Whither the Offense

I must make a confession. This is the first season in which I have only watched the games once - live action. In previous seasons, after the live action I replayed the game film looking at specific players and plays to gain insight into what is going on with this team.

Now I am not a football professional, nor did I turn into one by staying at a Holiday Inn Express, but I can usually break down film well enough to see the big picture.

This season, I haven't watched the games a second or third time because it simply has been too painful to repeat after three consecutive seasons of Moe, Larry, and Curly n'yuck it up in Raider helmets. The big picture is clear as an unmuddied lake without having to wash my eyes out with Comet after maiming the DVD-R remote.

That said, there are plenty of places you can look these days to find the usual, tired "Tom Wash doesn't know offense and belongs back at the B&B" columns. This is not that place.

I will not be an apologist for Wash. After all this offense looks on the field as if Kerri Walsh might be its coach.

This offense is not the "Walsh" offense. The only coach named "Walsh" we remember for creating an offense is Bill Walsh, and his so-called "West Coast" offense. Make no mistake, this is the Sid Gillman offense we are supposed to be running.

Sid Gillman is a HOF coach and is credited with developing the vertical passing game. Gillman innovated this style on the West Coast in the '60s AFL days with the San Diego Chargers. It worked, as Gillman's teams won Division Titles five of the first six years of the AFL's existence.

What does this have to do with the Raiders in 2006, you ask? At Gillman's side in 1960 was a young Al Davis, one of the Chargers' offensive coaches. Davis learned his offense here. So when Art Shell says he will run the "Al Davis" offense in Oakland, what he means is he will run the Sid Gillman offense.



Will what worked in '60 work in '06? We don't know for certain if it will work with this Raider team in this age for one simple reason: We haven't seen it yet.

The fuddled mumble of an offense the Raiders have brought out in the first two games resembles nothing so much as a sad joke that no one finds funny. The players simply have not executed anything resembling an offense. Look at the bottom. Here you will find the Raiders. Last in yards gained by almost 100/game behind everyone else. Notice Chuck in Tampa is the next worst.

So what is this offense supposed to look like? When Al Davis says, "We take what we want, not what the defense gives us," he means we are going to run the ball to get the defense close to the line of scrimmage then throw it over their heads. No matter what. Gillman himself said, "The big play comes with the pass. God bless those runners because they get you the first down, give you ball control and keep your defense off the field. But if you want to ring the cash register, you have to pass."

Al Davis believes this and will till the day he unfortunately passes on. The problem is, in order to be able to dictate to the defense like Joseph Stalin on a Great Purge, you have to have one thing in place: an offensive line.

Without an O-line, there is no power running game. Verily, Lamont Jordan is last in the NFL in rushing yards per carry with less than two. Here it is. With out a running game, guess what? The defense doesn't watch passes go whizzing over its head like a Gillman blitzkrieg. Instead, it rushes the passer. This is the Achilles heel of the structure. No time to throw = no long bombs. No protection = game over. This season the Raiders are worst in the league in giving up sacks. See the sad truth here. Fifteen sacks is not going to keep this (or any) offense on the field.

The Gillman offense is predicated on finding receivers downfield. It eschews throwing to receivers - be they RBs, TEs, or WRs - at the line of scrimmage. The result? Jordan has ZERO receptions this season to date and the TE, Anderson, has but three. The TEs have dropped a few and we haven't seen anything vaguely resembling a screen pass yet.

The problem is this. The offensive line isn't opening holes or sustaining blocks. Until they do, nothing else matters. The young line is confused as to protection schemes and assignments. Walter is calling time out at the line of scrimmage because the clock is running out before they can get the plays and assignments together. The Gillman offense worked when HOFers like Shell, Upshaw, Otto, Wiz, and Brown were the linemen. It has not worked with Gallery, Sims, Grove, McQuistan, and Walker.

Verily, the O-line playing as one massive unit of road grading power and castle moat protection is the key to "Taking what we want." Without it, we can only give the defense what it wants.

Now is the time to execute. If the Al Davis/ Sid Gillman/ Tom Walsh offense shows up today against the Cleveland Clowns, we shall see whether it still works forty years after its inception.

My guess is that it does, when executed by competent professional football players. This remains a guess until it is actually run again by Oakland.

Until then, here is believing Oakland will clown Cleveland. Time for "Homey don't play that!" and hit 'em upside the head with a dirty sock.