Coach John Madden 1936-2021

Today's a sad day as the NFL and Sports world mourns the unexpected passing of John Madden. Coach Madden was a pioneer in Sports broadcasting and changed the way audiences see NFL games on television. He was charismatic, had a way with words, and was a frequent user of the telestrator to break down plays as they happened. Not only that, he was a pop culture phenomenon through the commercials (tough actin tinactin), the parodies (Family Guy, Frank Caliendo), and the long-running Madden video game franchise. 

Coach Madden was an important figure in the Raider history and lore. He's arguably the 1-B to Al Davis' 1-A in terms of the most important figures of the Silver and Black. The resume is indisputable: most wins and highest winning percentage as a coach in team history. Coached the Raiders to six AFC Championship appearances and a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XI.

Clearly, I wasn't around when Madden coached. But he was a recurring character in my late dad's stories recounting the Raiders of the 70's. He had such a recognizable voice in the booth when I casually watched the NFL as a kid. When John Madden is on the commentary team, you know you're tuning in to a huge marquee matchup. As mentioned, he changed the way audiences see the NFL. He made sure we know the names of the entire offense, defense, and special teams units, not just the QB. I watched the All Madden special on Christmas Day and players turn up their competitive nature to 110%. They want that recognition to be a part of the All-Madden Team, or want a piece of the "Turducken" on Thanksgiving Day. Nowadays, players want to be the cover athlete for the annual Madden games. 

What's shocking is the timing of his death. He just made an appearance on TV a couple of days ago for the first time since 2009. And then a couple of days after, he passed on. The All Madden special just seems like a way for every NFL player, personnel, and Sports broadcasters who have broadcasted on the NFL to say their final goodbye to a legend. The only thing we can take solace in is that Coach Madden lived a long, fruitful life and he touched many people. His name will forever be engraved in the game of American football. RIP.

Jon Gruden...

Well, that was quite an anticlimactic way to get out of his contract...

The Raiders and Jon Gruden parted ways after some emails from 10 years ago surfaced where Gruden made some racist remarks. And now, it was discovered that he had more messages where he made homphobic and misogynistic comments. Jon Gruden has officially resigned as head coach. The Raiders released a statement today from Mark Davis reading:

"I have accepted Jon Gruden's resignation as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders."

I should feel happy, but at the same time I don't. You all should know by now, I was never sold on Gruden being the guy to take the Raiders to the next level. All of his personnel and roster decisions, coaching decisions, drafting, and gameplanning were abhorrent and archaic. We're talking about the Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper trades, the Antonio Brown saga, the reaches and misses in the draft, and the 2nd half collapses in the most important period of the NFL season. This 2nd tenure of Gruden literally drove me to the point of insanity and with a coach getting paid $10 million for 10 years, he was getting this team nowhere.

I wanted Gruden out on the basis of those terrible decisions in his 2nd tenure with this team. But, we should know by now, we live in a highly sensitive world where anything can be taken out of context. And anything you say in the past can come back to bite you in the present. The things on race, gender, sexual orientation, diversity, and equality are all magnified in this day and age. And if you say something subtly offensive on those topics, it's literally the point of no return for you. Even if you apologize, the goal post will be moved farther away. And Gruden did that. He apologized. But, sorry is never good enough.

If anything, I'm not mad, just disappointed. Gruden has nobody to blame but himself for making those slurs and remarks in the first place. He might've not considered getting another head coaching job then. But, the NFL is a revolving door. Coaches come and go and come back. Rinse and repeat. Nobody in their right mind would consider making derogatory comments to a professional email. Especially if you're a former head coach in the league. 

This is yet another black mark in Silver and Black infamy. Things like this is why most Raider fans have zero tolerance with this franchise and why my outlook on this team has been negative. They give you a false sense of hope and optimism and unravel who they truly are as the season progresses: a team that has mediocrity as it's ceiling. And it was showing that way so far this season yet again. The Raiders started 3-0. Then they lose 2 straight, one against a team they should've beaten yesterday in the Chicago Bears. Now, this team finds itself soul-searching yet again. And the last time they involved themselves in controversy, it didn't bode well the rest of the way.

In closing, a majority of us wanted Gruden gone. We got him gone, just not in a way that we would've possibly imagined. He's certainly never coaching in the NFL again. 

Russell Westbrook

The Lakers can't leave me alone apparently. So, it's been agreed upon. The Lakers are bringing "Mr. Triple Double" back home with a trade to the Washington Wizards, sending away Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, and the 22nd pick in this year's draft. The trade is not official until August 6 when the NBA rings in the new league year.

Let's run straight to the positives, the Lakers finally form their coveted Big 3. They get Russell Westbrook to pair with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. They are very adamant in preserving LeBron as much as possible and it's obvious there's a need for someone who can score and take up some playmaking duties. And most of all, they can take over games is needed. Westbrook fits that mold on paper. He's notorious for being a stat padder, racking up triple doubles in the last 4 of 5 seasons. But, he certainly can take over a game when needed and is a significant upgrade as a third option. He'll make LeBron's life easier. This allows LeBron to play more off ball. He'll make AD's life easier. And he's certainly an upgrade over Dennis Schroeder by a mile.

Now that's that. The downside of this is this does not answer the Lakers' glaring need: spacing. It has been a problem last season and it was magnified in the first round against Phoenix. They are going to need a whole bunch of shooters to free up Westbrook, LBJ, and AD to do what they do best. You can't win in this modern NBA if you are not an above average three-point shooting team. And second of all, the packaging to land Westbrook here: Kyle Kuzma, KCP, Trezz, the 22nd pick. That's a lot to give up for a superstar. At least we can finally say good riddance to "Mr. Inconsistent" Kuzma. Now the Lakers don't have that much leverage to trade for more pieces. Outside of a potential sign-and-trade with Schroder and Talen Horton-Tucker, there's not much to work around. Of course, details won't come out until the the moratorium is lifted. I'm hoping there's more to be desired when all the details come out. 

But overall, the Lakers did what they had to do. They covet superstars and when they see an opportunity to land one, they pounce on it. Kudos to Rob Pelinka and the front office for not wasting any time. Now, the real work begins. They gotta find players that'll fit in with this trio, especially players that can lock in, shoot, and defend. We're gonna hear about the spacing or lack thereof for the next few days. But the Lakers got they always wanted, a Big 3. We'll see how this goes. As I said, we're hoping to uncover some more details surrounding the trade, especially since we know what the Lakers gave up to land Russell Westbrook.

A Post-Mortem of the 2020-21 Lakers

"Guess who's back?" - Dr. Dre, "Still D.R.E."

How's it going everyone? No, I am not here to signal that I'll be back to sports blogging full-time. But, I always considered this blog as a haven to get my thoughts across. Honestly, I've been swinging around Raider and Laker fan pages on Facebook providing my thoughts on both teams. But, this blog is a "canvas" where I can "paint the full picture." And after the Phoenix Suns eliminated the now previously reigning, defending champion Lakers, let's dive deep for one post only on what happened.

So, the Lakers failed their bid at a repeat and in doing so, helped handed LeBron James his first playoff series loss in the first round where he was previously 14-0. The Lakers dug themselves in a hole too deep that it was impossible for them to come back even if they tried to give the Suns a scare in the 2nd half. Obviously, that team hasn't been in the position before to close out a game of this magnitude, especially against a defending championship team. 

In this series against the Suns, Games 4-6 was a microcosm of the roller-coaster 2020-21 season the Lakers had to endure with a stockpile of injuries that stemmed from the short turnaround from the NBA Bubble in October to the new season start in December. Considering, the Lakers and the Miami Heat were the last two teams standing in the bubble, they had the shortest turnaround, 70 days to be exact from Game 6 of the 2020 NBA Finals to the first week of the 2020-2021 NBA Season. As a result, Miami got eliminated earlier in a sweep against the Milwaukee Bucks in a rematch from last year's playoffs in the Bubble. The Lakers were the last domino to fall against the Suns.

What we learned about this season is that the Lakers will go far as long as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy and are on the floor together. It's an obvious truth. This season was a painful, extensive look at how the team fared without one or the other or the worst case, without either of them on the floor. All was not completely lost earlier in this season as the Lakers were riding high at 21-6, #2 in the West. They looked the part of a team destined to repeat. 

Then, the downturn escalated real quick when AD re-aggravated his Achilles Tendinosis injury at Denver in February, causing him to miss nearly 2-3 months of action. And then LeBron James suffered a high ankle sprain after the All-Star break in March in a game vs. the Atlanta Hawks. Literally, we saw a whole month of Lakers basketball without the two stars. And that put a lot of weight on guys like Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma, Alex Caruso, and later on, Andre Drummond to keep the team afloat in playoff contention in their stead, especially since the Lakers had a difficult backend schedule against teams either in playoff contention or eligible for the new format of the play-in tournament.

Looking back at this early playoff exit, it was clear that this team didn't look right. The fact it took a miracle three from LeBron against the Warriors in the play-in was a red flag of what was to come. In defense, the Suns were an ideal matchup for the Lakers. Phoenix was a young team and outside of Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, not one player on that roster had any extensive experience in the playoffs.

Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Cameron Payne all said "hold my beer." Hats off to the Suns in this series. They beat the Lakers at their own game of pushing the tempo. Nobody on the Lakers roster was able to stop Devin Booker. Even more so, Ayton outplayed all of the Lakers' big men. Didn't matter if you had Drummond, Gasol, or AD on him, he was able to dominate inside and crash the boards. Perhaps the biggest difference maker was that Phoenix shot at a ridiculously high 3-point percentage than the Lakers. They exposed the biggest weakness of the Lakers: little reliable 3-point shooting or lack thereof. It has been a problem of the Lakers all season long and this series just magnified that, especially in games 5 and 6. The only time the Suns shot poorly from three was in game 4 and they still won that game. Overall, Phoenix shot the lights out from deep and even worse, they dared the Lakers to shoot from deep, knowing the Lakers can't generate any consistency from beyond the arc. Defensively, they put a wall on the Lakers so that they won't attack the basket at will and get easy shot opportunities. As a result, so many players were hesitant to take a shot and relied on LeBron to bail them out as they milked all 24 seconds on the shot clock.

Even with a healthy Anthony Davis, this team was doomed from the get-go with the role players not stepping up when they needed to. And that's the tragedy behind this lost season for the Lakers. If you look at the roster, it was more talented than last year's roster on paper. As I mentioned, last year's roster consisted of older veterans whose best years are behind them. This team was supposed to be a lot younger and a lot more athletic. We can't use age as an excuse. Outside of LeBron, Marc Gasol, Wesley Matthews, Jared Dudley, and Markieff Morris who are all 30 or over, everybody else is 27 and under. This team had super, young role players in Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell and struck a goldmine in the buyout market again adding Andre Drummond. The talent was there. The biggest culprit was the injuries and there was not a lot of time for this team to build chemistry and play as a cohesive unit because players were missing significant time. When even Jared Dudley has an injury and he hasn't played all season long, that's when you know the Lakers are snake-bitten by the injury bug. It was that bad.

Even more frustrating because of the lack of playing time together, some players just didn't fit well into the rotation, looked lost on the floor, or playing for their self-interests. Dennis Schroder wants a $100 million extension, but didn't look like a Point Guard who's worth that contract. I hate to say it, but Schroder is a super backup PG. He's not starter material. Andre Drummond is playing for a big contract. Despite the vision of Drummond and Davis dominating inside, Drummond more so hampered AD's game once he came back. That coveted twin tower duo never clicked from the get-go neither did Drummond's rapport with LeBron when he returned. Montrezl Harrell, reining Sixth Man of the Year, got lost in the shuffle and saw playing time decreased when the Lakers got Drummond. Harrell's lack of size is a prolong liability and it will stay that way because he doesn't have an outside shot.

The debates are starting right now on whether or not the Lakers should've hung on to last year's championship squad. I don't think last year's squad would fare any better and the results would be the same, but a bit worse. For a fair assessment, despite the Lakers having more talent on the roster, they definitely lacked older "glue guys" who can step into that leadership role and bring guys together when the going gets tough. And that's where the Lakers miss guys like Rajon Rondo, like Javale McGee, and like Dwight Howard. Rondo especially we can look back at this and say the Lakers definitely made that mistake of letting instrumental players go. If you look at past Lakers championship teams, they had that one guy that kept the team together. The Shaq and Kobe-led teams had Brian Shaw. The Kobe and Gasol-led teams had an older, wiser Derek Fisher. Rondo was gonna be that next guy and the Lakers let him go. They didn't have that "glue guy" this season, an older vet that the players could rely on to weather the storm. Like everybody would turn to Jared Dudley for guidance!

Let's be truthful regarding the Lakers' superstar duo, Father Time will come for LeBron James eventually. He's going to be 37 next year. We saw glimpses in this playoff series where LeBron is gradually losing his freakish athleticism. He can't get any lift on his legs, playing off a bad ankle. And as evident, he's settling for jump shots rather than attacking the basket. This was my concern when the Lakers first signed him: how much will all the wear and tear take a toll on him as he gets older? We saw proof that he can't carry an entire team anymore like he used to in Cleveland. Players need to break out of the "LeBron system" because he won't bail you out night in and night out.

Anthony Davis' injury history is well-documented. I would say the short turnaround hindered him the most. He finished the Bubble with a bad ankle, bad heel. This year, he battled an Achilles Tendinosis. The medical staff kept highlighting that injury as a strained calf. But, we all know that's all BS. Look at how Kevin Durant fared in the 2019 NBA Finals with a "strained calf." In the playoff series against Phoenix, he strained his groin in Game 4 and tried to play through that in Game 6. He only played five minutes and didn't finish the game. Whoever cleared AD to play last night, shame on them. You're putting a 5-year, $190 million investment of the Lakers' future at risk. If he suffers a career-altering injury, the Lakers will be back to ground zero. That's the truth. And as a bold take given the injury history, AD's gonna be a career 2nd option at best. The Lakers are going to need a true 1st option and a 37 LeBron is not that and neither will be AD for the future.

This team is going to look completely different this offseason. Rob Pelinka has a lot of roster decisions to make. Outside of LeBron and AD, everybody is going to be on the roster bubble. Alex Caruso, Dennis Schroder, Andre Drummond, Wesley Matthews, Ben McLemore, and Markieff Morris they're all going to be unrestricted free agents. Talen Horton-Tucker is a restricted free agent. Montrezl Harrell has a player option that he can decline to hit free agency this year. They'll explore trade options to move Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Kyle Kuzma's fat contracts. On top of that, the Lakers don't have too much wiggle room considering they're over the salary cap. Pelinka will be challenged this offseason. He has his work cut out to retool the Lakers while the championship window is not completely slammed shut.

Personnel decisions are being considered as well. Frank Vogel got outcoached in the first round. His rotations were highly questionable, especially pertaining to the fact that he refused to play Montrezl Harrell when the Lakers had nothing to lose as Phoenix was pushing them to the brink. Everybody's clamoring for Vogel's firing, especially rumors are swirling that Jason Kidd is gaining interest from other teams in the league for Head Coach. They think Vogel should be fired and Kidd should be promoted. I'm probably in the minority of dissenting opinion. It's too early to consider firing him. He did what he could with all the injuries and the short turnaround. The "hidden rule" for teams regarding coaches is that if a team regresses or gets off to a bad start after some successful seasons with the same coach, there is merit to fire the coach. Vogel wrapped up his 2nd year. He just coached them to a championship season. As I mentioned, the Lakers were 21-6 under Vogel before the injury bug struck. It would be wise to give him another year or two.

The silver lining is that the Lakers can get some true rest after resting only for 70 days. Honestly, I blame the NBA and the team owners for voting for a December start to the 2020-21 NBA Season. They just had to squeeze around Christmas time. Every team had a major injuries as a result and the Lakers and the Heat got the short end of the stick the most being the last two teams standing to finish out the 2019-20 Season in the Bubble. The only bad part is that the West will continue to get loaded. You look at all the young talent that's blossoming in the playoffs. You can sense the changing of the guard in the NBA. But, I'm pretty sure the Brooklyn Nets have something to say. Honestly, Nets vs. Bucks is the true NBA Finals. One is looking to prove the "Big 3, Superteam" era is not dead and the other is looking to prove that small market teams can compete as well. The only consolation I can take is if the Clippers get eliminated as well. I'm pretty sure they're kicking themselves for tanking when they could've easily dispatched a wounded Lakers team in the first round. But, they have dug their own grave because Luka Doncic is going full-on "John Wick" on that team trying to avenge from last year's playoffs. 

In closing, I would like to add Cameron Payne and Jae Crowder to the list of Phoenix Suns players I don't like. They're going up there and joining the likes of Raja Bell, Tim Thomas, and Goran Dragic. Welcome to the club!

It's going to be a tough few months until the offseason Laker fans. We're gonna have to live with the haters putting an asterisk on the 2020 championship and some Bubble memes and "LeMickey" and "ADisney" jokes. Honestly, if it was any other team that won the Bubble Finals, everybody would be cutting them some slack. But because the Lakers won it, you know that'll ignite a fuel to the fire of the haters, especially since they got bounced out this year.

The Lakers will be back! 

"Just Win Baby" - Raiders Convert Game-Winning Two-Point Conversion vs. Broncos + Blogger's Final Word

 Final Score: LV 32 DEN 31 [W] (8-8)

Well, looks like this is the first and last post of 2021 on this blog. Welcome in and Happy New Year! TrueRaiderLaker has finally reached its endgame after a 10 year run and what a way to end it as the Raiders finish at 8-8 with a dramatic come-from-behind win against the AFC West team I hate the most, the Denver Broncos in a 32-31 victory. Though, this was a challenge to get a hold of this game if you're residing in the Bay Area. Since this game was meaningless, we had to see the Arizona-LA Rams game as that had more playoff implications on the line. But, there's a reason why we have Internet. And I managed to catch the game on a non-descriptive livestreaming website. The fact that this game was not televised in the Bay Area is a harbinger of unfortunate things to come as a Raider fan in the region. 

Let's get the negatives out of the way: penalties, turnovers, and the defense collapsing yet again. The Raiders racked up a lot of penalty yards this game with 111 yards on 14 penalties. Honestly, this is to be expected every damn Raider game. The zebras will have no hesitation to throw a flag to screw the Raiders in any way possible. Even if this team is in a new city, the Raiders getting numerous penalties still follows around. Defense gave up a lot yards yet again and they broke down yet again in the 4th quarter, allowing a 92 yard go-ahead TD from Drew Lock to Jerry Jeudy.

The turnovers, 2 fumbles lost and 2 INTs. Darren Waller had a great game, which I'll talk about later, but he had two faults this game. He fumbled on a catch and run. And the football bounced off his hands into a Broncos defender for 1 of 2 Derek Carr INTs. Henry Ruggs took a nasty hit on a sweep and fumbled the ball. Derek Carr's first INT as mentioned was not his fault, but the 2nd INT was as he made an errant read. Lock and the Broncos' offense hasn't been impressive all game besides a pair of scoring plays. But, they had big time help on those turnovers to get things going. 

But despite all that, the Raiders still found a way to live up to the Al Davis moniker of "Just Win Baby." Derek Carr adds another game-winning drive to his resume. But, Darren Waller is hands down the MVP this game with 9 receptions for 117 yards and 1 TD plus the game-winning Two-Point reception. He only needed like 2-3 receptions to break the record for most receptions in a season by a Raider since Mr. Raider himself Tim Brown did it with 104 receptions. Waller completely shattered that record today and it's a fitting way to end a Pro Bowl-worthy season. Bryan Edwards had a mini breakout game with 2 receptions for 51 yards and 1 TD. It has been a frustrating rookie season for Edwards, but hopefully this game provides something to build off of next year. Josh Jacobs capped off another 1,000 yard rushing season with 89 rushing yards and 2 TDs. He's been hampered by the ankle injury since the Atlanta game, but he also capped off a strong finish to a Pro Bowl season.

This game had a deja vu finish from last year. The Raiders tried to win the game on a two-point conversion, but they were stuffed and ended the season at 7-9. This year, same team, same place, same scenario, but they got it done this time around. Despite the defense being a letdown like usual, they made a crucial stop in the final two minutes of the game, which allowed ample time for Carr and the offense to orchestrate the game-winning drive. But, the Broncos still had one more chance. And the fact that the Raiders committed a penalty after a big gain by Denver had us to the edge of our seat. It was like "is this going to be the Dolphins game again?" And Brandon MacManus has a big leg even though he uncharacteristically missed some field goals this game. Denver also had nothing to lose as well that they rolled MacManus out there to try a 70+ yarder. Nonetheless, they went for the 63 yard game-winning field goal, but the Raiders blocked it and Arden Key who was the scapegoat in Week 16 recovered the football from the block to seal it. 

From that, the Raiders avoid 7-9 part 2 and finish 8-8. It's not a losing record, but it's not a winning record either. Like I said in my preview, I had this team 9-7 at best, 8-8 at worst. This has been a frustrating start in the 2nd Gruden era. Deconstruction in the first year. Back-to-back collapses in years 2 and 3 after 6-3 starts. It's not a good look when you're paying a coach $100 million for 10 years. Sure, they're improving in win total, but it's not an impressive improvement and some of Raider Nation who have a voice in calling out this franchise's perennial mediocrity aren't either. 

There's still a lot of work to do and we all know where most of the work will take place: on defense. This side of the ball has been a perennial doormat for the Raiders as far as I remember and it needs to change. Hire an innovative DC, scrap the 4-3 scheme, start signing and drafting the right players. I don't care what they do. I am tired of seeing mediocrity on that side of the ball. I am tired of this team spending draft capital and throwing money at defensive players that don't pan out or don't live up to their potential. I am tired of  the hiring of unproven or below-average DCs. This defense needs to get out of the bottom of the barrel and become an above-average unit.

As for individuals, cut Tyrell Williams. Nelson Agholor has pretty much supplanted him and has built a good rapport with Carr. Why they haven't re-signed him is beyond me. But Agholor balled out this year and deserves a contract extension. That might mean moving on from Tyrell Williams at this point. Trade Trent Brown. I had to laugh at Gruden's comment calling him the LeBron James at the right tackle position. But, Trent Clown has been the absolute opposite of that. They always say the best ability is availability. Whether it's through an injury or COVID-19 violations, Trent Clown is never available. He is a looming black mark on Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock besides the Antonio Clown saga last year. Let Jason Witten walk. He's as old as the Raiders' last Super Bowl appearance. Cut Nevin Lawson, he's trash. Arden Key, release him too. Cut Maliek Collins. The entire DT unit needs a massive overhaul.

Regarding the 2020 draft class, it's a little unfair to evaluate and consider them underwhelming since they had no OTAs or preseason. But, Henry Ruggs needs to work on his route running. Damon Arnette needs to work on football instincts. Bryan Edwards needs to get involved in the playbook more. These three literally stand out in the Raiders' 2020 draft class. John Simpson might be another name to keep a lookout for since Richie Incognito got injured and Simpson was plugged into the O-line unit in some games. The 2019 draft class, Josh Jacobs and Hunter Renfrow are as advertised and have been the only players that panned out so far. The jury is still out there for Clelin Ferrell as a top 5 pick. Maxx Crosby had a down year. Johnathan Abram throws his body out there and gets injured. He needs to work on coverage. Trayvon Mullen took two steps back this year. The general rule is to not evaluate a draft class until they've been on the team for three years. There's still a lot of things to be fleshed out in the two draft classes in the Gruden-Mayock era.

Everything else, Darren Waller is a star and provides a mismatch nightmare for the Raider offense. As I mentioned, Nelson Agholor is a must-retain. And whether you're tired of Derek Carr or not, I think he did enough to see another season in Vegas. This win at Denver further solidifies it. The jury is also out there whether or not Carr is a legit franchise QB. He literally has all the Raiders' passing game records and statistics, but the win-loss record is another story. 

Every year, it's been the same excuses for Carr. He doesn't have the talent around him. He doesn't have a defense. The OC is terrible. Oh, they fired the OC, where's the continuity? The only time these excuses were valid were his rookie year. But, this ain't 2014 anymore. There's a reason why Carr stays afloat in the mid-tier level of starting NFL QBs. If you want to be mentioned in the same breadth of franchise QBs like a Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, you have to play like an elite QB week in and week out. As good as Carr is, he is hampered by streaky QB play and mental errors. He plays more like a game manager. He will be entering his 7th year as an NFL pro and in his 4th year under Gruden's system. And the talent is expected to improve on both sides of the ball. If we believe Derek Carr is an elite franchise QB, he has to perform like one. He has had enough continuity. 

Jon Gruden, he will be entering year 4 out of 10. No Bret Hart pun intended. His 2nd tenure is off to a disastrous start. He has hindered the team with conservative playcalling, boneheaded coaching decisions, personnel and roster decisions, etc. Rich Gannon is not coming out of that tunnel and call him out on his questionable playcalling on certain downs and distances. The 2002 Buccaneers defense is not coming out of that tunnel to help him fix this defense. He and Mike Mayock have their work cut out to improve the roster. But coaching-wise, he has to hire the best DC available. Maybe give up offensive playcalling duties, but that would require canning Greg "up the middle" Olson and hiring a creative OC whose forte is the West Coast offense. The Raiders may have a top 10 offense, but Gruden's conservative style has hindered them from being something more. And they need to work on playing good football for the 2nd half of the season. We're tired of seeing these late season collapses. Bottom line, Gruden's gotta put that $100 million contract to good use next year. Time is ticking and the vocal part of Raider Nation is running out of patience.

Final Word from the Blogger

The least I can do is thank the Raiders for winning this one game against the Broncos in my final post on TrueRaiderLaker. It's a good way to end on a high note. I've said all I wanted to say in my "Moving On" post, which is highlighted on the blog. But, it has been an unbelievable run, blogging, providing my thoughts on Raider games, Laker games, NBA Finals, Super Bowls, etc. Like I said, there's more bad than good during this period of Raider football and Laker basketball, but I'm glad I was able to cover one championship season. That has been my goal since I started this blog. And obviously that championship run came from the Lakers. But, it was also great to cover at least one winning season from the Raiders back in 2016. I'm hoping the Raiders get back to their winning ways, but it's a long way to go. And hopefully, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel for that.

As I depart from this blog and deem this blog inactive after this, I just want to thank you all for following and visiting my blog. Whether you're a Raider fan, Laker fan, or a hater, I appreciate your time here on the blog and reading my posts. I'll admit, I'm not the perfect writer. But, all the blog posts I've done here are done with 100% passion. Some bloggers quit the game and never leave a final post. And I wanted to make sure that I end on good terms with all of my visitors and followers as I depart to pursue other projects.

Rest assured, this is not a retirement. I may return to the world of sports blogging some time in the near future. But, this is the decision that I wanted to make. And I'm sticking by it. I'm excited for my next endeavors and I can't wait to embark on them. And you all know how I end all of my blog posts: "I'll see you guys later." That still reigns true even in this final post. As the old saying goes, "it's never goodbye, it's see you later." In closing, I say again "Thank You" for a fantastic 10-year run. The colors of Silver and Black and Purple and Gold will forever reign on this blog. With that said, for the final time: I'll see you guys later.

~ Matt (MechG2994)

Raiders Eliminate Themselves from Playoff Contention

Final Score: MIA 26 LV 25 [L] (7-8)

No matter if the Raiders move from Oakland to Las Vegas, some things just never change. This team is a comedy. I'm trying not to laugh at my own team. I've seen this script many times as a Raider fan. But, it never ceases to amaze me that this team just finds new ways to lose in the most undisciplined fashion. This is the "Raider Way." It has been since 2002.

I'm not going dive deep too much into this game. It was a tale of two halves. The first half, it was a defensive battle. Then in the 2nd half, both teams found themselves in a shootout. The defense was able to hold Tua Tagovailoa in check, getting to him 3 times. But, in comes Ryan "Fitzmagic" in the 4th quarter to change the whole complexity for the Miami Dolphins' offense. Low key, Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the Raiders' thorn on the side for some time. The fact that it took only one quarter for Fitzpatrick to rally the Dolphins says a lot on the unfortunate luck the Raiders had against him.

Some positives: we expected Carr to sit out the rest of the season with a groin injury, but he toughened it out this week to start. He did well with 21 passes of 34 attempts 336 yards and 1 TD despite being sacked 3 times. Nelson Agholor and Darren Waller balled out tonight and accumulated most of Carr's passes. Waller torched the Phins' secondary with 5 receptions on 112 yards. Inexplicably, the Dolphins were giving him one-on-one coverage and Waller just shredded his matchup. Agholor had 5 receptions for 155 yards, including the go-ahead 85 yard TD to put the Raiders up 16-22 with 3:37 left in the 4th.

Now, let's talk about to where things went south for the Raiders. The Raiders never converted a 3rd down. They went 0-10 in 3rd down conversions. Daniel Carlson missed the PAT after the Agholor TD. And then, that blown coverage and face mask penalty from Arden Key to help set up the Dolphins with the game-winning 44-yard field goal from Jason Sanders. Lets rewind before that, the Raiders didn't punch it in with Josh Jacobs. They let the clock run out with 19 seconds left and hitting the go-ahead field goal. 

24-26, the Dolphins were out of timeouts and only had 19 seconds to go the length of the field. It was a reasonable decision. Jon Gruden's playcalling was anemic this game, but I understood the rationale of running out the clock and settling for the field goal. I mean we would've never expected the defense to blow coverage down the far side of the field and on top of that, commit a stupid asinine penalty to give the Dolphins 15 more yards for a manageable field goal to steal the game and the Raiders' playoff hopes! And I'm laughing again as I reminisce on this game's final drive. You thought this "she-it" was over when they hit Las Vegas huh? Some things just never change. This loss is just another page in the Raiders' long book of losing in embarrassing fashion. 

I wish I could be angry and frustrated. But truth of the matter is as I said, I've seen the same old stuff in my tenure as a Raider fan. I've said it previously, it doesn't matter if this team moves anywhere else, the dysfunction will follow. To all who thought the Raiders would suddenly turn it around when they get to Vegas, the joke's on all...of...you. This team purposely continues to play us like a damn fiddle! I think I'll end it right there. This is just comical.

Lakers 2020-21 Season Preview: The New Dynasty?

Just for the record, I am doubling down on my departure from this blog at the conclusion of Week 17 of the NFL Season. But, I don't want to leave Laker Nation hanging to provide my overall thoughts on the upcoming season. The Lakers only had a good 1 1/2 month to celebrate banner #17. Now, they have to get back to work in what is a very short turnaround because the NBA wants their Christmas Day games. What we know is that the league has shortened the season to 72 games. Only the first half of games has been revealed for each team. The second half is yet to be determined. And after a successful implementation in the NBA Bubble, the play-in tournament between the #9 and #8 seeds has been brought back.

The Lakers are coming in as the defending NBA Champion, having conquered the Bubble in what felt like it was just 72 hours ago that they won the NBA Finals over the Miami Heat in 6 games. Typical championship teams tend to sit back and retain their championship core as long as they can. The drawbacks is that the core gets a year older and opposing teams get better. For the Lakers, the team that just won the championship were filled with veterans and former All-Stars who were on their last legs or looking for a ring before they cash out with other teams. I don't think hanging on to everyone would've been wise, especially in such a short turnaround.

Nobody had a better understanding of this than Rob Pelinka. To ensure that the Lakers stay one step ahead of everyone, he rolled the dice and there was no Kawhi Leonard decision to hold him down like last year. It was tough to see fan favorites like Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Dwight Howard, and Danny Green (not really) leave. But, they were replaced with younger players in Dennis Schroder and Montrezl Harrell and cheaper veterans in Wesley Matthews and Marc Gasol. Gasol gives the Lakers a big who can space the floor even more and be the extra facilitator. Wes Matthews provides more offensive arsenal than what Danny Green provided as a mere spot-up shooter and is a solid defender in his own right. Schroder and Harrell gives the Lakers potential pieces that could play with AD in the long-run and helps fortify the bench with two 6MOY candidates. If there was one negative that the Lakers had last season is that they typically fumble away big leads, which leads to LeBron and AD playing unnecessary minutes in the 4th quarter. Because once those two leave, the offense sputters. That's not going to happen when you have Schroder as a reliable third option and Harrell who can double-double at any time. Those acquisitions will help LeBron and AD preserve energy come playoff time because they literally carried the Lakers to a title just two months ago. 

With the departure of McGee and Dwight, they do lose some rim protection and additional lob threats outside of AD. That will be something to monitor as the season progresses, especially when the Lakers run into the premiere bigs like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Karl Anthony-Towns, and Bam Adebayo. Marc Gasol is the Lakers' only true Center this season. And he might've lost some athleticism, but he's still a cerebral defender. I don't think it's a cause for concern at the moment. Keep in mind, the buyout market is still a little later this season, so that'll give the Lakers some options to add another big for extra rim protection. Dewayne Dedmon is still in the market and who knows? The Cavs might buy out McGee, which allows him to come back to the purple and gold. 

Despite some tough departures, the championship roster is mostly in tact. KCP re-signed for three years. Markieff Morris re-signed for the minimum. Jared Dudley and Quinn Cook are brought back for team chemistry purposes. The biggest ones is that the Lakers have LeBron and AD to stay for at least 3 more years. LeBron signed until 2023. AD is locked in for the foreseeable future. And on an interesting bonus, the Lakers locked up Kyle Kuzma for 3 years, $40 million just recently. No question Kuz has been a disappointment in his current role. But we have to remember, he battled nagging foot injuries last year so he couldn't fully assimilate himself into Frank Vogel's rotation. No question, he's on a short leash with Talen Horton-Tucker showing up this preseason. We're going to see some extended action from THT after some nice spurts in the Bubble. But the big story, LBJ and AD are here to stay and will extend the Lakers' championship window for another three years.

With that said, can the Lakers run it back this year? This shouldn't be a question to begin with. The Lakers have a pretty good influx of youth and veterans around their dynamic duo. Yes, there's some cracks in the front court and on the wings. But, Frank Vogel and the coaching staff have a great knack of putting players in the best positions to win. This Laker team now has a good idea on how to get to the Finals, let alone win a championship. The crosshairs are going to be looming large at them as teams will try to come at them to dethrone them. There are teams that will be a threat: Clippers, Dallas, and Denver out West. Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Philly, and Miami out East. But, the Lakers have a pretty legit chance to repeat and go back-to-back. A new dynasty is brewing.

It's been real Laker Nation. Thank you all for a great 10 years on this blog. One of the great feelings in the world is finally covering a championship season here. It was a long wait. But, it was well worth it at the end. I'm ready to move on to my next chapter in life. I'll see you guys later.