for the next shipwreck so he can tell the world what a sorry lot he has for a crew.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/raiders/ci_10292764
