Crazy Al Accuses Patriots Of Tampering With Moss

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 12:52 PM CDT Comment 27 comments

Apparently not content with firing a competent coach because that coach had the unmitigated gall to question Al Davis' drafting prowess and team management style, Davis has now decided (two years after the fact) to accuse the New England Patriots of tampering in regards to their pickup of Randy Moss prior to the 2007 season. Moss, who had two extremely underwhelming seasons in Oakland, was dumped by Davis to New England for a fourth round draft pick, about the time that former Raiders coaches Tom Walsh had this to say about Moss:

"Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he's in denial of those eroding skills," Walsh said from his ranch in Idaho, where he now lives after being fired along with Shell and Oakland's entire offensive staff following last season's 2-14 debacle. "Randy was a great receiver but he lacked the work ethic and the desire to cultivate any skills that would compensate for what he was losing physically later in his career.

Moss then went on to set the single season receiving TD record for the NFL, helping the Patriots go undefeated in the regular season...leading some to believe that perhaps the reason Moss was so underwhelming in Oakland was because his offense was being led by two complete incompetents (Walsh and Art Shell) and his offensive teammates were questionable talents drafted by a paranoid loon who seems to think he still lives in the 1970s, when people used to think he knew what he was doing.

And now Davis is blaming the Patriots for Moss being a complete dog in Oakland, which is laughable considering that Moss now appears to be demonstrating in New England that he'll quit on any team whenever he doesn't have a good QB throwing to him.

It's priceless watching Al Davis and the hated Raiders self-destruct like this. I honestly can't wait to see what happens if Kiffin's agent and lawyer get a verdict in court that says Davis has to pay his former coach.

Bonus Material: Tim Kawakami (well-known lately as a target for the heated invective of a Raiders coach at a press conference) has published excerpts from Davis' post-conference ramblings (done after the cameras were off) that includes his allegations against the Patriots and unintentional insights into just how completely screwed the Raiders are. For comedy, on a scale of 1-10, this is a definite 10.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.

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I think Al Davis is currently being advised

By a space alien from the future that only he can see and hear.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 1, 2008 1:10 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I Wouldn't Doubt It

Did you read those post-conference comments? Pure unadulterated craziness. That guy’s about 51 cards shy of a full deck.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 1:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Great bonus material

That’s classic.

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 1:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Not As Classic As This

For the last 20 years Al Davis has followed a consistent pattern in hiring coaches…

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2008/09/30/al-davis-hidden-coach-hire-code-and-confirming-all-the-rumor-mongering/

What is it they say about the definition of insanity? :)

Tim Kawakama is quickly becoming one of my favorite sports writers. Very astute observations.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

"What's his name...Bill Belichick."

Yea, the guy that won three Super Bowls. What’s his name again?

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Oct 1, 2008 2:03 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Rip On Shanahan Was Better

But Shanahan has an asterisk next to those two Super Bowls, because they were caught cheating.

The senile old fart can’t even remember the difference between Shanahan and Belichick anymore, and he thinks that the coaching staff is why his team stinks? :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 2:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He was talking about

The salary cap violations that occurred with the Broncos during their 1997 and 1998 seasons.

They were docked somewhere around $950,000 on two separate occasions. Something to do with the way they paid bonuses to John Elway and Terrell Davis. It was really, really shady and it seems everyone forgot about it.

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 4:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Link

Here.

In 2001, the Broncos were penalized a third-round pick in the 2002 NFL draft and had to pay a $305,000 fine and $663,000 in interest after a late payment to the league’s deferred compensation fund. That penalty involved deferred salary payments to quarterback John Elway and running back Terrell Davis.

The Broncos were not penalized for salary-cap violations at that time.

During a trial in February involving Bowlen and former Broncos owner Edgar F. Kaiser Jr., Elway testified he was owed between $14 million and $15 million of deferred salary when he retired after the 1998 season. Bowlen and Elway signed an agreement on Sept. 23, 1998, that offered Elway part ownership of the Broncos for $15 million, and Elway’s deferred salary was to be put toward the purchase.

The agreement was never exercised.

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oops

That whole thing should be in quotes.

Dang it, I never make that mistake :)

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 4:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oops On My Part Then

I’d never heard about that with the Broncos. Guess he’s not quite as insane as I’d believed :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 4:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Although

It doesn’t seem particularly shady…according to the NFL, the Broncos were trying to be creative with the salaries to offset financial trouble with the building of Invesco Field, and the Broncos claimed it was not to gain a competitive advantage (nor does it appear they got much of one, although it’s tough to tell since the players involved were unnamed). So it may be that Mike Shanahan inadvertently violated the salary cap restrictions…which wouldn’t be all that tough to believe since he’d only been on the job for two years at that point (and he’s hardly distinguished himself as a brilliant GM since then).

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Elway

Said he was owed between $14-15 million after he retired. That’s a big advantage.

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 4:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

But Deferred For How Long?

That’s really the question…over how many years? Did it precede Shanahan’s tenure and was he actually aware of it?

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 4:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because Remember

The salary cap for the NFL didn’t kick in until the 1994 season, so if the deferral of salary for Elway preceded that, it may have been an unwitting violation of cap rules.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 4:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Caption?

Welcome to the staff.

by Shawn on Oct 1, 2008 1:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

...

“Al…. breathing I am your father.”

have you seen my baseball?

by IISaiNtII on Oct 1, 2008 2:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice jacket

Where can I get one?

by primetime 07 on Oct 1, 2008 4:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Members Only

Just go to the Salvation Army…I’m sure they’ll have a few used ones around there somewhere :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 1, 2008 4:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m watching the press conference right now. Part 2 of 5. So far a lot of what he’s said is coherent and, frankly, I agree with him.

I’ll tell you how I feel after part 5.

He read the letter that was sent to Kiffin, interjecting some tangent thoughts that any prudent GM would. Things about the players, how they’re all great and they can win.

As I see it now, Al Davis can totally handle himself in public, to the media, etc. I don’t know enough about Kiffin to comment, but if half of what Al said is true*, then Kiffin needs to learn a lot about how the process works. Al seems to understand it pretty well.

What’s next for Kiffin? Probably not an NFL head coaching job. I bet a college gig.

by AngryJesus on Oct 2, 2008 4:26 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

He said college

He said he’s likely to go the college route.

by primetime 07 on Oct 2, 2008 6:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Or a lot of court cases.

He went over Kiffin’s complaints about the defense. Kiffin said he couldn’t win.

Al was actually funny here. He responded, “What do you mean you can’t win?”

I thought it was great. Then he said to resign if he (Kiffin) couldn’t win. So maybe it’s completely made up, but I imagine his legal ducks are in a row.

Questioning begins

by AngryJesus on Oct 2, 2008 4:34 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Dude this guy seems to care about his players.

by AngryJesus on Oct 2, 2008 4:39 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Until Those Players Refuse To Kiss His Ass

Then he’ll try and wreck their careers (like he did for two years with Marcus Allen). Marcus did an interview shortly after he came here talking about how terribly Davis treated a lot of those guys, even the ones who were loyal to him. Plus, Gannon and Sapp both came out within the last few days and said how Davis sucked the life out of that organization and constantly wrecked player morale by interfering with the gameplans, calling down in the middle of games to change plays without informing the coaching staff, creating an air of paranoia.

Sapp’s comments from “Inside the NFL”:

“[Davis] is the common equation,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.” "You take him out, put him at home watching film or whatever he is doing — you have a functioning football organization. But once he comes over the top, he goes and starts moving it around.

“Al Davis knows football — it’s just ‘60s and ’70s football. That’s what it is. He’s thinking that Cliff Branch is outside and [Jim] Plunkett is dropping back and you can throw it 80 yards down the field — deep ball, deep ball, deep ball.”

Sapp even said that Davis would call in plays when Sapp was playing for the Raiders.

"I remember the first two weeks I was there, we played a preseason game. Somebody came up one time and said, ’We’re going deep right here, dog.’ I said, how do you know? He said, ‘The phone just rang.’

“All the preparation that goes into a week of work is there, the practicing that you have to put in order to do these things, sometimes [Al Davis] messed with that part of it and that’s what kills you,” Sapp said on “Inside the NFL.”

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 2, 2008 9:31 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

And he puts a lot of stock into J. Russell

by AngryJesus on Oct 2, 2008 4:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Lotta nepotism in that organization

by AngryJesus on Oct 2, 2008 4:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Al Davis was coherent

And sounded surprisingly lucid.

But he’s not going to fool me again.

by primetime 07 on Oct 2, 2008 6:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He's Batshit Insane

The man is good at finding new coaching talent, but the second those coaches tell him things he doesn’t want to hear or exhibit signs of independence he dumps them for somebody he thinks he can control.

The successful coach with that organization was Jon Gruden, and the only reason he was successful was because he got a contract that guaranteed him control over player personnel decisions. And Al Davis hated him for it…even though built that Super Bowl team for Davis. So the idea that Davis cares about his players is a load of horseshit…Al Davis cares about being in control, damn the consequences and screw anyone who gets in his way or challenges him. He’s always been that way, except that back in the old days he actually knew something about running a football team. But not anymore.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Oct 2, 2008 9:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs