Is Fassel the new Raiders coach?

By DAN ROSS
Register Online Staff

Just when Oakland Raiders fans are given the false hope the team might be decent comes rumor that head coach Lane Kiffin could be gone as early as today.

Sure, Darren McFadden ran all over the woeful Kansas City Chiefs defense ... then again, JaMarcus Russell threw about as well as George Blanda could have so that’s a good reality check. As if the reality that Kansas City might not be as good as Sacramento State this year isn’t enough.

Kiffin has been begging and pleading to be fired since training camp started in Napa. I sat in on a number of press briefings where Kiffin’s comments were ones that would have had players and coaches alike suspended by the team for that favored catch phrase, “Conduct detrimental to the team.”

Kiffin stood and repeatedly lamented the fact he did not have enough healthy players to have good hard practices.

He constantly stated he wanted something different, but the players brought in to camp was a decision he had nothing to do with.

He went as far as to remind the writers that the Raiders were not a very good football team.

Is this something any NFL head coach says during training camp to motivate his players?

Nope, this is what a coach says when he wants to roam the USC sidelines on Saturdays, waiting for a call from a team needing an offensive coordinator while collecting the rest of his paycheck from Al Davis.

Davis wants Kiffin to quit; Kiffin wants to be fired so he gets the rest of the money in his contract.

Meanwhile, there’s the man who was wandering the training camp sidelines, supposedly only there to check out how his son was doing working with the Raiders special teams players.

Jim Fassel.

What was Fassel — former New York Giants head coach (1997-2003), former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator and yes, a former Raiders assistant coach too — really doing in Napa during camp?

Was he the one smart enough to know Kiffin has no prayer of lasting the season, so a job as an NFL head coach would be coming pretty bloody soon?

I’m no NFL insider, I was just out there shooting videos for 17 days of training camp. What I did see was a team whose coach has very little control of who plays for him, a coach openly expressing more than just frustration, he was expressing a challenge to Davis to fire him.

He ramped up the challenge with the blasting of Davis and defensive coordinator Rob Ryan last week, once again using the media to argue his case that he can’t control this team.

Kiffin is baiting Davis constantly now.

Maybe that’s why McFadden ran so well. He was trying to run away from the infighting.

Can someone out there size Fassel for a Raiders polo shirt for his first press conference as head coach, please? Me might be needing it real fast.

Dan Ross is NapaValleyRegister.com’s Multimedia Producer. He can be reached at 256.2264 or dross@napanews.com

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009