Let's tackle the first part of the question first, what exactly did go wrong in 1994? I did my homework; I went to the source that I trust the most, to perhaps the most parroted voice in The Raider Nation, myself: AKA my alter ego, The West Side Pirate, of course. I looked up my articles that were published back then in Silver and Black Illustrated, and it all came back to me once again in detail.
In 1994 and what became Art Shell's last year as Coach of the Raiders, we set a league record (at the time) of 156 penalties by an obviously seriously undisciplined team. Also in 1994 the Raiders gave up the second most sacks in the AFC, the result of holding onto the ball too long in their ancient vertical offense. In '94 we did not make the playoffs despite having a much better roster than the current one. In 1994 Art Shell had serious locker room issues as the result of the faulty play calling of Tom Walsh. In fact, as a result of Walsh's bad play calling, it got to the point that year where Jeff Hostetler and Tim Brown would not talk to Tom Walsh. 1994 was a year of full-blown meltdowns, of angry confrontations on the sidelines between Jeff Hostetler and Coach Art Shell and between Tim Brown and Tom Walsh. If you remember the game in week seven against the Miami Dolphins, you're as die hard a fan as I am. This highly visible full-blown sidelines argument in that game was the result of Jeff Hostetler calling his own plays in the huddle and ignoring the calls Tom Walsh was sending in. The Walsh plays made no sense at all to Jeff Hostetler or to Tim Brown in a game that should have been easily won, but was not. The Raiders lost to the Dolphins 20 to 17 on that Sunday, October 16, 1994. At the end of that year ESPN reported that Jeff Hostetler had had enough of that offense and that he would not honor the next year of his contract with the Raiders.
This would strongly suggest then, with Hostetler's position on Tom Walsh's offense, the Raiders were then forced to make a decision. It was all too apparent that they had lost the locker room with that offense, and that meant someone would have to go: either Tom Walsh or Jeff Hostetler. Fortunately it was Tom Walsh and unfortunately it was also Art Shell, while Jeff Hostetler stayed on and Mike White was then promoted to Head Coach.
Statistics and the dysfunctional relationships under the stress of an offense which did not work makes for good analytical information; however, let's break down the 1994 Raiders' offense and see what went wrong specifically. And sad to say, you will see the same specific problems next year, unless Walsh and Shell take a much different approach, which I will have to see to believe.
Some facts: This is what NFL football analyst Ron Jaworski said after the 1994 Raiders season and his assessment of Tom Walsh's vertical offense: "There are few offenses in the N.F.L. as poorly designed as > the Raiders'. The Raiders' vertical offense does not give the Raiders enough options."
After breaking down the Raiders' game films, Jaworski went on to talk about how he timed how long Hostetler had to hold on to the ball and the extra long routes they had to run in their vertical offensive system. Jaworski continued: "I timed every one of Hostetler's passes in a game against the Chargers. It takes him 3.5 seconds to 4.0 seconds to throw the ball! In the NFL the average a quarterback holds on to the ball in a three-step drop is 1.5 seconds, in a five-step drop it's 2.1 seconds. In the NFL you had better have the ball out of your hands in a seven-step drop in 2.7 seconds. Hoss was holding on to the ball for 3.5 to four seconds!"
Jaworski concluded: "You cannot last holding onto the ball in the NFL for four seconds!"
This, Raider fans, is why the Raiders got so many holding calls and so many sacks in 1994. And this is what you will see next year if they run that same offense of our ancestors' era.
RACK!
If you're not a big fan of former quarterback and football analyst Ron Jaworski, fair enough. Then take it from 1994 Raider insider and backup quarterback Todd Marinovich: "The Raiders offense is in the dark ages and is a dinosaur of the past." Marinovich talked about how he and Tim Brown used to conspire to call their own plays rather than to run the Jurassic ones of back in the day of Fred Blitnokoff and Hippie era football.
Not a big fan of Todd Marinovich? Then take it from Jamie Williams, a former 49er Tight End, who was on the Raiders' roster in 1994 and who won Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers. Jamie Williams said this about the 1994 Raiders offense: "You have to change with the times. It is a much different game than it was years ago. There is a new type of athlete out there now and the game is much faster than it used to be. You have corners that are as fast, if not faster, than receivers now. You have linemen who are as fast as halfbacks used to be. These guys at this level are great athletes, so you have to change with the times as an offense and try to work around that. If you look at my old team the 49ers when we were winning Super Bowls, we got the ball out of the quarterback's hand and into the players' hands and let them work their magic in quicker hitting passes, which is more in line with the speed of today's game. On the Raiders offense of the 60's and 7O's in today's game: "It is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, it just does not fit." Raider fans cannot be encouraged that Jamie Williams was in referring to Tom Walsh's Offense. Can you say, "Uh Ohhh?!"
Tom Walsh went on to design breakfast menus for a Bed and Breakfast place that he ran and, under him, you cannot help but wonder if Goose Egg's will be on the menu for our offense and our scoreboard next year. Art Shell had better wake up real quick and try something different than what we saw in 1994 because it's doubtful that Walsh has ever seen the new zone blitz schemes of twenty first century football. So, what will he do versus the Steelers? By simply cheating the strong safety into the Box and running Cover 1, I watched the Bills shut down the Raiders' running game in the 1990 and 1993 playoffs. Then, once they took away the running game, they simply blitzed the shiznit out of our quarterbacks. No necessary simple adjustments were made by Walsh back then, so how is he going to fare in today's game? Raider fans, just don't run to Vegas with money on the Raiders. Unless they do it differently next season from the way they did it back then and do it with a much less talented roster as well, for the first time in my life I agree with all the dead-last Raider predictions.
Due to highly questionable decision-making of late and loyalty issues to Coaches, we have entered a new era where coaches and free agents are passing up opportunities to be associated with the Raiders.
I hate the Tom Walsh hiring. We yanked a guy away from a Bed and Breakfast and handed him and OC job because Shell is comfortable with him - bottom line.
Having Shell back in the organization may turn out to be a good thing, but don't tell me that either him or Walsh are great X and O guys and are the kind of offensive game planners that the team needs to be successful.
I hate the vertical game, I've always hated the vertical game. IMO it is one of the primary reasons why Gallery and Grove have failed to develop as expected. You simply can't put an O lineman out on an island for 5 to 7 seconds regularly in todays NFL.
I will for the life us me never understand why the organization was in such a hurry to go back to an outdated system the year after going to the Super Bowl.
It's like Gruden came in here and changed the philosophy of the team and the second he left we forgot all about what had changed the fortune of our franchise.
It also will never cease to amaze me the amount of Raider fans that were calling for Collins to start over Gannon.
I wasn't posting here at the time but you can believe that on another Raider board I was going back and forth with many a fan regarding their short term memories and misguided love for the deep ball.
Aaron Brooks and his ability to move around is a good thing but at the same time I can't say I'm comfortable going into the season with a guy who makes as many stupid decisions as he does.
Brooks may have great physical tools but I think he lacks intangibles and that is something you simply can't teach.
Rack the everloving fuck out of that. I couldn't have said it better in a million years. Gruden should have been extended after our AFC Championship game loss to the Ravens. I know the situation became unrepairable after that and Gruden needed to go but then we turned right the fuck around and pissed away all of the draft picks we got for him.Due to highly questionable decision-making of late and loyalty issues to Coaches, we have entered a new era where coaches and free agents are passing up opportunities to be associated with the Raiders.
Indirectly we used a few of those picks and another of our high #1's to acquire Randy Moss. I get that argument and know it's coming but still we fucked up a great opportunity to rebuild an aging team and are paying for it right now.
No one with any credibility wants to coach here. And why would they? You know going in that if you push an asshole like Porter he simply will run and cry to Old man Davis and Davis will side with the player like he always does. What kind of coach with any integrity would want any part of that?
I'm hoping Shell can change the culture but he couldn't before.
What exactly is different now?
I know 55-39 or whatever the record was. A huge improvement over our current state to be sure but are we really pushing just to be in the hunt for a wild card every year?
Is this really what we are settling for?
I want Championships goddamnit! Why else bother to show up?
I'm willing to endure another shitty season or two if I feel we are moving in the right direction. I'm still not sold on passing on Leinart for that very reason.
If Art Shell was our first choice he would have been hired much much earlier. The bottom line is that several others turned the job before we settled on the guy.
No spinning that, it's the truth.
A desperate reach for a desperate team IMO.
Here is to hoping he makes me eat my words and appolgize after the season.
Rant over.
