With Pockets Full of Shells

"They rally round the family,
With pockets full of shells."

Bulls on Parade
~Rage Against the Machine



Last time we reminded ourselves Al Davis constructed the biggest single-season turnaround in AFL/NFL history. But that was 1963.

This photo shows what the current Raider coach, Arthur Shell, was doing in '63. Art was an All-American tackle at Maryland Eastern Shore College, looking ready for battle, yet also looking a bit odd wearing #73. The evidence clearly shows Shell had absolutely nothing to do with the miraculous Raider recovery of '63.

So why should anyone believe Coach Shell is capable of turning this Raider team around now, this season, in the present, the year 2006?

To predict what may happen this season, let's look at Shell's performance when he took over for Mike Shanahan in his first tour of duty as HC of the Raiders. Shell inherited a Raiders team in complete disarray. Shanahan had posted an 8-12 record by the time he was given the pointed end of Al Davis' black boot early in the '89 season.

The team was rebelling - after all, that is what Raiders do - to Shanahan's inane rules. "You can't sit on your helmets on the sidelines!" Shanahan dictated to them.

Shanahan obviously never heard of Dave Casper. When Casper had gone to the Oilers for a brief sojourn in Houston, the coach there dictated the players wear their helmets at all times on the practice field. Casper, having grown up The Raider Way, decided to wear his Riddell 24/7. The Ghost showered with his helmet, slept in his helmet, and ate at the training table through his facemask in protest.

You see, Shanahan was "green as the grass" in understanding The Raider Way. The Raider Way, as espoused by Shells coaching mentor, HOFer John Madden, is as follows:

1. Be on time. You can't do things as a team if the whole team isn't present.
2. Pay attention. Listen to what I'm telling you to do, and you will understand what we are doing.
3. Play like hell when I tell you to. This is self-explanatory.

That's it. Those are the Raider rules. No curfews. No "you can't date the cheerleaders". No silly helmet laws imposed like we are riding our Harleys down Route 66 with CHiPs following.


Shell, being Shanahan's offensive line coach, quickly rallied the team as a family. The '89 team started 1-3 under Shanahan and finished 7-5 under Shell. In his first full season, Shell improved the morale and Raider performance to a 12-4 mark and was named AFC Coach of the Year.

So we see, implementing the Raider Way, Arthur Shell worked a minor miracle his first time around. This is why I tell you it can happen again.

But don't just take my word for it or listen to ancient history, let us document what Shell himself has said. In this way, if the '06 Raiders do not perform as he says they will, we can hold him accountable. After all, Shell's main goal is holding the players accountable for executing their jobs; it follows he should lead by example and be held accountable himself for his execution.

A complete transcript of the statements Arthur Shell made as he was hired to be the fifteenth head coach in Raider history can be found by clicking here.

If you'd rather watch than read, video of the press conference can be found by clicking here.

These are the documented statements Art and Al made, for which we hold them accountable:



"We will come back. I say to the Raider players, to the Raider fans, to the Raider ex-players and even to you, the press, we'll get that back. It may take us a short while but we'll get that nastiness of the Raiders back. That's one of the reasons I'm going to depend on the great Art Shell to help us get that done.

We've gotta run the football better; we've gotta run it with toughness. We can't be a reach football team. This guy knows what I'm talking about, about toughness running the football.

It'll make our quarterback better. It'll make our pass protection better, and that's one of the things I'm strong on. We've gotta run that football better, we've gotta run it tougher, and people have to understand that they're gonna get knocked... Not what we call zone blocking.

We have good players now. We have a lot of great players now. We really do. And we'll see if we can make them perform."

~Mr. Davis



"I'm coming home to finish what I started. I never left the game of football. When the job opened up, I wanted to be a part of it because I felt that my organization, our football team, needs me. And I felt I could help.

There are certain standards that are very high. The expectations are high. I understand that. The players have to understand that and every coach in the whole building has to understand that. We 're all in this thing together. We can get this done, but it starts with me as far as the football part is concerned. I have to set the tone. I expect to set the tone.

Coaches are gonna be held accountable and players are gonna be held accountable. But it's gonna be a tough-love thing for me. We're gonna get this thing turned right. We're gonna create the type of attitude that we're all looking for in the Raider organization, that our ex-players have come to expect, that our fans have come to expect. We've got great fans. We've got great fans all over the world.

I have to come in here, and I have to show them the way. The Raider Way. Everybody has a way of doing things. The Raiders have a way of doing things. We're about winning. And we will win. We will be tough. We will be power. And I want the ability - as always - to strike from any place on the football field.

The game of football comes right down to blocking and tackling. Schemes? Everybody's talking about how this stuff is on the cutting edge; zone blitzes are in, those types of things.

But it's still football.

Look at the team that won the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh and Seattle played in the Super Bowl. What did they do? They run the football tough. They strike with play-action passes down the field. They play tough defense. And what's different from then - from back when we played and back when I coached - up until now?

Those things are consistent: stop the run, run the football and strike deep. That's what I believe in.

Those things work. I know they work. I've been involved in it. I know how to win. I know how to lead. I expect that we will have the kind of success that this organization deserves. We can't settle for anything less. And that's my job, to come in here and show the way.

It's how you work. It's how you practice. And it starts in the offseason.

When you walk out there, into that stadium, you walk out there with a presence. Mr. Davis called it a "swagger.” Yeah, a swagger. You walk out there with a presence.

And I just want to get back to the point where when we walk into a stadium, they know the Raiders are in town. And when we walk into the Coliseum, the Raiders are here. And we're gonna play in Black Bottom — we used to call it "Black Bottom" back in the day - now they call it the "Black Hole".

That's our home field. That's our home. You can't come in our backyard and win. We've gotta create that attitude, and that's what I expect to do.

Words don't get it done. It's actions."

~Coach Shell

These are the promises we have been made by the Raiders organization. If they are not delivered, the Raider Nation has the right to be angry as rabid howler monkeys throwing their own feces through the bars of their cages at the Oakland Zoo...

If/when they are delivered, it will be time to celebrate the dominance of the Raiders with Black Bottom shooters and Lombardis...

But for the present, I ask you to remember the words Mr. Allen Davis spoke when he hired Art Shell for his first tenure: "I hire Art not because he is black, but because he is Silver'n'Black."

For the present, I ask you to rally the family, 'round the man Arthur Shell.