Raiders Reborn

The Raiders have made some great adjustments this off season. The biggest and best was the rehiring of NFL hall of famer Art Shell. Shell is tasked with the tough job of bringing the Oakland Raiders back to their glory days. Since Al Davis had the bright idea to trade Raiders Coach Jon Gruden to the Buccaneers five years ago, Oakland has lacked intensity, discipline and leadership.

Though not the first choice of Al Davis, Art Shell is the best choice for the job. Shell has already started preparing the Raiders for a playoff run by creating an experienced coaching staff. The Raiders along with their fans have a reason to believe that this team is something special again.

That being said, there are a few big canker sores in the mouth of the Raiders that needs to go away. The first is Kerry Collins. Collins is a prime example of someone who weighs a team down. I know of no other starting quarterback in the NFL that could perform as poorly as Collins did last year with the talent that surrounded him.

Collins has been in Oakland for two long years, and has proven he is not worth his asking price. And all of this talk about how he won’t play for “peanuts” is ridiculous. He should be lucky if they offered him that much. Collins best years are behind him-if there were any-and the years ahead are only going to get worse. The bottom line is that Collins should be keeping the bench warm.

Al Davis is in love with Collins, and seems to want to ride the Kerry train all the way to a 4 win season again. Another player Davis seems to love is Sebastian Janikowski. This tubby tender toe is a first round draft pick that has done nothing but choke.

Sure, he is on the mark when he is kicking from under 30 yards out. But look away when he tries from any further. I would never put a game in his hands. The Oakland Raiders are almost a respectable team again, all they need is a few tweaks and they’ll be fine.