Al Davis chose Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th pick in the draft -- good Lord -- because Davis is locked in the past. In the long ago past he got a speed receiver and that guy out-ran the defense and the Raiders scored TD's on long passes. It was that simple. Not anymore.
But Davis no longer understands how things work. He's always reinventing the past, never looking forward. His team is a prisoner of the past and Heyward-Bey will never be worth the pick. The Raiders are saying he's a Randy Moss kind of receiver. How good was Moss on the Raiders? To read my column on Al Davis, anachronism click here.
Lowell, speaking of being caught in the past, I think you're caught in the past repetativer criticisms of Al Davis......he always drafts a speed guy at WR oe DB, he always hires a coach thats a company man that will answer to Al. Was Al caught in the Raider past when he hired Jon Gruden who installed the Bill Walsh west coast offense, with possesion recievers Tim Brown and Jerry Rice. A team that had Gruden stayed for 2002, would have likely been a Super Bowl winner. And Al has looked completley justified for his actions with Lane Kiffin, after Kiffin's bizarre immature behavior in Tennessee so far. I feel WR Bey will work out fine with the Raiders, as will coach Cable. I do agree with you that the Raider defense needs to play well for the Raiders to go anywhere in 09.
Of course Al Davis is caught in the past. This clown hasn't had an original thought since John Madden left, unless you consider the moves to and from Los Angeles as somehow anything but financially opportunistic.
C'mon, this guy is so old he makes the wattles on a turkey's neck look attractive. Someone put him out of his misery and let the East Bay enjoy professional football again
Many of your criticisms of Al Davis have a basis in fact. However, I really think you're wrong about Heyward-Bey. Sure, he might not pan out; who can ever say for sure? But you're making the same mistake that most people make, when they hear that he has blazing speed and used to run track. ("Ah hah! Another James Jett!") Or, as you put it in your column, "You got a quarterback who could throw the hell out of the ball and you got a receiver who could sprint past the defense, and that QB and that receiver would hook up 50 yards down the field." But if you'd ever actually watched the kid play (have you?), you'd realize that that's not really his game. That's not to say he won't be going deep from time to time, but for the most part, at Maryland, he would run relatively short patterns (10, 15, 20 yards), or even take the ball on hand offs, and then turn it up field so fast it would make your head spin, the whole idea being just to get the ball in his hands. I'll tell you something else: if you don't think opposing defensive coordinators aren't already worried about how they're going to defend Higgins, McFadden and DHB, you're kidding yourself.