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Control What You Can Control

Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but I don't think Lane Kiffin is the saint many people in the Raider Nation think he is.

Lane Kiffin hasn't really been a company guy. In any other profession he would have been fired some time ago. It's not like 5-13 performance is enough to justify keeping a non-company guy around. I don't think many unbiased outsiders can admit Lane Kiffin's behavior is justified, even considering the circumstances. We haven't seen a coach do what Kiffin has and its my belief if Davis gets enough evidence against Kiffin to not pay him, we will have another Shannahan situation, only Kiffin wont come back to haunt us.

Its hard to argue that we haven't been better since the arrival of Kiffin, but really could we have gotten the same result without the public criticism by the coach? Recently, Kiffin has refused to call Al Davis by his name instead calling him, "the Owner." Similarly, which I am unsure anyone has caught, is his refusal to call JaMarcus Russell by his name, instead deciding to call him, "The Quarterback."

Kiffin's behavior is somewhat childish. I don't think his behavior is justified, even if Al Davis is an old quack. Did we forget Al Davis got us to a Super Bowl in 2002? Only eight teams have been to a Super Bowl since the last time we were there. That means 24 other teams are in a bigger drought than we are.

We have been bad, but we shouldn't forget that Al Davis has done a lot more for the Raiders than Lane Kiffin has. It is also Al Davis' team. I would be pretty pissed off if someone told me how to manage something I own and have been controlling for 45 years.

Do I agree with Al Davis' way of doing things? Well no, not always, but who am I to tell him what to do? As a fan, I care about winning and losing, and when it comes to that, Al Davis knows more than Lane Kiffin.

Keep in mind, Lane Kiffin was a nobody before Davis hired him. He wouldn't have gotten his shot without Al Davis. Heck, USC didn't even throw him a going away party. He was often criticized for being too conservative.

Its Davis' team, if you don't agree with what Davis does, stop watching, stop buying tickets and merchandise and stop whining. You don't have to follow him over the cliff if you don't want to. You choose to follow the team and if you do follow them, do you trust Davis or a 5-13 Head Coach to lead you to the promised land?

Maybe Kiffin is the best coach we've had since Gruden, but that isn't saying much. Gruden isn't all that hot either, he won a Super Bowl with Dungy's team and hasn't done jack since.

Kiffin isn't hardly involved in personnel, yet we give him so much credit. The credit for our turn around has everything to do with Tom Cable and Rathman, who deserve most the credit in coaching. The only improvement we have really made was running the ball and to small extent protecting the QB. That is really the only thing Kiffin has done since he came here.

I'd like to see Kiffin stay, if he can grow up. I do think he is a decent coach, but more importantly he has surrounded himself with the right people. Knapp, Cable, Rathman. Although Rathman is a Davis favorite along the lines of James Lofton.

If the relationship is broken, its not likely to be repaired in time to recover and win. The players have been spouting Kiffin's "Control what we can control" and that leads me to believe Kiffin has perpetuated the response to any question about his job. I wonder just how much respect he actually has in the locker room, knowing Kiffin is all about himself.

Apparently, Adam Treu agrees with a lot of what I have to say. He would know.

Kiffin is whining and acting like a baby about not getting his way. Ironically, Kiffin tells his players not to whine about calls to refs, so that way they get calls later down the line. Control what you can control. Maybe he should take his own advice and control his mouth.

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