This week, we add ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown to our Sunday quotes. And they get to go first this week as the show is actually on before Fox NFL Sunday.
Can any coach succeed with the Oakland Raiders?
Mike Ditka: “I don’t think anybody wants to go there, you are not going to get a good coach. In six years, he’s (Al Davis) had five head coaches he has fired. Three of them are head coaches in the National Football League and they are doing very well. So, it tells you it is not always about the coaches. Here’s the thing. This whole thing came down to money. It is irresponsible that he’d do what he’s doing this young man. This is very, very unfair. I hate to say it.
“When I was fired by the Bears, I had a year left on my contract. Immediately, the commissioner of football Pete Rozelle stepped in and said you will pay that final year on my contract. That’s what he did. Did he have to do that? I don’t think he had to do that. But it is the right thing to do. This kid didn’t bring on what happened. Al Davis brought it on. This is wrong gang.”
Keyshawn Johnson: “A good coach can succeed anywhere if he has the opportunity and the time to put his program in place. When you look at Al Davis and you look at the situation in Oakland, he’s impatient. You look at Jon Gruden – Jon Gruden had an opportunity to put that program in place. A year after his departure, they go on to the Super Bowl. They play us in the Super Bowl, but then (Bill) Callahan is fired. And ever since then, this team has gone straight down. So you have to have time to put it in place. Al Davis wants to have success instantly, and you can’t in the National Football League.”
Tom Jackson: “More than about time, I think it is about a kind of paranoia. It gets worse as the time goes on. He said – he said, it doesn’t matter. I said at the beginning of this, this is about not wanting to pay Lane Kiffin. Al Davis has had success in this league doing that – not paying head coaches, getting angry with guys and not completing contracts with them. I think that’s the problem. The catch-22 here, all this talent on this football team, the only guys who are going to come in and coach this team are guys who are young and desperate to get a job, and the guys who are being recycled for the second and third time who’ll do anything because they haven’t had success. How are you going to get a guy like, and I use his name again, how are you going to get a guy like (former Steelers coach) Bill Cowher? Even if it was $10 million a year, he’s not going to take a step toward the Oakland Raiders.”
Cris Carter: “In watching this, it was sad to watch. It was sad to watch someone who had impact on the National Football League, like Al Davis, in a positive sense. He’s done some great things with that franchise through the years. But Lane Kiffin didn’t know one thing. He did not know, when he took that job, that Al Davis was going to be on his coaching staff. Al Davis is an old football coach. Old football coaches are always the same, just like old boxers, they won’t quit. They always want to coach. No one told Lane – ‘Hey Lane, when you take over Oakland, Al Davis is on your staff.’”
Chris Berman: “Al is a Hall-of-Famer, always will be. It just was not a hall of fame week or hall of fame scenario.”
Patriots or Colts: Who’s in more trouble?
Mike Ditka: “The Colts are. They are 32nd in trying to stop the run and 31st running the football. I don’t care, all the bye weeks I the world can’t change that. The other thing is the timing right now between Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, its not just what it seemed to be. Marvin Harrison is a heck of a football player, they are just not in sync right now. I think they have problems.”
Keyshawn Jackson: “Both teams are in a little bit of trouble. One team lost the best player in the league. That’s going to be the most trouble anybody is going to have all year. When we saw them two weeks ago, to put it bluntly, ‘we can’t run the ball, we can’t stop the run, we can’t pass the ball, we can’t stop the pass.’ All of that is not Matt Cassel’s fault. I don’t know how much of that you can fix in two weeks. But the ongoing question – who’s in the most trouble, the team that lost Tom Brady.”
Cris Carter: “Both teams that we’re trying to discuss are built for their quarterbacks. One has their quarterback, one doesn’t have their quarterback … I’m not going to say I don’t think they can throw, they think they can’t throw. If you look at their playbook, four pass attempts over 20 yards in three games. Now, this is a team that’s built for (Tom) Brady, operated by Brady, and can’t be operated by anyone else. So, forget my opinion, their play calling dictates to me that Cassel is not a great reader of coverages and they don’t have confidence in him.”
Keyshawn Johnson: “I wouldn’t panic right now. You are in the first quarter of a four-quarter season. In the first quarter, the Buffalo Bills are leading this division in the AFC right now – New England wins today, Buffalo loses, they pretty much are even … You’ve got two veteran coaches here who know how to make changes. When things are tough, these two coaches, coach (Tony) Dungy and coach (Bill) Belichick, have been in these situations before. I wouldn’t just say they’re in trouble.”
Over to Fox NFL Sunday:
Analyst Howie Long’s take on the Lane Kiffin firing this week: “I played there 13 years and 95% of the time Al Davis was a great owner. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been part of the organization so I can’t speak to the day-to-day operations. But if you’re Lane Kiffin, you should know what you are getting into. He has access to a guy like Jon Gruden who coached there. Don’t be surprised when the owner who coached in the league and built three world championships gives input on a day-in-day-out basis on the goings on of the football team. Don’t be shocked by that.”
Analyst Jimmy Johnson voices his concerns with the way Al Davis runs the Raiders: “I have two problems with Al Davis. First of all in today’s game with the salary cap and free agency, one person can’t make all of those decisions, even as dominant as he is. Especially at 79 years old. Secondly, he admitted that he made a mistake in hiring Lane Kiffin. He said ‘I hired the wrong guy.’ Well, if you hired the wrong guy, fire him, pay him and move on. What is all this?”
Howie Long’s outlook for the Raiders: “I think the Raiders are headed in the right direction. There’s a lot of young talent there. The question is, can they get a credible head coach there after balking on paying two coaches.”
Michael Strahan on a possible candidate: “There’s always coaches who want the job. I think Jim Fassel would take that job.”
FOX NFL Insider Jay Glazer reported new developments that Kiffin may file more than just a grievance with the NFL to get the money from his Raiders contract: “This week, Lane Kiffin will file a grievance against Al Davis and the Raiders to try to get that money back and that ruling will come from the Commissioner. But the bigger story here is that those close to Lane are trying to convince him to file a defamation lawsuit against Al Davis. [Davis] called him a liar this week, he threw insults at him and this could hurt [Kiffin’s] future earnings. It just gets very bizarre out there in Oakland.”
Analyst Michael Strahan offers Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens some advice if he wants to win a ring this season: “I understand that players have a need to complain. I did it. But you never let your complaining effect your quest for a championship. It’s never going to be a smooth ride to a championship and there will be six or seven more times that the boat is going to get rocked this season. But T.O. please don’t tip it over. Help steady the boat. My advice to you is to go into the locker room and find Marion Barber. Just look at the guy. He only touched the ball eight times last week but you never heard one word. He doesn’t have the stats, money, accolades or fame you have. But he has it exactly right and that’s the type of attitude that will win you a ring. And I want you to have one.”
Analyst Jimmy Johnson reacts to the Cowboys’ surprising loss at home to the Redskins last week: “As much visibility as they have, they get an inflated sense of how good they are and they get lax with the little things like turnovers and penalties. Unless they get more physical and more disciplined, they’re not even going to win the NFC East, much less in the playoffs.”
Co-host Terry Bradshaw on the belief that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo should look for more opportunities to throw more to receiver Terrell Owens: “As a former quarterback, the worst thing you can do is go out and say ‘I’m going to throw it to you T.O. I’m going to make you happy.’ That would be a big huge mistake. T.O. if you get open, you’ll catch it after you go through your progressions. Romo would be making a monstrous mistake.”
Analyst Michael Strahan on whether he thought suspended receiver Plaxico Burress will be watching the Giants play today: “Plaxico is on vacation. I can’t tell you where. I don’t know if he gets reception where he is.”
Finally, NBC’s Football Night in America.
CRIS COLLINSWORTH ON THE GIANTS OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION WITHOUT PLAXICO BURRESS: "Don't mess up. Nobody's indispensable."
BEN ROETHLISBERGER IN INTERVIEW WITH JEROME BETTIS: "It's nice because in the meetings Bus with you gone I can hear coach because you're not in the back snoring."
JEROME BETTIS ON ROETHLISBERGER: "The question I was asking myself is 'was he ready to be a leader in the locker room' and after this interview, the answer's yes."
PETER KING ON TITANS QB SITUATION: "I spoke to Kerry Collins and he told me I don't feel I can be a backup anymore."
KEITH OLBERMANN ON TOMLINSON APPROACHING O.J. SIMPSON ON ALL-TIME RUSHING YARDS LIST: "Tomlinson, 35 yards, did not pass O.J. on the all-time list, that was the highlight of Simpson's weekend –well the jury's still out."
CRIS COLLINSWOR
TH ON SAGE ROSENFELS FUMBLING AFTER TRYING TO LEAP OVER A DEFENDER: "We would never have Costas jumping over the top, we'd have him sliding underneath."
That is all.
