Lets Be Realistic...

As long as Gruden still has the fire to coach, wants more than anything to prove people wrong, (that he only won the SB with Dungy’s team) feels that his job here was left unfinished and that he owes Oakland a Super Bowl!…I want him!

and until someone else is hired, I’ll pimp him along with ya!

Payton actually remembers their encounter fondly. Harbaugh was actually an assistant under Callahan when he was our coach. The problem is Al always going with his gut over the sensible choice, hence the motto “trust the players, not the plays called.” Here is an excerpt from Sean Payton’s book.

Another story: When Payton was an assistant coach for the Dallas Cowboys, he flew to California to interview for the head coaching job with the Oakland Raiders.

Owner Al Davis did the interviewing and wore his traditional black sweatsuit.

“Al is an extremely talented football guy. Few owners who interview can really talk about a defensive front, team travel and the salary cap,” Payton said. “He can hit on all these topics, and this was my first interview as head coach. It was 2003, and I was going to meet Al Davis.”

Payton, who had been in the NFL only about five years, said he was really nervous.

“I walked into the bathroom, and I took three deep breaths,” Payton said. “I said: ‘I belong here. I belong here. I belong here.’”

The interview was heading late into the evening, and both were hungry.

“You like cheeseburgers?” Davis said.

“Of course I do,” Payton said.

Davis then asked his assistant to run to McDonald’s to get some cheeseburgers and — get this — coleslaw.

“The assistant says, ‘Mr. Davis, McDonald’s doesn’t have cole slaw,” Payton remembers. “But Al wanted his cole slaw, so the assistant had to figure out what to do.”

A little while later, the assistant returns with the food.

“So we’re sitting there — mind you, it’s about 11 p.m. — eating McDonald’s cheeseburgers and cole slaw from KFC,” Payton said. “You know what a cold cheeseburger tastes like?”

Payton turned the job down, eventually becoming head coach of the Saints in 2006, defending Super Bowl champs and now an author.

with no chemestry with our WR’s, with no training camp or knowledge of the playbook and ask him to score more than 28 points in at least 5 games, interesting fact, the games we lost the other team scored at least 28 points, interesting fact, 8 of Carsons INTs came when the team was down at least 21 points, you guys really dont understand the complexity of the position, you think they can come in and be Montana, he never even had a consistent team. I wouldve wanted to see Jason play without DMC, with the HUGE decline of the O-Line not only in the pass blocking, but in the run blocking too, without Moore or Ford, like Ive said since the day of the trade, support your players

For one, I’m sick to my stomach seeing the signs 49ers fans made for Smith. Last year, these same fools wanted him benched. They’ve booed him mercilessly for most of his time there. The fickle fan and the band wagoners. I do like how tough, mentally, the dude has been. 7 Offensive Coordinators and no support from your fans, kudos to Alex Smith. He stepped up big today, no doubt. However, 5 turnovers by the Saints means you don’t deserve to win. Also, that Saints D, especially the secondary has been suspect all year. Like the Packers, only the Pack get turnovers. Bad D will not win a championship. Smith has played safe all year, like Campbell for us, and their D has rewarded that (unlike us). They tackled beautifully out there, made me hate our defense even more. Harbaugh would be a fool to let his DC go, not after this season. Is it me or does it seem Harbaugh hates to shake hands after the game? Looked like he blew by Payton.

but Gruden will still be my first choice.

first round draft picks in 2002 and 2003 and second round picks in 2003 and 2004 plus $8 million in cash (…and you guys thought we gave a lot for Carson LOL! …of course Tampa did get a Super Bowl victory out of it. It remains to be seen what, if anything we get out of the Palmer trade.) after Gruden made it clear that he would never resign with us under Al conditions. Al conditions being that the Head Coach has no power over the hiring and firing of his coaches. That was unacceptable to Gruden.

I do however completely agree with the idea of Gruden’s return and welcome it with open arms, He would finally have the power to hire his own staff (which was the only reason he ever left in the first place) and hopefully the desire to finish the job he started here in Oakland!

call me crazy. but i want a defensive head coach

We don’t know what we’ll be next year.
We don’t know what our offense will look like
We don’t know what our Defense will look like (although they could be no worse than this year)
We don’t know who the HC, the OC, the DC or any other coach will be.
We don’t know who’ll be kept, who’ll be jettisoned and who will be brought in to replace those jettisoned

All we know now (just like Mark D.) is what we don’t know.