Here we go again...

Mixed feelings regarding Art Shell... there has been lots of talk about Shell being too stubborn, mishandling Porter and Moss, bringing in Walsh... to me he is no longer the Head Coach because of the utter disaster that is the Raiders Offensive Line... No one expected the OLine to be dominant off-the-bat, even Shell said they should be in form by mid-season... but, they were not even close all season long, undoubtly the worst OLine in Raider history... at the very least, OLine for Shell should have been a lock, add in Slater and Eatman, how could it go wrong? If the OLine had established itself, there most likely would have been at least 3-6 more wins, which in turn would have minimized the Porter situation, which would have proved that Shell's way was the right way, which would have instilled confidence in the players and credibility at home and around the league, which would have bought Shell another year...

Bottom line for me is that Shell is one of the all-time Raider Greats, a Raider Icon , and its a shame that he may be remembered more for this one year of coaching than for all of his immeasurable achievements... I'm wearing my Shell jersey today, and if I make it back to the draft again this year, I will wear it there too.

A quick note on Porter: if what was reported was true, that he shouted at the the coaches calling them Motherf---ers for everyone to hear, I would have benched him the whole season as well... Long-time Raider Fans will remember that Freddy B, in his playing days, called Al Davis alot worse than that, but he never called John Madden anything other than "coach". BTW could you imagine what today's media would do if a player today went off on Al Davis like Freddy B did back in the 70's? Thats one of the differences of the game today... media has way too much credibility and influence...

Speaking of today's media: Adam Schefter played the oldest game in the book... throw out something that is completely probable, act like its a big scoop and then if it happens its "I told you so"... he took it a step further and started side-stepping, hedging his bets, saying if this and this then, maybe this - just in case his first claim didn't happen, he could still take credit... its unbelieveable that guys like this get paid...

Is it true that Tony Romo and Shawn Merriman are Probowlers? WTF? Favoritism and Hypocracy and its finest...

I'll write about the coaching search and draft another day, but for what its worth, I think its Rob Ryan and JaMarcus Russell. Petrino must be up there too, remember, Al Davis admitted last year that the job was offered to Petrino before Shell.