Davis Fires Kiffin......I'm in Shock

The Raiders finally fired Head Coach Lane Kiffin today, ending months of speculation that his tenure as head coach would not last much longer. This came as a shock to nobody, including Kiffin himself.

The speculation began following last season, when Kiffin, the youngest head coach in the league (only 33 years old now), had just finished his first season as head coach of the Raiders. Kiffin wanted to fire defensive coordinator Rob Ryan and replace him with his father, Monte Kiffin, one of the best coordinators in NFL history. Owner Al Davis wouldn't let him do it. Davis tried to get Kiffin to resign, Kiffin refused. Since then, it has been pretty clear that it wouldn't be a matter of whether Davis fired Kiffin, but more a matter of when.

The matter of how does bring up some questions, however. Rather than fire Kiffin in a face-to-face meeting, Davis chose to do it over the phone. Personally, I would have preferred a singing telegram, but that might just be me. Perhaps more importantly, Kiffin was fired without pay. Now I'm no lawyer, and I haven't seen his contract, but I find it a little hard to believe that Davis can do that. In fact, continuing to get paid may have been the biggest reason Kiffin refused to resign, because resignation equals no money while pink slip equals money. A simple formula, really. Now it remains to be seen whether this will ring true.

In Kiffin's one plus years as coach, the Raiders have clearly become more competitive, although the record hasn't shown that as much. It also usually takes more than a year to turn a team around. Case in point, Bill Belichick's first year with the Patriots, the team went 5-11. The following year, when they eventually went on to win the Super Bowl, they started out 1-3, which, wouldn't you know it, is the Raiders' record right now. And of course since that season, the Patriots have won 2 more Super Bowls, appeared in one more, and had a winning record in every season.

Now I'm not saying Kiffin is another Belichick, a Hall of Fame coach, I'm merely pointing out that these things can take a little bit of time, and patience isn't a bad thing. Of course, if history is any indication, Al Davis doesn't know the meaning of patience. Interim coach Tom Cable, who was tabbed to replace Kiffin, is the team's fifth head coach since the start of the 2003 season, when their streak of season's with a losing record began. For those counting at home, that is five coaches in six years. If that isn't a lack of patience, I don't know what is.

Which brings up my next point. Bill Belichick has control of personnel on the Patriots, something that Kiffin never had with the Raiders. In fact, he was against some of the major free agent signings in the offseason. Who does have control? Al Davis of course. With all those coaching changes, Davis is the only thing constant with the team. Not only is he the one who brings in the players, but he also brings in the coaches. But like a child with ADD who tires of a toy quickly, Davis tires of his coaches and sends them packing.

As for Kiffin, as I mentioned earlier, he is only 33 years old. He will get another job, whether as a head coach or an assistant, and should eventually be an NFL head coach again. Who knows, maybe he'll "pull a Mike Shanahan." Shanahan, of course, was a young coach (37), much like Kiffin, who was fired by Al Davis during his second season at the helm of the Raiders, much like Kiffin. In fact, Shanahan even still believes he is owed money by Davis, which may or may not end up happening to Kiffin. But what did Shanahan do after he was fired? After becoming an assistant on the Broncos, then the 49ers, he was hired as head coach of the (Raiders division rival) Broncos in 1995, six years after being fired. Since then, he has become one of the best and most respected coaches in the league, winning 62.7 percent of his games and two Super Bowls since then.

Will Kiffin end up doing something similar, going to another AFC West team, being more successful, and rubbing it in Al Davis' face? I don't know. But I do know that the Kansas City Chiefs head coaching job may be open soon. I'm just saying....

First Brady, Now Beckett....

Three weeks ago, I wrote about a Boston area team's losing a star player, and with that loss, possibly also losing their chance at a championship. Now I'm getting worried there is a theme starting to develop.

Josh Beckett has a strained oblique and will have his planned Game 1 start pushed back to (hopefully) Game 3. Mike Lowell is still having hip problems and his status is up in the air. Ditto for JD Drew and his back. So does that mean the Red Sox World Series hopes are up in the air too?

While these are three major blows to the team's chances, they could end up not being that big of a deal. All three players could end up playing, and this would be much ado about nothing. But what if the injuries are all worse than expcted? What if Beckett isn't ready by Game 3, and Lowell and Drew are both too hurt to play at all?

While it would make things more difficult, the Red Sox have enough depth that they could possibly win without these guys. In Drew's absence, both Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury, who were mostly splitting time in centerfield while Drew was in right, have been hitting big.

Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka, while not possesing the same postseason resume as Beckett, have put up better numbers this year. The two of them should be good, with the hope that Paul Byrd or Tim Wakefield can fill in and pitch well in the event that Beckett can't go in Game 3. They should be alright.

If Lowell is out, the fill-in options are probably not as good, with possible replacements including Alex Cora, or possibly Sean Casey or Jeff Bailey at first with Kevin Youkilis moving to third. There is even the small possibility that Lowell or Drew is healthy even to DH but not play the field, in which case they could play David Ortiz at first and Youks at third. I don't think that's likely, but hey, it's possible.

Hopefully, the injury situation turns out to be alright. And if not, they still have a pretty good shot at doing well.

I just hope I don't end up writing about a serious injury to Kevin Garnett or Paul Pierce in three weeks.

The Blog Returns........Are the Patriots Done After Week One?

As we rode the shuttle bus back to the parking lot this past Saturday, following BC's disappointing loss to Georgia Tech, the mood wasn't particularly upbeat. After all, the new quarterback, Chris Crane, had played terribly in the ACC opener, the first game of the post-Matt Ryan era.

"If this is how the quarterback play is going to be this year," I said, "we're going to be in for a long season."

It isn't that we expected Crane to be another Matt Ryan. We just were hoping he could be competent enough that the running game and excellent defense could win some games in what, at least early on, looks like a weak year for ACC football. Following his first ACC start, however, pessimism became the overriding theme on that bus ride.

But our spirits changed a bit when we remembered how we would cope with a BC home loss a few years ago, before we expected them to win every home game.

”At least we have the Patriots.”

Flash forward to Sunday, 7:27 left in the first quarter of the first game of the Patriots’ season. Following a completed pass to Randy Moss, Bernard Pollard of the Chiefs hit reigning league MVP Tom Brady low. Brady remained down on the field, clearly in a lot of pain. The replays showed the left knee bend in a way that a knee is not supposed to bend.

Brady did not return to the game. Following the conclusion of the game and into the night, various sources reported that Brady has a torn ACL and will not play another game this season. The Super Bowl favorites lost their leader as the team’s fans lost much optimism for this season.

The injury had almost a devastating effect on fans like me, fans who couldn’t wait for the new season to begin after the unmatched unbeaten run in 2007 ended with the devastating loss in the Super Bowl. This first game, against the lowly Chiefs, was supposed to provide some healing from that loss. It was supposed to show the fans that last year was last year, but there will be no hangover from that loss; the Patriots are back and a team to be reckoned with. But instead, midway through the first quarter of the first game, the best player in the game was knocked out for the year.

Suddenly, instead of being freed from the Super Bowl loss, the fans are pulled back into it. That devastating feeling of having your optimism crushed came back. Except this time, instead of losing the Super Bowl in Week 21 like they did last year, the Patriots may have lost it in Week 1. This was supposed to be their redemption year. Now it may end up a forgotten year.

So where do the Patriots turn now? Their starting quarterback for the remainder of the season (barring injury of course) is Matt Cassel. The same Matt Cassel who admitted following the game that the last time he played that much in a non-exhibition was in high school. The same Matt Cassel who played so poorly in preseason that most people didn’t expect him to even make the team, and many fans were downright confused when he did. The same Matt Cassel who has made a career out of being a backup to the best, whether at USC behind Carson Palmer and then Matt Leinart or with the Patriots behind Brady. Now it is that Matt Cassel’s turn to step into the spotlight and hope it doesn’t burn him.

Cassel has always joked that as the backup to two Heisman Trophy winners and now the reigning NFL MVP, it was possible that he was actually the second best quarterback in the country. Now would be a nice time to show that, but he doesn’t have to be another Brady. Just like Crane taking over for Ryan, you don’t expect him to be the best. You just hope he can be competent enough that the running game and defense can win some games in a weak AFC East.

The best case scenario for the Patriots this year is a Super Bowl title. Even without Tom Brady, they have enough talent to win and a coaching staff that can figure out how to get it done. They won’t dominate like they did last year but as the Giants showed, you don’t have to dominate the whole season, you just have to get to the Super Bowl and play a great game once you get there. Without Brady, the team also now has a cause to rally behind, that they can win it without him, which from a motivational standpoint is always good.

Realistically, even if they don’t win the Super Bowl, with a weak schedule, the Patriots should at least make the playoffs. They will change the offense to rely more on the run, and Cassel won’t have to do nearly as much as Brady did. Although when he needs to throw the ball, it will be nice to have Randy Moss to throw it up to.

Although I initially was devastated by the Brady injury, I now feel a bit of optimism about this season. Maybe not quite as much as I did on Saturday, but I still think this Patriots team is going to be very good. And if not?

“At least we have the Red Sox.”