Lane Kiffin Volunteers for Human Sacrifice

Al Davis (r) prepares his next victim. After eating his victim's soul, Al will appear 40 years younger for approximately two seasons.

This story is in such great context because of Bill Parcells' departure from the Cowboys. The Cowboys hired Jason Garrett to be either the head coach, or the offensive coordinator, or head coach if another candidate doesn't take the job, or something else, maybe an associate. With that hire, Jerral W. Jones takes one more step toward becoming the living Al Davis.

The New York Time article above is a great read. It really shows Al starting to break down. If I were Lane Kiffin, I'd probly take the job too. Like Jason, Lane will be fired after two seasons and Al and Jerral W. Jones will get to make the next move. Meanwhile, Lane and Jason will have eaten shit and fielded terrible teams the next two seasons, and a legitimate team will give each of them a shot.

Al Davis: I was 33 when I coached the Raiders, I hired John Madden at 32 and Jon Gruden at 35. Al was also an assistant coach with the USC Trojans, where Lane is coming from, mm-hm, 48 years ago! So there's totally a connection.

Al is a meddler and has a penchant for collecting players rather than fielding a team. Jerry Rice, Randy Moss. Any coach working for him will be mis-rah-bull.

Jerral W. Jones: I played college football and considered coaching the team himself before hiring gun-loving (NYT Select) Barry Switzer. Jerral W. Jones oversaw the Cowboys' decline in the Barry years, then Chan Gailey and Dave Campo were Jerral W. Jones hoping against hope that if he put an empty vessel in the coach's chair, he could just channel the winning spirit from the owner's box to the sideline.

At least the Cowboys are pretty well put together right now. Tony Romo is a bona fide starter, the Cowboys have two good running backs, and if you can swallow your pride, Terrell Owens can be a great receiver. Jason Garrett or other can work with this. The Raiders on the other hand are in baaaaaaad shape. Randy Moss is a headcase, there seems to be a vacuum at quarterback and first round pick Robert Gallery is officially a bust. A bad situation for a guy younger than many players and making less money.

Oh well, as a Redskins fan it's always fun to see some other team making horrid decisions and hurting their chances for the next couple of seasons.



Lane Kiffin and Dark Lord Davis: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images via New York Times