THE BLOG HOLE: Silver & Black Discussion
- Asomougha, We Hardly Knougha
Barry Manilow once sang a song that captures how I feel right now, I think it went... "ooohhhh Nnamdi, well you came and you gave without taking, but I sent you away, ooooohhh Nnamdi" or something like that.
What I mean to say is that was by far the weirdest superstar-team break-up in the history of the NFL, especially considering it involved the league's current standard-bearer for sloppy separations, your 2011 Oakland Raiders. This is the franchise that witnessed such trainwrecks as: the Marcus Allen drama, Randy Moss openly dogging it after 5 yards and forcing a trade, Warren "please-for-the-love-of-christ stop-opening-your-mouth-you-moron" Sapp opening his fat mouth too much, and of course Emperor Palpatine and his overhead projector firing his bratty child/ mercenary coach (a.k.a. "The Greatest Presser Ever Held").
No press conference, not even a sour remark to the media about the contract the Eagles gave the former Cal safety and Bay Area favorite son as the Raiders quietly went about the business of preparing for a fast-approaching season while another dominant CB turned in his jersey and cashed in on the FA market. Heck, demi-bust Robert Gallery (that's what you call a #2 overall pick who ends up a really good guard) never uttered a word in anger about the organization despite some historically bad seasons, and Al still managed to gently kick him in the ass on his way out by allowing it to be leaked that his contract demands were outrageously high. I mean, didn't Al invent "outrageous" anyway? Any Raider fan will admit that the team's secretive and smugly self-assured old general outrages us plenty. No matter how bad it got though - and it got pretty bad a couple seasons ago when fans went so far as to rent a billboard near the team's offices imploring Mr. Davis to hire a GM - Raider fans always know that in the end Al Davis wants exactly what we do: Just Win, Baby. Davis has made his share of mistakes, but few who have observed Mr. Davis in his capacity as owner, GM and coach (AFL Coach of the Year, in 1963) doubt his ability to find another quality corner to pair with Stan Routt on a matching island across the field.
There's no way around the fact that losing your best player hurts your team, especially when he also happens to be the best at his position in the game. Make no mistake, Asomougha's worth every penny the Iggles stuffed in his pockets, but over the decades Davis has drafted for volume and athleticism at the CB position, batting about .500 as far as every-down players for the defensive backfield. Considering how boom-or-bust these kinds of prospects tend to be, .500 isn't too bad. In fact, it's so not bad that the Raiders can trot out an unbroken chain of HOF/ Pro-Bowl corners dating back to 1963 that's only 6 names long:
Willie Brown (HOF) -> Lester Hayes (HOF) -> Mike Haynes -> Terry McDaniel -> Charles Woodson -> Nnamdi Asomougha
And that's without even getting into the list of HOF safeties Davis drafted (Tyvon Branch is the next impact guy at that position). The Raiders have had an historically awful run since their Super Bowl beatdown against Gruden (against his own playbook), but the one position that is not responsible for the team's failings is CB. Blame it on the D-line, blame it on the clusterfuck that passed for the QB position after Gannon, but it can't be blamed on Nnamdi and the CBs Davis has brought in, which is exactly why the news hasn't sparked panic in Oakland, or grouchy press conferences with projectors and circles and arrows and such, as some of the talking (fat Sapp-shaped) heads might have you expecting. The fact is that the Raiders front office (that's MR. DAVIS to you) have proven capable of filling that position before and they'll need to do it again if the Raiders ever want to become a championship-caliber defense.
Routt seems capable of holding down one side, so as long as the Raiders don't go back to the FA well (The Larry Brown and DeAngelo Hall debacles have made me a little nervous about the Cromartie rumors) Davis's track record identifying talent at CB tells us there's a chance someone will emerge from a group of recent draftees including Walter McFadden, Jeremy Ware, Demarcus Van Dyke and Chimdi Chekwa. Obviously it hurts the Raiders to lose a player of Asomougha's caliber, but there's no reason the loss should derail a defense on the rise, especially when all the talent they've amassed on the defensive front figures to have opposing QBs on the run enough to take some heat off the inexperienced DBs.
- DV
