Al Davis has and the Raiders are taking a great deal of heat for the firing of Lane Kiffin. Here is what the media is saying about Davis..
NFL on FOX lead analyst Troy Aikman was in the booth calling last week’s impressive Redskins upset over the Cowboys in Dallas and this week heads to Philadelphia where Washington faces another tough division battle on the road when they take on the Eagles. But based on what he saw last week, Aikman senses that the Redskins, and in particular their QB, are definitely up for the challenge. “I could not be more impressed with the way Jason Campbell played last week. For a young team with new leadership to have success against a good Cowboys team in Dallas goes a long, long way towards confidence building. The difference to me in the last few weeks is now they are finishing well in the fourth quarter. I haven’t seen them do that in previous years and more importantly, Jason wasn’t doing that. Everyone saw the first game and they didn’t look very prepared. But in the last three weeks they look like a completely different team,” said Aikman. “A huge factor in that is that [head coach] Jim Zorn has been terrific the last two weeks calling plays. He called plays to win as opposed to calling plays not to lose and Jason has responded very favorably to that.”
NFL on FOX rookie analyst Brian Billick has been associated with the NFL for more than 15 years. From a member of the 49ers public relations staff to a Super Bowl-winning head coach with the Baltimore Ravens, Billick has seen it all. “Al Davis is an icon in this industry and the Raiders have a long storied history but I’m embarrassed for Mr. Davis and I’m embarrassed for that franchise and the way that they’re dealing with Lane Kiffin,” said Billick referring to Davis’ firing of Kiffin. Davis publicly stated that Kiffin doesn’t deserve to be paid the remainder of his contract which Billick believes will be worked out by the league. “That organization has a history of not honoring contracts and I think that contract will have to be honored. I’d be very surprised and embarrassed if this league didn’t step in and make sure that the right thing is done with regards to Lane Kiffin.”
Warren Sapp on Showtime – Inside the NFL: Talks about the firing of Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin.
SAPP: I remember the first two weeks I was there, we played a pre-season game. Somebody came up one time and said, ‘We’re going deep right here, dog.’ I said, how do you know? He said, ‘The phone just rang.’
All the preparation that goes into a week of work is there, the practicing that you have to put in order to do these things, sometimes he (Al Davis) messed with that part of it and that’s what kills you.
On players signing on to play with the Raiders….
SAPP: Nobody tells you how bad it is. I remember seeing Trace Armstrong after spending my four years there. I wanted to choke the life out of him. I wanted to kill him because… and then Phillip Buchanon was there. I said, Phil, why didn’t you tell me this? I said, you all did wrong. Because any person that calls me on the telephone, (I tell them) do not go anywhere near Oakland.
On Lane Kiffin being fired – fairly or unfairly?
SAPP: Way unfairly. He came in there with a change of mentality. The whole system. He changed how the locker room looked because it was going to take that kind of overhaul for Oakland to become the proud franchise we all knew it was.
SAPP: (He) is the common equation. You take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing – you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around….Al Davis knows football – it’s just ‘60s and ‘70s football. That’s what it is. He’s thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and (Jim) Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field – deep ball, deep ball, deep ball.
