There are a lot of great personalities covering the Raiders. From insiders covering the team, to podcast hosts and every other platform on the internet, there’s no lack of content for Raider fans to consume.
The beat writers, journalists and content creators that follow the Raiders are all unique and cover the team from many different angles.
One of the most interesting news perspectives, though, comes from JT The Brick, who literally works inside the team building. His paycheck, or at least one of them, comes from the team that he covers. So, when he speaks on certain matters, it’s usually a good idea to pay attention because it would be naive to think he doesn’t know the mindset of some of the most important people in the building.
This week on his Raider Nation Radio program, JT talked about the identity of the Raiders’ offense and where he thinks the offense has gone wrong this season…
“The offense still has no identity. How Davante Adams can go the second half of a football game and not catch a ball is mind blowing. You have to send the data over to Columbia, Harvard, and Yale to try to figure that out to me. I don’t understand it, and we know Davante is getting frustrated again because when you give him a shutout against Kansas City, that’s not good because you can get him the ball. But they don’t get him the ball and I’m struggling with why they’re not getting [him] the ball.
Why are they not getting it to Michael Mayer enough? Why did Hunter Renfroe disappear under the former regime and now they’re giving him a light little sprinkle. I can tell you exactly why. I figured it out. Because they want this team to be a Josh Jacobs running team and they’re not. They’re not. They’ve tried all year to force this run down everybody’s throat and it’s not working.
Yeah, you get a 60-yard run, you get a 40-yard run. Josh is a very good player. He plays behind an average – I’ll be careful, I didn’t say below average – offensive line. The former regime decided to go with Thayer Mumford, and [Jermaine] Eluemunor as starters and they wouldn’t start anywhere else, pretty much, around the league. They’re good players, but they’re not going to start for the Cowboys, and the Eagles, and the Chiefs, and the Niners. So why are they starting here? They’re starting because we’re playing Davante all that money, which he deserves, and we’re not getting Davante the football.”
It was an entertaining rant from JT, and one that’s hard to disagree with.
But the greater detail, as it pertains to the current coaching staff, might be what he said next. We don’t often get a glimpse into the mind of Mark Davis, but we seemed to get one from JT this week…
“You know what Andy Reid does? Andy Reid [schemes around opposing defenses] but he says ‘I don’t care what they do, we’re doing to do what we want.’ And there might be only one human being who ever lived who had that philosophy more than Andy Reid. A gentleman by the name of Al Davis, who even when the teams weren’t great… Al Davis would walk into a meeting room and say ‘You’re going to attack. You’re going to throw the ball. We are moving the ball. We’re doing this’ because that was the identity of Al Davis.
I know Mark [Davis] has the same identity. I talk to Mark all the time. Mark wants to attack, attack, and win. But Mark listens to the coaches more. Mark gives the coaches, and he gives them their opinion all the time, but Mark always says he knows what he doesn’t know, and Mark has stepped out of the way and let the coaches coach. If they don’t coach well, they get let go. If they coach well, they get contracts.”
We know Davis stays in regular contact with Antonio Pierce, so a radio rant probably isn’t breaking news to anyone in the building… but it’s also might not be something to ignore if you happen a be an offensive coach looking to hang around for another season.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Get Back to what Al Always Wanted, an Offense that could Take the Top Off of Defenses with SPEED!
Easier said than done. Other teams get to draft too and other teams pick up free agents who want to play for them.
Just because Al wanted what he wanted, he didn’t get it for the few decades of his life with the Gannon years excepted.
We are in a division with two great play callers and one great play designer. I am speaking of Andy Reid and Sean Payton. Come to think of it, Payton, while not Reid’s equal in this area, is a good play designer as well.
We need a tremendous O-line. It starts there. It’s amazing how accurate QBs become and what good hands receivers have when the play called is allowed to develop. So, with a strong o-line you get versatile backs, backs with speed, backs that can turn the corner, especially behind good pulling guards. Then, you find two solid WRs. We already have a good guy for TE, if they’ll start using him more.
But through all of the player choices, one has to have either a tremendous OC, or better yet, a head coach who is both head coach and the play caller.
Until we have a top play caller/designer and a GM who can draft guys in the higher rounds who aren’t “developmental cases”, we’re going nowhere in this division.
Davis is going no place soon so you gona have to put up with chucky coming back, gotta love raider haters go raiders
Pierce is not head coach material yet, still too inexperienced. Not capable of halftime adjustments, not only that the play calling is abysmal. We should be going after Harbaugh but I have no faith in the Davis regime. I’m sure Brady has to be telling him to go after Harbaugh both being wolverines but Davis is over his head more than Pierce. Davis has got to go.
Totally agree.
Mark Davis has no clue as to what he is seeing so why discuss what he may wanna see. This horrible owner thought he was seeing right with Gruden in charge of everything then thought he saw enough when hiring these last 2 idiots n giving them keys, then continued to believe he was seeing exactly what an owner should while team was being ran in the dirt. Now I am sure he is seeing wrong when it comes to the GREAT work n progress Pierce is producing just like last interim coach. Thats too bad Davis did not apply same judgment to last 2 set head coaches as he is interim coaches.
Davis is going no place soon so you gona have to put up with chucky coming back, gotta love raider haters go raiders
“they don’t coach well, they get let go. If they coach well, they get contracts.” uh, that’s not quite true. Rich Bisaccia did a **** good job as an interim head coach, the team pulled together and made the playoffs, the players loved him, but Marky let him go. Marky doesn’t have a clue.