Carr backs Bisaccia as coach of Raiders
Rich Bisaccia steadied the Las Vegas Raiders after taking over during a tumultuous regular season, guided them to the playoffs for the second time in 19 seasons and earned the support of his players.
The first question facing the Raiders this offseason after a 2619 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in a wild-card game Saturday will be whether that’s enough to remove the interim tag and make Bisaccia the full-time coach.
“I think we can all think that he’s the right guy,” quarterback Derek Carr said after the game. “He’s proven that people listen to him. Not just people but our team listens to him. I love him so much, I’m thankful for him. All those things will be decisions that I don’t make, I don’t get to make. I just play quarterback and do my best to complete every pass. But with everything that went on, if you really look at what happened, all the pieces missing, everything that changed. He held it together.”
Bisaccia took over after Week 5 for his first stint as a head coach in a most difficult situation. Jon Gruden had built the team and was involved in every aspect of the organization before being forced to resign after the publication of his old offensive emails.
Bisaccia, a long-time special teams coach in the NFL, rallied the team and helped lead the Raiders to back-to-back wins to make them 5-2 heading into the bye.
Then the Raiders were dealt another challenge when receiver Henry Ruggs III was charged with felonies in a fatal DUI crash that killed a 23-year-old woman. Ruggs was immediately released and the Raiders went into a tailspin, losing five of the next six games and looked as if they were playing out another lost season.
But the players never quit and Las Vegas won the final four games by four points or fewer to make the playoffs for the second time in the past 19 seasons before falling short on the final drive in Cincinnati.
“If it was up to me, I think everyone in the world knows what my decision would be. I love Rich. You know, I’m biased, obviously. But he’s a great coach,” star defensive end Maxx Crosby said. “He came in and got us to 10 wins. We came on the road, on a short week and gave Cincinnati everything they could handle. It just shows, you know, Rich is a great leader. One of the best people I know. One of the most honest dudes I know. I’ll go to bat for him any day of the week.”
The Raiders were the first team since the 1961 Houston Oilers to make a coaching change during the season and make it to the playoffs.
Eagles defensive end Sweat in ‘life-threatening’ situation
Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat did not play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. He underwent an “emergency procedure” on Tuesday to address a “life-threatening situation.”
The Eagles didn’t release any information about what “life-threatening” medical situation Sweat was facing. He was listed as having an illness on the Eagles’ medical report this week, and head coach Nick Sirianni mentioned on Friday that Sweat was back in the building after dealing with abdominal pain. That would seem to indicate a burst appendix, but the Eagles shot that down quickly.
While we don’t know what issue Sweat was dealing with, the Eagles said he was close to being cleared to play Sunday. His status improved every day, but in the end his doctors decided he wasn’t ready to go.