Marcel Reece, Maurice Jones-Drew respond to Rich Gannon rant

Recently former Oakland Raiders MVP quarterback Rich Gannon had a few choice words about his former team. His rant was one for the ages, but as rants usually go, this one may have gone a tad too far. It certainly rubbed a couple of Raiders running backs the wrong way anyway.

Gannon's rant covered an array of topics and insults, including accusing members of the Raiders of "stealing their paychecks" because of their terrible effort and the Commitment to Excellence sign on the building being false advertisement. Rich was passionate and reactionary during the rant, and though much of what he said was completely true it still was a little over the top.

"It’s funny because I was on Rich’s show yesterday morning and none of this stuff was said when I was on air with him and few hours later people are bringing me transcripts of this rant that he went on. I take these types of things personally," Marcel Reece told Buchey and Towney on their radio show on 95.7, The Game. "He’s talking about the leadership on the team and the vets on the team and I am a leader on this team.

"My question to Rich is, when is the last time Rich actually came to watch us practice and watch the work that we put in? And for Rich to be a guy who people love, Raider fans love him, the organization has showed him a ton of love and he’s talking about the organization that gave him a chance and let him do his thing here and now he’s just bashing us. I’m in the business of fixing problems and not causing them. I invite Rich to a practice come see how myself and my guys work every day, day in and day out and the excellence that we do demand of each other. That’s what I ask him."

It is definitely a cutting response by Reece, though it is exactly what you would expect someone to say after their work ethic was questioned the way that Rich Gannon did it. He is a little over the top too though, Rich may not have been there but he certainly was watching the product on the field. We all were, and unfortunately the product on the field was extremely questionable at best.

Rich simply voiced those questions after he thought of them, the same as any of us fans would do and have been doing. He just happened to voice those questions to millions of people, which then were repeated to millions of people. Not that different from you and me is it? Oh, it is? Alright then, moving on.

Another veteran leader that wasn't fond of what Gannon had to say also comes from the Raiders backfield. This one was Maurice Jones-Drew who is new to the team this year, but has had Raiders blood all of his life as a fan and Bay Area native. He agrees with what Marcel had to say, and voiced that agreement on a different radio show on the same station,this one was on "Haberman and Middlekauff".

"...Obviously what Rich said isn't going to help but he has an opinion, he has a radio show and that’s what he wants to do." MJD said in the interview on 95.7 The Game, "I kind of feel the same way as Marcel, you know if you are in there and you see how we work and you see how we do things, then maybe you might come in and check us out and if you have a say so, then you can say something. But if you never, haven't been there, you haven't been to our training camp, and you haven't said, you haven't been through what we've been through then you really don’t know what it is."

It doesn't seem to be as much about what Gannon said, but that it was him saying it again here. It wasn't somebody who is there with the team, somebody who is actually a part of the team. Had it been a writer who was consistently there at practices, one that the players felt like was going through this rough patch with them then maybe it would have been different.

Instead it was the leader of the last really good Raiders team who has his own radio show. One who Marcel Reece and Maurice Jones-Drew do not know very well and apparently might not trust very much. If there was one thing about Rich Gannon that has been repeated time and time again it is his bluntness when he has an opinion. That bluntness has officially rubbed Reece and MJD the wrong way.

"I just don't, I'm not into putting people down and throwing people down because its not like we are not working hard. I mean if you, I have seen these guys work this off-season, I know what I did this off-season to get my body right and be able to try get out here to give my all and give my best to this organization. And as of right now It just hasn't, we just haven't got the wins. But to question our commitment, to question our work ethic is, I think is just not what you should be doing right now."

For what it's worth, Gannon himself knows that he may have taken things a bit too far.

Lost myself in my Raider rant yesterday. Pains me to see the team struggle. They do have some good people who care about winning.#Frustrated

— Rich Gannon (@RichGannon12) October 2, 2014

Hopefully Gannon's rant will be used as motivation for the running attack to get on the right track. There is plenty of anger there about what he said, but it isn't as though Rich was completely out of touch with his entire rant. The 61.5 rushing yards per game average says all you need to know about the frustration that Gannon was speaking about.

Now that the players have obviously taken offense to Gannon's rant they need to use that anger out on the field next week against the San Diego Chargers. If they don't they will hear it all over again from Rich. He is passionate and he is blunt, he will not be shutting up unless the Raiders shut him up. That is a good thing, this team needs all the accountability they can get.