Antonio Smith: Firing Dennis Allen now would be "accepting being a loser"

Here we are. We have all seen this coming. The bye week. The question was where the Raiders would be when we got here. They are 0-4, coming off their worst loss of the season in London against the Dolphins. The team needs a big change. The obvious target for that change is that of head coach, Dennis Allen.

Veteran defensive lineman, Antonio Smith disagrees with this. In his opinion, that would be the opposite of change. The way he sees it, a head coaching change midseason is to give up on the team. That's not something he is in favor of.

"Man, I don't get into that," Smith said of the idea that firing the head coach could give the team a spark. "I aint never seen it work out for good and I aint in the business of just chalking the season up for a loss and just accepting being a loser the rest of the year. That aint why I came here, that aint in my heart, and that aint what I want, so I don't think that's the course of action that we should take because I think that when that do happen, most of the time it's because we done chalked it up for a loss and just let the season be whatever the season is. And that aint in my heart."

When Antonio Smith says he has seen it firsthand, he is not exaggerating. He was with the 2-14 Texans last season who fired head coach Gary Kubiak and promoted defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips to interim head coach for the final three games of the season. The team went 0-3 to over the last few games.

Most of the players give the obligatory ‘that's not up to me' or as Derek Carr said "that's above my paygrade." Or as Stefen Wisniewski said "I'm gonna support whoever is the head coach is."

Smith is first player to step up and say adamantly that he would not be in favor of a head coaching change midseason. While most others seem to be of the belief that changing head coaches midseason is an act of desperation showing the team is not accepting losing.

One thing is certain, it gets no worse than zero wins. That's what the Raiders have now and the outlook is bleak as for getting in the win column anytime soon. If Mark Davis and/or Reggie McKenzie think making the change at head coach, it should not come as a shock to anyone.

As Derek Carr said "there's nowhere to go but up". And as Charles Woodson said last week, "Whenever you lose, jobs are at stake."

We should know fairly quickly just what the Raiders opt to do.

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