Tom Flores - Tales from the Oakland Raiders Sideline: A Collection of the Greatest Raiders Stories Ever Told

TALES FROM THE

OAKLAND RAIDERS

SIDELINE

Copyright 2003, 2007, 2012 by Tom Flores and Matt Fulks

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 978-1-61321-226-4

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to all the past and present warriors who have worn or are wearing the Silver and Black. In particular, we remember the great Raiders who are no longer with us, including: Lyle Alzado, John Matuszak, Dave Dalby, Hewritt Dixon, Neal Colzie, Duke O'Steen, Eddie Erdelatz, and three of the original owners-Chet Soda, Ed McGraw, and Wayne Valley. You will always be remembered, and your legacies live on.

PREFACE

When this book was first written in 2003, the stories were intended to stand on their own. Upon reviewing them for this re-release, we think that that they do and thus have kept them as is. Nevertheless, Tom also wanted to share his thoughts about some of the Raider greats who have passed away since 2003, about former coach Jon Gruden, and about the current state of the organization. He wanted to lead this Preface off with the biggest loss in the organization's history, former coach, general manager and owner Al Davis, who passed away on October 8, 2011. He was 82.

The passing of Al Davis is one of the most monumental events in the history of the Raiders' organization. After all, he was the Raiders. He was, without question, one of the best micro-managers I've ever been around. No one made a movewhether it was signing a player or changing the brand of paper in the front officewithout his approval. But no one loved the Raiders more than Al Davis did. There'll never be another like him.

We all knew he was in failing health, but it was hard to imagine that he would pass away. Come on, he's Al Davis! That weekend was extremely sad for those of us who knew him, but the team responded with a miracle win on Sunday.

The day after Al's passing, the Raiders were facing the Texans in Houston. Looking at the stats from the game, we shouldn't have won that day. The Texans had nearly 500 yards of offense (473) and held the Raiders to 278. On top of that, the Raiders had only 94 yards of rushing and 11 first downs. No, statistically we maybe shouldn't have won.

As we all know, thoughand what Al always stressedit comes down to the players on the field making the plays. That was the case on that Sunday.

With the Raiders leading 25-20, and less than a minute left, the Texans were driving. Their quarterback, Matt Schaub, had Houston at the Raiders 5-yard-line with seven seconds left. On the game's final play, Schaub threw a soft pass to Jacoby Jones in the end zone. Wouldn't you know it, there was Michael Huff to pick it off and preserve the Raiders win.

The Raiders finished the 2011 season with a record of 8-8, but Al Davis' shadow was around for the rest of the season. It likely will be for years to come.

A few days after the season ended, Mark Davis, Al's son with a new legacy in mind, hired Reggie McKenzie as the new general manager. We had drafted Reggie as linebacker in the 10th round out of Tennessee in 1985, and he played for me for three years. He was a good, tough linebacker. In fact, his strength as a player was his toughness. Since his playing career, he's become a great, knowledgeable football mind with a strong nose for talent.

Ron Wolf, another great Raider, gave Reggie his front office start in Green Bay, so he came from a good organization. A new era in Raiders football is born.

Unfortunately, some of the young guysespecially those who have been with the organization since 2010 or sodidn't get to know the Al Davis that others of us did.

They won't know the man who was fiercely loyal to his friends, but demanded your commitment. He demanded that you love the game as much as he did. I don't know that anyone could love it as much as he did, but he needed to believe that you did. That's how John Madden survived coaching for him, and that's how I survived as a player, assistant coach, head coach and broadcaster. Don't get me wrong: he'd still chew me out if I said something during a broadcast that he didn't like. I was more diplomatic than he was. He was the villain, a role he enjoyed playing to its fullest. There were times that he wanted me to be more critical and tougher on the guys.

Although he was a hands-on owner, he wasn't as directly involved during the game as people thought he was. The perception was that he was pulling the strings during games because he had a phone next to him that was visible when they showed him on TV. But he never messed with his coaches during the game. Most of his phone calls were to check on injuries. Personally, I never talked to him when I was on the sidelines. That's not to say he didn't occasionally send down suggestions. From time to time, feeling he needed to be part of the action, he'd send messages down to the coaches on the field. I never delivered those when I was an assistant. Somewhere I have an envelope full of messages he sent.

In my opinion, the game of football is better because he was part of it for so many years. The story was told in newspaper articles when he passed away, but people don't realize how instrumental he was during the AFL-NFL merger. It's generally thought that Lamar Hunt of the Chiefs and Tex Schramm of the Cowboys were the two main people who put the merger together. As Commissioner of the AFL at the time, he somehow persuaded Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh to move to the AFL from the NFL. When that happened, the merger came together.

His shadow is still with the Raiders and will continue to be. A flame is lit in the corner of the stadium prior to every home game. The initial one, a little more than a week after his passing, was lit, appropriately, by John Madden. That day, every generation of Raiders was represented on the field. It was quite an emotional event.

If you're wondering how former players and staff felt about Al Davis, consider this. During his birthday weekend, on the fourth of July in 2012, when he would've turned 83, we had a private celebration in Las Vegas hosted by the Davis family. There were 280 people in attendance, including players, coaches, personnel, and their spouses. It was a great celebration of a man who meant so much to all of us.

Right around the time of that celebration, we lost another great Raider, Ben Davidson, to cancer. Ben was such a neat guy. In the days leading up to our trip to Vegas, he asked his wife Kathy to call and tell everyone that he couldn't make the trip. As soon as we arrived at the hotel we learned that he'd passed away. I knew Ben wouldn't survive this round of cancer too long. The last time I saw him was in April 2012 at a golf tournament. We were chatting and he said he had to go back home for more treatment. Damn cancer! But if you asked Ben to do something, he never turned you down. He showed up for all of the events I hosted.