Will Dennis Allen prove to be better than Hue Jackson? – Part 1
It remains to be seen whether the new head coach, Dennis Allen, hired by the Oakland Raiders will prove a better option as compared to the earlier sacked coach, Hue Jackson, or will he end up facing the same disaster as Jackson.
The current situation faced by Allen is no different from the one that Jackson faced.
A failing defence and injuries plaguing the team were the key factors that contributed to the Raiders' elimination from the playoffs and still continues to be persistent.
The decision to fire Jackson came out as a pretty hard one and seemed quite uncalled for.
Jackson had done his part pretty well all along the season and he surely was not to be blamed for the injuries that kept hurting the Raiders team.
The Raiders had been quite vulnerable to injuries as they kept losing their key players all along the season.
Replacements were not adequate and effective, resulting on account of poor hiring and the non-availability of players in the roster.
There was not much that Jackson could have done in the present situation except for just wait and hope for the replacements to deliver.
The most significant of these injuries was the one sustained by running back, Darren McFadden that saw him off the field since week 7.
The foot sprain that McFadden endured never healed in time for the player to make it back to the team and the Raiders effectively lost him for the remainder of the season.
Michael Bush who was brought in as a replacement for the injured McFadden, no doubt proved his worth but was not able to provide the same quality of play as McFadden.
Hence, Raiders continued to linger with the loss throughout the remainder of the season from Week 7 onwards.
Another loss of a key player was Quarterback Jason Campbell.
Campbell had his collar bone broken and was unable to play for his team thus adding to the list of injuries.
Jacoby Ford too sustained an injury, adding to the woes of the team.
That was not all the injuries that hurt the Raiders. The list was much longer.
Michael Huff, Denarius Moore, Chris Johnson and Louis Murphy were also among the casualties for the Raiders which adversely affected the team’s performance.
The injuries were to be blamed for the team’s failure to reach the playoffs but the heat fell on Jackson who surely did not deserve the blame.
He should have been given an another opportunity to build the team once again but the new general manager, Reggie McKenzie, who came into the team after having served the Green Bay Packers for 18 years, did not view the real reasons
before having him fired on the first day he took over.
McKenzie, for sure wanted to bring his own man in and that was what exactly Jackson said but had not anticipated the move being quite sure of his stay with the Raiders.
"He wants to bring in his own guys. No job is safe right now," Jackson had then said and he was quite right.
McKenzie did not keep it a secret that he wanted to have his own man in.
An unsuspecting Jackson had been caught off the guard.
"I know people say, 'If they hire a G.M. then he's going to want to bring in his head coach.' Whoever comes here, I think it's going to be somebody who wants to share the same vision as I do." Jackson had said shortly before McKenzie
was due to be hired.
To be continued.........
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