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PFTV: Avoiding a double standard Aug. 21: If the NFL is going to continue to punish players for misdeeds, Mike Florio says the league needs to investigate Raiders coach Tom Cable. |
Norv Turner came on the next year and ran off longtime star receiver Tim Brown, and ended Jerry Rice’s consecutive games streak with a catch at 274, angering the future Hall of Famer and leading to his trade to Seattle.
Things truly turned bizarre in 2006, when Art Shell was brought back to replace Turner for his second stint as Raiders coach. He hired Tom Walsh away from a bed and breakfast in Idaho to be his offensive coordinator, leading to an immediate feud with receiver Jerry Porter that led to Porter’s eventual suspension for insubordination.
Before the season even started, star receiver Randy Moss complained on his radio show that things were “fishy” in Oakland. Moss essentially quit on the team, failing to run out patterns he didn’t like and setting back an offense that was already inept.
Late in a 2-14 season, Shell accused team executive Michael Lombardi of being a “fox in the hen house” for anonymously criticizing the team and its coaching staff to reporters.
That led to the firing of both Shell and Lombardi, and Lane Kiffin took over after Davis was spurned by Kiffin’s USC colleague Steve Sarkisian. Kiffin quickly realized that Davis was in control and there were arguments over who to draft No. 1 overall — LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell was chosen — and other personnel decisions.
Later that season, Kiffin angered Davis when he expressed interest behind the scenes in the Arkansas job, and the feud only grew in the offseason. Davis refused to allow Kiffin to change defensive coordinators, leading Kiffin to dare Davis to fire him and Davis to dare Kiffin to resign.
Neither side blinked and things grew tenser throughout the offseason, with Davis hiring an assistant without telling Kiffin, and Kiffin publicly badmouthing Davis’ offseason acquisitions and complaining that he had no control over the roster. Finally, Kiffin accused Davis of making the defensive game plan after a humiliating opening night 41-14 loss to Denver.
Kiffin was fired a few weeks later in a surreal news conference that featured Davis posting a letter detailing Kiffin’s failures on an overhead projector, and an intermission between the one-hour discussion of Kiffin’s firing and the announcement that Cable would take over.
The Cable era has been relatively quiet in off-field news until this most recent report.
“It’s just another day around here,” running back Justin Fargas said. “Things wouldn’t be normal if there wasn’t some controversy.”
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