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Moss, Porter may be sent packing soon
By Jeremy Harness January 3, 2007 |
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Oakland Raiders Head Coach Art Shell had a discussion with injured wide receiver Randy Moss regarding winning and working and Shell said, "I said you guys think you work hard? I said (there were) a lot of coaches that are winning in this league right now that you couldn't play for if that's what you think." If you knew anything about Moss he's ego driven then you would realize that's one reason why he dropped out with an injured ankle. Moss missed the last four games of the regular season. Although he never criticized Shell for the way he did the game plan for the offense and the way he handled Moss, he clearly indicated on his weekly radio show on Fox radio that he didn't want to be a part of the Raiders once the 2006 season was over. Moss talked about not thinking about football and relaxing for the rest of the season on his talk show and would consider going somewhere else after the Raiders season. Shell thought that Moss was just not carrying his weight on the team with what he was saying on the talk show and shortly after that Moss reported in with ankle injury. Moss during the season didn't get many balls thrown to him which also frustrated the veteran wide out and thought he would be the team's go to guy. Shell had other ideas and decided his go to guys would be Ronald Curry, Justin Fargas, and Doug Gabriel. With Moss out with the "injury" the Raiders morale dropped further south. This also could be blamed on coach Shell with the way he handled Porter. Sure Porter spouted off during pre season about being traded but truly let it be known Porter is your go to guy with Moss on the Raiders. It seemed like Aaron Brooks and Andrew Walter was both under orders not to throw to Moss and of course Porter was not available due to being on the inactive list. Porter may have improved his attitude after Shell made his feelings known that no ones bailing out on him and given Porter the chance to play later and activated him. That was the mistake that Shell made with Porter putting him on the inactive list for the whole season it further drove the Raiders morale further in the ground. Shell simply mismanaged Porter and should have activated him at some point during the season. It reflected down as a negative for the rest of the team. Warren Saap said, "I can't say much about it but we need everybody back at this point." The Raiders demise for a 2-14 season started with the failure of executing the use of Moss and Porter to their fullest. Lets face it no matter the attitude of both these players they would have been the premier tandem in the NFL if Shell would have let them run and catch and the Raiders would not have been 2-14. That failure finished the team. The way you build character is let those guys get in the end zone. Quarterbacks Aaron Brooks and Andrew Walter would have had a better time of it shooting to hit one of them coming down the line. If the Raiders had the success that they were suppose to with Moss and Porter they would have at least finished at .500. Now the banishment and the bad treatment of the two cost the club a bad season and last Sunday's loss in New Jersey and the Raiders just simply picked up their marbles and went home for the winter. Jeremy Harness covers Raiders football and co-hosts Sportstalk on 1690 KFSG Sacramento. |
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