definitely leadership problems all season.
This wasn't just about Del Rio and won't just be fixed by Gruden — the Raiders have major leadership issues
By Vic Tafur 1 hour ago
People will point to his bad decisions regarding the coordinators last offseason, the offense’s collapse and a disconnect with the front office on the usage of the team’s recent draft picks. And those are all reasons why Jack Del Rio’s Raiders went 6-10 and why he was fired Sunday night.
But one just had to look around the locker room after the game Sunday to see there was more to it than that. Some players reacted as if the postgame spread wasn't tasty or the shower water was too cold. Some joked about other things. Others stared blankly.
There was no personal investment … Del Rio had lost the locker room. Or more to the point, the players in the locker room had lost their way.
And that comes down on the Raiders leaders. Or lack thereof.
There weren’t any leaders this season.
“We had a good bunch of guys in the locker room,” one player said Monday, “but I think it was more about having a good time than doing everything it took to win.”
Derek Carr and Khalil Mack are the foundations of the team, a franchise quarterback who had seven fourth-quarter wins in 2016 and the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
“It is our team,” Carr said after he and Mack met with Del Rio after he was fired. “There is no secret about that. It is Khalil’s and my team.”
But Carr can have a hard time being critical of players who sometimes beat to their own drummer. Mack is a lead-by-example type who is not yet comfortable calling guys out like his mentors Justin Tuck and Charles Woodson did when they were in the locker room.
“There is talent here,” one player said. “But there was no direction here. Some of us thought they were going to clean house. Then they fired coach Del Rio. I guess that means they are going to keep us around.”
Linebacker Bruce Irvin had a rough individual start to the season and kind of went in a shell. Former 49er NaVorro Bowman showed up Week 7 and said he planned to be a leader, but a little more than a month later, he essentially threw up his hands.
The younger players had picked up bad habits, and when asked if it was too late to get them straightened out, Bowman said, “I don’t know, I just got here.”
Worse than the Raiders losing their top two drafts picks to injuries was the impression that cornerback Gareon Conley and Obi Melifonwu made on teammates.
“I am not sure if anyone here knows if they really want it,” one player said.
Meanwhile, the assistant coaches were told Monday that they can look for new jobs, as things are on hold until the team satisfies the Rooney Rule by interviewing at least one minority candidate and coach-to-be Jon Gruden calls his last game as a broadcaster Saturday.
One coach still had a hard time figuring out how this season turned so quickly Week 3 at Washington. The Raiders got pushed around, losing 27-10, then lost three more games in a row and were never the same.
“Our quarterback lost his poise that game, and there was nobody to gather the troops and get them ready to get keep fighting,” one coach said. “We just kind of took it.
“The coaches are responsible for a lot that happens, but they can’t go in the huddle.”
Many internet pundits and talk-show air stealers had the theory that offensive line’s decision to sit during the national anthem in Washington and Carr’s decision to stand had a long-lasting effect, complete with animosity. That is not true, but the decision to stand or not stand as a team was a hotly debated one in the locker room, and one that a leader like Woodson would have helped sort out.
Running back Marshawn Lynch sat during the anthem every week, though he never said why. Del Rio didn’t fight him on this, and he didn’t fight Lynch on much at training camp or practice, and the two sets of rules were something a lot of players rolled their eyes at.
The coaching staff was hoping left tackle Donald Penn, a friend of Lynch’s, would help him get adjusted at training camp, but Penn held out in a contract dispute. Lynch participated in practice every day, but he made sure to walk over and chat up his personal video team during sessions.
Lynch also had a good time making fun of Carr, who enjoyed the interaction though perhaps wondered if it down cut a tiny bit on his respect in the locker room.
“There were a lot of distractions at camp, but everyone just figured it would work itself out,” a player said. “Then the Washington game happened, and we lost our confidence.”
Carr had a serious back injury the following week and came back in nine days. He looked uncomfortable in the pocket after that, and teammates lost a little bit of their faith in him.
Carr taking the blame every week didn’t help things. But that was his only move, especially with aloof receivers Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper dropping passes and making Carr's bad season even worse.
Carr said it’s in the details, and that’s something that he and all the players have to work on. One of those details is having a player or two who not only tells teammates where to go or what to do, but when to dig deeper.
“We weren’t demanding and accountable enough and that will change,” Carr said.
Gruden — as all indications are he is the new coach — should bring in some veterans next season to make sure.
—Reported from Alameda
