Raider fans have become accustomed to reading about spirited team meetings over the course of the last 13 months, and according to CBS Sports insider Johnathan Jones, there was another one this week following the firing of offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and two assistants.
Getsy was fired on Sunday night after the Raiders 41-24 loss to the Bengals, and it sounds like Monday was a day for coaches and players to vent and try to figure out why another season is slipping away.
“After Monday’s coaches meeting, the team met with the staff and the floor was open for anyone to speak their mind. According to sources present, a few themes emerged. Players had issues with the schedule not being efficient. There was a lack of organization and ‘wasting time,’ and there was a ‘lack of discipline and accountability,’” Jones reported on Friday.
“Sources tell CBS Sports that several Raiders players, including team captain Maxx Crosby, spoke openly in a players-and-staff meeting Monday addressing what they viewed as inefficiencies and deficiencies within the organization on a week-to-week basis,” Jones continued. “One source described the meeting as ending ‘uncomfortably for all parties.’”
Monday’s meeting sounds a little like the meeting that led to the demise of former head coach Josh McDaniels, but a source told Jones “this meeting was nothing like one between the players and head coach from almost exactly a year ago.”
For the Raiders, this is at least their second meeting of the season where players and coaches have voiced their frustrations in a team setting.
A meeting in September seemed to have some of the same dynamics as Monday’s meeting, albeit without the added elements of a fired coordinator and a 2-7 record.
“[This] meeting was huge because it wasn’t just about players, it was about everybody. The whole building,” Zamir White told members of the media following September’s meeting. “We really got personal, and we talked about it, and we learned from it.”
“I definitely think it was a conversation between the team that needed to happen,” veteran cornerback Nate Hobbs added. “It was productive. Everybody in the room, I think, got things off their mind and I think that they needed to.”
Last year, the season turned around for the Raiders after a feisty closed-door meeting between the players and coaches, but the situation around Pierce isn’t the same as what it was with McDaniels.
By all accounts, Pierce still has the respect of the locker room, but without a quarterback, a top wide receiver, three top defensive players and a healthy offensive line, will any of this year’s meetings actually make a difference?
x: @raidersbeat
This franchise has these “team” meetings every year. It’s all fake. Nobody cares. The organization is a joke. Mark is a chump. Players come to the Raiders grab their bag of money and leave. There is no accountability. Winning doesn’t matter. If away fans sell out the stadium then it doesn’t matter if you go 6-11 every year.
They should stop with we don’t have a top Quarterback or a top Wide recever it’s a negative… a lot of teams didn’t have those players till those players started making plays… start planning for the second half of the season instead of we don’t have… simplify and perfect what can be done… if a play breaks down improvise spy on your Quarterback don’t just run your route… try to mix in a two back set… use a tightend as a fullback who can block and run make the defense think… evaluate during the rest of the season… get better personal not just another superstar from another team who gets a big payday then leaves…
Only this inept franchise finds themselves in situations like this.
Looks like a lot of finger pointing. The players are blaming the coaching, while AP has been pointing the finger at player execution. I guess you can’t fire the players, so three coaches were deemed to be the problem?! Unless we start playing disciplined ball, AP will be one n done.
Well Rich throw your hat in the ring for qb coach OC or something, help the team out have more of an official voice in the organization and bring Lincoln Kennedy with you