According to a Thursday report in The Athletic, the Raiders had major accountability issues in the locker over the past few months (or probably a little longer than that actually).
More accurately, the report came via The Athletic, by way of wide receiver Nelson Agholor, though not first-hand from Agholor (who apparently isn’t talking) as it comes on account of sources that were in the room when Agholor said what he apparently said after the Raiders stunning loss to the Dolphins in week 16.
Got all that?
Now here are the details as told by The Athletic’s Vic Tafur:
“Agholor, according to those in the room, said his teammates were selfish and didn’t work hard enough, and that they had quit against the Dolphins as well as in the previous two losses. He said there was no accountability in the locker room, and on winning teams players play for one another and the coaches. The Raiders’ performance over the previous six games was unacceptable, and too many people within the team were just flat-out accepting it.
Agholor told his teammates that they sucked.
Then, according to witnesses, he was done and there was silence. Gruden didn’t respond, and neither did any of the players.”
What we know about Agholor is that he is a veteran player who knows what it takes to win in the NFL. If he thinks the Raiders locker room sucks, then it probably does.
And given the fact that Agholor wasn’t afraid to stand in front of the team and tell them what they needed to hear, it’s all the more important that the Raiders find a way to bring him back next year… and kindly part ways with whatever bad seeds they have in the locker room.
twitter: @raidersbeat
Once again when you get rid of Derek Carr,you will start winning.Seven loosing seasons as a starting qb.Great qb’s find a way to win.Derek Carr is a looser
Correct yourself 1 winning season.
Agholor was clearly tired of seeing a team that has become accustomed to losing without consequence. There has been a culture of losing for the better part of 20 years within the Raiders organization. Sadly it’s this type of culture that creates a major obstacle of attracting top tier talent, or retaining their own talent. Look at how many former Raiders played contributing roles for their teams in the playoffs this year. Agholor wants 11 million a year to play for the Raiders next year. I’d be willing to bet he’d be willing to take less money to be part of a winning organization.
It’s not Carr.. and it’s not loosing. It’s losing..
Hahaha, what you take from this report is the same lame “it’s DC’s fault” shtick? Are you serious?! Dude, it’s right in front of your face but you can’t see it. Nelly can see it. I guarantee DC was not who Nelly was targeting. For the millionth time, DC is NOT the problem. There is a problem(DEFENSE) but you don’t understand what it will take to solve it. I’ve never seen a less deserving scapegoat than DC. Y’all need to move on to something that will truly improve this team.
“Loser” only has one ‘o’……loser. Derek Carr ain’t the problem. If you can’t see that, go root for KC cuz the rest of us are tired of yall.
One again Carr is bot to blame for the defense allowing 29 point per game. Football knowledge would be helpful here….
Once you figure out the difference between loose and lose then maybe people will listen to your “hot takes” even if they are stupid.
Well done,sometimes you need to be reminded to be a part of and not just a part,be accountable
Good for him; why isn’t the QB, who seems pretty content with an 8-8 season, doing the same?
Fake news, bro. Show me one shred of proof that DC is ok with losing. I can show you a whole bunch that says he’s not.
I have been a Raider since 1968. There ARE NOT many men that I have loved in my life outside of family. Take that any way you want to but I meant it from an intellectual standpoint. However NOW, I LOVE Nelson Agholor!!!!! IF this report is accurate, then HE is the current embodiment of what a Raider should and was meant to be. Given what this article has said, there was a similar moment in Raiders history where a player stepped up and called out his Raider teammates. It was on December 26, 1992. For those of you who have seen the movie the Longest Yard, THAT movie took moments from the Raiders last play 1992 win over the Washington Redskins. It was also in this game that the announcer said “I don’t know whats wrong with the Raiders but they just aren’t playing like the Raiders.” The coach was Art Shell and the quarterback was Vince Evans. THIS was the game where Art Shell did something that had NEVER been done in football history. Art Shell called a time out and apparently was in total agreement with the announcer’s assessment of how the Raider’s defense was playing. When the announce saw Art Shell call this time out and call his entire defense off the field and over to the sideline, the announcer said’ “I’ve NEVER seen anything like this before but coach Shell has called his entire defense over to the sideline. This is most unusual.” In that huddle, there was ONLY ONE animated person talking and that was coach Art Shell. For those who can, PLEASE find this video and you will see the unparallelled intensity that coach Shell “delivered” his “message” with. While the news article below says that coach Shell “reminded” his defense of the imortance of playing good and intelligen football, to this very day, when asked EXACTLY what a visually animated coach Shell said to them in that huddle, Hall of Famer Howie Long will NOT say but he will say that “…we got the message.” AFTER that time out, on each one of the next three successive plays, the announcer said the same thing each time, “I don’t know what coach Shell said to them but “NOW” (with emphasis) the Raiders “ARE” playing like the Raiders. Based on what this story says about Nelson Agholor disposition about losing has reported, I believe that Agholor, not unlike coach Shell in 1992, made his “extreme dissatisfaction known” with how “some” people on the current Raiders roster have been “playing,” or “not playing,” so to speak. With all things being equal, by comparison, what was MISSING this season as opposed to the 1992 game, from the Raiders, was the coach Shell AND the Vince Evans moments. Below is a newspaper article, from that time, written about that game. For certain, “SOME” of the SAME problems and DISPOSITIONS that existed in the 1992 game and season were/are present in the 2020 Las Vegas Raiders season, as well, as Nelson Agholor has attested to.
QB Vince Evans Led the Injury-Plagued 1992 Raiders to Win Over Redskins in Washington.
December 26, 1992
The Christmas season of 1992 was not a joyous time for the Los Angeles Raiders. An injury-riddled squad was beset with personnel problems of various sorts and would not spend the holiday season preparing for the playoffs. And, the Grinch who stole Christmas had put the Raiders on the road over Christmas. Cross-country in Washington, D.C., the men of the ’92 Los Angeles Raiders were away from family and loved ones. Their Christmas dinner had been served at 33,000 feet up on a jet charter. By being scheduled to play on Saturday on the road, these Raiders went into the final game of the ’92 campaign with neither Christmas companionship nor championship chances.
By contrast, the hometown Redskins would be playing before a sellout crowd of rabid rooters, families and friends. If they emerged victorious, they would be guaranteed a spot in the 1992 NFL playoffs.
The weather in RFK Stadium was clear at kickoff time, but windy and cold. With a 4:00 p.m. kickoff so the interconference clash could be the featured second game of the Saturday national television pairings, the darkness would soon settle in and the temperature of 36 degrees at kickoff would rapidly fall below freezing. Injuries would keep veteran OTs Bruce Wilkerson and Steve Wright and impressive rookie DT Chester McGlockton either out or available only on a limited basis for this season finale. MLB Riki Ellison was another late season casualty as Head Coach Art Shell and his staff primed their charges.
At quarterback would be Jay Schroeder, a former Redskin when Washington was a Super Bowl team. Schroeder, who had shared time at QB with Todd Marinovich, was finishing an erratic season. Schroeder had completed less than 50 percent of his passes and had thrown only 11 touchdowns. Perhaps his familiarity with the swirling winds in RFK would help spark a big game.
The Redskins came out tough from the very beginning, driving from their own 16 to the Raiders 20 on their first possession. The Raiders defense stiffened, with key hits by LBs Aaron Wallace and Winston Moss. A missed 38-yard field goal by Chip Lohmiller left the scoreboard blank.
Just four plays later, a Schroeder long pass intended for WR Sam Graddy was intercepted by the Skins and returned to their own 41. Three incompletions by Washington QB Mark Rypien and the Silver and Black had the ball back. The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie, though the Redskins held the ball for nearly 11 of the 15 minutes played.
The hometown Redskins got a major break early in the second quarter when a Terry McDaniel pass interception was nullified by a penalty. With second life, the Washington team moved down the field and ended with a 39-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead that stood at halftime.
On the final series of the first half Coach Shell made a change at quarterback, inserting 37-year old, 13-season veteran Vince Evans under center. Evans completed two of his four attempts but also ran twice for 15 yards to add another dimension to the Raiders offense that had netted only 90 yards in the half.
Late in the third quarter, the Raiders went ahead 7-3 when speedy WR Alexander Wright – who had joined the Silver and Black in an October trade engineered by Al Davis with the Dallas Cowboys – out-ran a Redskins defender to complete a brilliant 41-yard touchdown play and a Raiders march of 69 yards in just six snaps.
But Washington, responding to the wildly supportive crowd and the strains of “Hail to the Redskins,” came right back as Rypien hit old pro Art Monk for 49 yards and the go-ahead touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. Redskins 10- Raiders 7.
There had been only 17 points scored in the game’s first 45 minutes. There would be 24 points scored in the final 15.
Early in the fourth period, Tim Brown fumbled on an end around and Washington LB Andre Collins ended up with the ball and an apparent clear field down the right sideline. But young Brown and ageless Evans were in hot pursuit, avoiding blockers and forcing Collins out of bounds on the Raiders six-yard-line.
Three plays later a determined Raiders defense had kept the Redskins five yards away from the end zone. Washington booted a 22-yard field goal, upped their lead to six, 13-7, but had settled for four important points less than the touchdown would have produced.
A 22-yard kickoff return launched a Raiders drive from their own 33. With pro sophomore Nick Bell as the heavy duty ball carrier and Evans completing short passes to Brown, Marcus Allen, Napoleon McCallum and Wright, the Raiders moved forward relentlessly. The touchdown came on a sweep left by Bell from five yards out, with 4:03 left to play. Jeff Jaeger’s extra point was good and the Raiders led, 14-13.
Back came the Redskins, fighting for a playoff possibility. This time, a 43-yard Rypien to Monk pass put them in close, and a one-yard run by Ricky Ervine put them back ahead, 20-14, with only 1:57 remaining on the game clock.
Coach Shell huddled his troops on the sideline and “reminded” them of the need to keep their poise, the need to play intelligent physical football for every one of the 117 seconds that remained in their 1992 season.
“Play Raider football,” directed Shell. “Now, let’s go.”
And “go” they did. Starting on their own 20 after the kickoff, the Raiders faced a wild, hostile crowd, a wild, hostile opponent, in cold, windy conditions. The three time outs had been carefully hoarded by Coach Shell and would be pivotal in the long drive. A field goal would have no value. The white-jersied Raiders would have to travel the full 80 yards to earn a win. Evans was angered. Several of his teammates talked of being tired. He would hear none of it.
“We can win this game. We WILL win this game,” he yelled.
The drive started in reverse. A six-yard run was followed by a holding penalty on the next pass and the time grew shorter and the distance longer. Now, with 1:43 left, the Raiders were 86 yards away. Evans then passed to Allen for 13 yards. After the timeout, a Raiders sweep and a Washington offsides moved the chains. First-and-10 on the Los Angeles 37.
Then, with flawless protection from the big front line, Evans found former Olympian Willie Gault streaking down the left hash mark, deep into Washington territory. A perfect pass, a perfect catch, and the Raiders had a 50-yard gain. It was now first-and-10 on the Washington 8 with 51 seconds left. Another timeout stopped the clock as the Silver and Black offense regrouped. Bell ran right for three yards, then up the middle for two more. The Raiders called a timeout.
The Silver and Black had three yards left, 21 seconds left, and two downs left. The crowd roared for their Redskins to “hold that line.” The only support for the Raiders came from an excited sideline. The cold was no longer noticeable. Everyone was sweating this one out.
The third-down pass, Evans to TE Ethan Horton, fell incomplete. Now it was fourth-and-goal from the three. More accurately, it was now forth and game from the three. Evans took the snap, set straight back. A Redskins blitzing linebacker bore down on the Raiders quarterback. This pass would have to be thrown quickly, and it was. Evans drilled Brown breaking straight along the goal line, just inside the end zone. Brown made the catch and the crowd suddenly silenced. The official’s arms went straight up. Touchdown Raiders.
A perfect snap from center Dan Turk to holder Jeff Gossett, a perfect spot and a perfect extra-point kick by Jeff Jaeger completed a patented Raiders rally, and the 1992 season for the Silver and Black closed with a classic comeback victory over the Washington Redskins, 21-20.
“It’s definitely great to come back the way we did,” G Max Montoya said in the noisy Raiders locker room.
“Athletes dream about times like this,” said a tired but elated Evans. “I really felt good out there… I’ve always felt my latter days would be better because of a sense of maturity. And when it happens, it’s really beautiful.”
I believe him. You can see it most Sundays and it all starts at the top. I love Chucky but he might not be the guy.
I agree with Vince Evans totally but all things being equal let’s quit slamming Derek Carr! His work ethic is above reproach and his stats show him to be among the best. You can’t blame him when the defense gives us the game after he brought them back to win. Jon Gruden is still the coach they need and he understands how to win as he demonstrated when he formally coached them. Get a decent DC which I hope they have and you will see a playoff bound them in 2021! Once a Raider always a Raider!
If he really did this and it actually happened then good for him cause he is right and someone needs to call these guys out. But at the same time I doubt this a little because of who wrote it, vik tafur is a scumbag liar who makes **** up just so he can have something to right about and makes claims that he pulls out of his ***. I can’t believe the raiders let this guy be one of there writers. No one likes him or trusts what he says.