Is Contra Costa Times trying to get Raiders’ Kiffin fired?

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, August 19, 2008  |  Comments( 23 )

Oakland Raiders
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Riddle me this: What do a successful touchdown strike and a negative news non-story have in common? Answer: It’s all in the spin.

The seriously sided case in point came to light in reportage of Friday night’s Tennessee Titans-Oakland Raiders game. Though the Raiders' running game and JaMarcus Russell-Zach Miller battery put on a nifty show, the Contra Costa Times chose instead to resurrect speculation of Lane Kiffin’s coaching demise.

Sunday saw something of a frankly bizarre piece titled Is Lane Kiffin trying to get fired? in the California newspaper. Rather than lead with a nicely placed and infinitely more accurate “Yeah, surrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre,” writer Cam Inman instead stokes the Raider Nation’s fire of contention that the media are generally aligned against them. If not for a few more sober heads within the mainstream press, one would be more than tempted to agree.

In insisting that Kiffin’s recent press appearances “suggest that he’s begging to get fired,” a handful of half-quotes and lines we’d accept as mere truisms from a Tom Coughlin or Jon Gruden are made material for the apparently beleaguered coach’s dismissal. Beginning with the premise of that mysterious, never-proven story of Al Davis asking for Kiffin’s voluntary stepping down in January, the Times calls out the coach on a number of issues, including:

The bottom of the roster. Writes Inman: “You've got to be willing to release [marginal players] and live with it, and pick other people up for more competition.”

His position as coach. "When you take this job you realize who the owner is and you realize most guys don't last really long, so that is what it is."

Tommy Kelly. “He's got a lot to prove now with that contract.”

Johnnie Lee Higgins. “I really don't have anybody to look at [to replace him as punt returner]: That's the problem. There isn't anybody there that's very dynamic with the ball."

Javon Walker's performance in preseason games. "[It's] discouraging because he was paid an awful lot of money, paid like one of the top five receivers in the NFL. We need him to make those plays."

Anybody see any problem with any of these lines? No? Hmmm ...

In fact, if Kiffin were a Mike Shanahan, he’d be getting kudos in the Rocky Mountain-area (and probably national) media for his tight analysis of the situation. The truth is that Kelly does have much to prove, that the situations at punt returner and wide receiver are far from positive, and that there are issues with depth in Oakland.

And despite the prevailing opinion among sensationalists that Davis is crazy and/or senile, surely the man’s love for the Kellys and Walkers of the world isn’t so blinding as to prevent him from observing the adequate-at-best (in the former) and brutally ugly (in the latter) performances of these two thus far in 2008.

Meanwhile, over at the Mercury News, the post-game of the same contest against the Titans showed a completely different Kiffin, one who stated: "There was nothing to point at [JaMarcus Russell] as far as not doing things right. It was either things weren't there or a guy wasn't making plays for him. I thought he played extremely well when you look at his composure, his energy, his excitement.”

As well, the coach took time to praise Miller and Chaz Schilens for their performances.

Translating line for line into Contra Costian, it might even be said that Kiffin was praising the Raider owner for his excellent draft picks and prescient knowledge in filling some troublesome spots. Even though potentially depending on Schilens to cover an $11 million man today feels like a wacky gamble at most generous, reading the Mercury News clip might even lead one to believe that the Raiders played well in Tennessee, look improved over the 2007 edition already and, depending on Russell – still a fairly large-sized question mark – even optimistic about the team making the playoffs.

Of course, that’s just the spin at RealFootball365.com. We could be wrong. But there’s no way we’re picturing Kiffin barreling down some highway to hell in a lemming-like drive to quit the Raiders. And what does Cam Inman have against this guy?

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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
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