Who is Deep Throat in Oakland?

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, September 24, 2008  |  Comments( 35 )

Oakland Raiders
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The most disturbing aspect of the continuous flow of stories regarding the imminent replacement of Oakland Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin is a mysterious “unnamed source” who keeps popping up in reports, apparently privy to much personnel information and consistently ready to inform the media – particularly, it seems, those well-known pro-Al Davis sources The Contra-Costa Times and Fox Sports.

At least twice in the past two weeks, Kiffin’s departure from the Raiders has been labeled as certain. And while the Fox network is certainly capable of, um, interpreting the news from favored sources enough to swing an election every now and again, it wouldn’t mess with something really important like the NFL, would it?

Assuming that the ESPNs and San Francisco Chronicles of the world aren’t just making this stuff up – hey, even the much-respected populist Silver & Black Report has been in on the hype, going so far as to definitively assert that “a source” stated Kiffin was out Sept. 16 (the story’s since been removed from the Web site) – a little speculation from RealFootball365.com on the identity of the unending source of inside information.

Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan. The easy choice. In fact, call me paranoid, but the gut-wrenching loss to the Buffalo Bills merely looked like the latest chapter in the biggest conspiracy to unfold in full view since, say, the 2000 election.

Here’s the theory: Assuming this whole unsubstantiated brouhaha began in January, when Davis ostensibly delivered a pre-written resignation to Kiffin’s desk, supposedly over the head coach’s desire to can Ryan. Kiffin reportedly refused to sign the thing, and that’s basically all the public at-large heard of the story until scouting combine week, when (gasp!) Kiffin was representing the Raiders in business-as-usual fashion.

When Kiffin refused to back down, Davis was moved, liking the kid’s guts, his moxie, his cajones. “Besides,” roughly reasoned Davis, “Ryan’s a bit of a pain in the butt who hasn’t earned anything for us yet. And why would I want to turn over the club to another defense-first guy? We tried that with Art Shell and come on. This is the Raiders, baby, and I want some points on the board,” etcetera. Ultimately, Davis decided to let Kiffin and Ryan figuratively duke it out this season and may the strongest survive. Maybe he’ll even let both of them go at season’s end if he can bring a proven coach and his guys aboard, right?

Now in the midst of all the flap, both parties have claimed a certain distance from Davis: Kiffin has repeatedly claimed that he wasn’t in contact with the owner in a given week the firing rumors begin again, while Ryan ostentatiously ranted that “When I deal with Al Davis, guys, it's in the offseason. ...but during the week, guys, I don't have time to talk to my wife, OK? If I'm going to make one phone call, it's going to be her, all right? That's the truth.”

So, with everyone out of contact from Davis, what’s to stop Ryan from subverting Kiffin’s game plan in an effort to get him fired? Seriously and simply put, what happened to the all-out blitz which had brilliantly kept Trent Edwards flustered until the fourth quarter of the Bills game? Did Kiffin actually think the Raiders had the game wrapped up? Is Kiffin so much of a fool that he couldn’t figure out when Marshawn Lynch was going to go to the outside (and usually outside left, to boot)? I think not.

And the tone taken in reportage was interesting to note as well. Here’s how the ESPN reportage goes: “Allowing 17 points in the final eight minutes of a 24-23 loss to the Bills might prove the final straw for Al Davis, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen ...”

It all makes sense to me; the only question is whether Ryan actually fed Mortensen the line of reasoning that was later often re-reported ad infinitum ...

A player. An intriguing possibility here, except that the Raiders aren’t really sporting any camera glare-loving guys, most of them having had hack jobs performed on ‘em by the media anyway. It’s difficult to imagine any offensive player complaining under the 'O'-minded Kiffin, while Tommy Kelly, DeAngelo Hall and others of this ilk have taken much journalistic criticism (yours truly included); can’t imagine any of these guys willing to play source for the media.

Also working against this theory is an obvious little bit of quote-noting in the San Francisco Chronicle’s definitively titled article “Kiffin on his way out.” After the comments from Kiffin regarding who’s running the Oakland show and Ryan’s subsequent rant – God, this all sounds so catty, doesn’t it? – “one Raiders source [said that] Rob acted like a leader. He stood up for this team and these players. He took responsibility. Unlike the head coach."

See that? “One Raiders source.” “Source,” not “player,” which would have been a huge story indeed; after all, even the meanest sources have yet to declare that Kiffin is feuding with any of his players at present.

Kiffin himself. Maybe the Contra-Costa Times was correct back in August, when one Cam Inman theorized that Kiffin was on a one-way professional suicide trip in trying to get fired from the Raiders. Yeah, right. Kiffin has come a long way from 10 years ago as the Fresno State quarterbacks coach; even if he has to take a step down next year to hold the O-coordinator position in, say, Detroit, Kiffin's been given the keys to a wonderful ride with one of the NFL’s winningest franchises. Wouldn’t you hold on to that? Wouldn’t you at least want to pad your resume before getting out on the job hunt armed with a tale of woe about terrible management?

All right, maybe it’s just paranoia caused by a Kiffin non-story overdose, but perhaps the insidious Ryan needs to be scoped out just a bit more vis-a-vis certain loyalty and/or competence issues. While a constant flow to the inside dope is a great thing for a reporter, said dope shouldn’t be coming from a dope. Here’s an original thought to add to the debate on the Raiders: Fire Ryan!

Incidentally, please check out the Web site KeepKiffin.com, a worthy cause for a worthy fellow.
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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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