‘ Embarrassed’ Davis apologizes to fans
OAKLAND— The Raiders’ No. 1 fan walked out of the coaches room and into the locker room, standing up in the minutes after his team had let him down.
“I’m embarrassed,” Mark Davis said. “I’m pissed off. I’m not happy.”
The managing partner had witnessed his team’s latest travesty, 191 minutes of mostly uninspired, ineffective football that left fans alternately frustrated and fuming.
The booing that rained down upon the Raiders after their 38- 17 loss Sunday to New Orleans could not have been clearer, though it would have been louder had the team’s abysmal performance not chased away so many of the 56,880 long before the end.
“I apologize to them,” Davis said, referring to the fans who stayed and those who fled this eyesore before its conclusion.
Davis, however, stayed until the
very end. The first- year boss witnessed Oakland’s third consecutive defeat, each decisive, wrecking a season that through seven games showed a glimmer of hope.
“The word ‘ regression’ may be ( appropriate),” he understated, acknowledging a team that was 3- 4 before the Nov. 4 home game against Tampa Bay will take a 3- 7 record to Cincinnati next Sunday.
“I’m not happy,” Davis reiterated, maintaining an even tone. “Why should I be? Why should anybody in this ( locker) room be?”
Oh, we suspect no one in the Raiders locker room was pleased in the wake of this abomination of the game. Defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, usually the bluntest voice in the room, generally calling a dog a dog, had nothing to say. Quarterback Carson Palmer stood there and took it, a bag willing to be punched.
Hybrid running back/ receiver Marcel Reece, who accounted for 193 yards, making him the one Raider to earn an acquittal, offered a serving of overall displeasure.
“Stats are irrelevant when you don’t get the ‘ W,’ ” he said.
The locker room was fairly barren when Davis walked out and made his most extensive remarks of the season.
He did not tear into his general manager, Reggie McKenzie, nor did he blast his coach, Dennis Allen. Davis declined to call out any individual, other than himself. “It’s on me,” he said. Well, actually it’s not on Davis. He’s fully aware he is not the football savant his father, Al Davis, was. That’s why upon taking over for his father, who died 13 1⁄2 months ago, Mark followed the advice of a group of advisers that included John Madden, Ken Herock and Ron Wolf, all men with a Raiders pedigree.
Moreover, that’s why Mark hired McKenzie, then authorized the G. M. to replace 2011 coach Hue Jackson with Allen. Allen then was authorized to assemble his staff, a level of clout Al Davis never granted to his head coach.
Put another way, Mark Davis isn’t to blame for the Raiders losing seven of 10 games in his first full season at the top of the organizational chart.
And yet, Davis offered no excuses for himself or anyone else. He expressed confidence in Palmer, didn’t moan about the effects of the salary cap and didn’t gripe about the loss of draft picks. Davis didn’t dare mention injuries.
“You have coaches, you have players, you play,” he said.
Oakland’s failure Sunday was system wide. The coaches were outcoached, the players outplayed, and the fans simply gave up.
The score is mere wallpaper, posted for the purposes of official record- keeping. The game itself was much worse for Oakland. As the third consecutive game in which the Raiders were not really competitive, it represented a season gone south in every conceivable way, with every new low followed by something even newer and lower.
Being destroyed by this Saints team is rocking a new bottom.
New Orleans had not managed a blowout victory all season, if only because its defense was statistically incapable of such a feat. The Saints brought to Oakland the worst defense in the NFL, one allowing more than 28 points per game and almost 470 yards per.
The Raiders managed only 17, with the last touchdown being strictly cosmetic, coming with four minutes left. This contest was effectively over when Oakland entered the fourth quarter trailing by 25.
“We thought we were ready to play,” Allen said, “and we got beat today.”
Moreover, Allen insisted that declining performance and the 3- 7 record are not accurate indicators of the quality on his staff and within the roster at his disposal.
“I know we’re better than that,” the coach said. “And I know we can play better than that, and we’ll continue to work and we’ll get better.”
It’s only 10 games into a new Raiders regime, and it appears to be getting worse. But it’s only 10 games. “I’m patient,” Mark Davis said. “But I want to see progress.”
He is, after all, a fan, like so many of those who walked out Sunday. He stuck around, perhaps only because he owns the team.