Oakland Raiders’ Hue Jackson deserved better treatment –NFL Special
The Oakland Raiders failed to make it to the playoffs once again and there were many loopholes and reasons for their failure. Throwing all the heat on the head coach was just not the way to make a new beginning.
If the Raiders did not make it to the playoffs this season, it was not something new to them.
That has been happening since 2002. If there was anything new, it was a positive note that the Raiders missed the playoffs by just one game having had ended up 8-8.
A coach who has his key players lost to injuries should hardly get the blame at the end of the day but Hue Jackson did. The injuries that plagued the Raiders were the single biggest reason why the team failed to make it.
Key running back, Darren McFadden, sustained a foot sprain and was off the field since week 7.
Michael Bush who was brought in to fill the gap no doubt was very helpful but still not as much as McFadden. So, the absence of McFadden was felt throughout the remainder of the season.
Quarterback, Jason Campbell, broke his collarbone, thus adding to the woes of the team.
Jacoby Ford was another casualty that had the Raiders' performance adversely affected.
And it didn’t stop there.
Chris Johnson, Michael Huff, Denarius Moore and Louis Murphy all sustained injuries, seriously dampening the team’s capability.
Was Hue Jackson to be blamed for this? Certainly not but the new general manager, Reggie McKenzie didn’t view it this way.
McKenzie, while firing Jackson, talked of the need to bring a change to the team, saying that it was time for a new era. How exactly does he intend to bring out this “new era” when they continue to be faced with the same problems even in the absence of Jackson?
If there was a change needed, it should have occurred in the defensive coordinators and the defensive strategy.
The Raiders' defense and the penalties were the key issues faced by the team.
The defense had been the most vulnerable part of the team unable to contain the opponent’s rushing offense and coming up with a dismal performance the entire season.
The defense conceded 5.0 yards per carry and allowed 30 touchdown passes this season, thereby becoming one of the four teams in the league to do so.
In this case, the blame should have fallen on defensive coordinator, Chuck Bresnahan. If anyone needed to be fired, it had to be Bresnahan and not Jackson.
The Raiders also came up with the most number of penalties in a single season in the history of National Football League (NFL), breaking the record earlier set by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1998.
They committed 163 penalties and forfeited 1,358 yards this season, a record in both the categories.
Oakland would have surely avoided being eliminated from the playoffs this season, had these injuries not been sustained by their key players and a better defensive coordinator present.
It is likely that the only need felt by McKenzie was that of bringing his own man in. Jackson was right in pointing that out.
"He wants to bring in his own guys. No job is safe right now," Jackson told CSNBayArea.com.
Jackson had been offering his responsibilities as a manager too, ever since Oakland's owner, Al Davis, died and this surely was not the way he should have been treated.
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