Raiders new OC is greg knapp

NO I will not. I still like Andrew Walter and think he could be the Qb of the future. Just can't put your eggs in one basket, especially when you have a chance to get a franchise QB you have to take it. All about bringing in the most competion at everly position. Once Andrew walter proves hes a capable starter in this league, than you have somew serious trade bait.

 

Yea but Knapp isn't calling the plays or is it his offense. Lane Kiffin will call all the plays. Pete carrol who should know Lane Kiffin offense has said russell a way better fit than quinn for his offense.

 

Well just goes to show that hall of fame Olineman(Shell and Slater) don't necessarily make good Oline coaches. The coaching on oline was that bad last year.

Did andrew Walter get a fair shot in Oakland. NO Again Peyton manning wouldn't have looked good playing behind raiders oline ,and scheme they were running last year. look at Alex smith struggle his first year starting and he played alot better the following year. I still believe in walter.
It just goes to show you that life isn't fair. you have a chance to geta QB with russell ability and you have to take him. Chargers had a Drew brees and it didn't stop them from getting a EliManning/ Philip Rivers)
ITs all about covering yourself at the all important position. you hit on QB position and its a good chance your a playoff/superbowl contender every year.
Really not that hard.

 

Kiffin on fast track to success
By Jerry McDonald
When it's fourth-and-one and the BCS national championship is on the line, you don't worry about coming up short.

When managing general partner Al Davis decides out of the blue you are his choice to become the head coach of the Raiders at age 31, you push aside negative thoughts and go with your gut.

Kiffin didn't get what he wanted as the USC co-offensive coordinator on Jan. 4, 2006, with the Trojans coming up short and providing Texas with an opportunity for a 41-38 win.

He fared better with Davis and became the 16th coach of the Raiders.

In both instances, his philosophy was the same.

John Reaves can relate.

A former All-America quarterback at Florida who played nine seasons in the NFL, Reaves is Kiffin's father-in-law. His daughter Layla met Lane, then a graduate assistant at Colorado State in 1999, while working for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the special events department.

Lane and Layla had been dating a relatively short period of time when Lane called and wanted to meet Reaves in his office. Reaves sells commercial real estate and wondered if Kiffin going to ask for a job.

"He said he wanted to ask for my daughter's hand in marriage," Reaves said. "I said, 'But you've only been dating three or four weeks.' He said, 'I don't care. I know what I want. She's what I want.'"

The youngest head coach in the NFL's modern era, it is Kiffin's job to resurrect a franchise with a league-worst 15-49 record over the past four seasons and has been above .500 just three times in 12 years.

Kiffin has never been a head coach, never been an offensive coordinator on his own. There are USC fans and alumni who will never forgive Kiffin for not having Reggie Bush on the field when LenDale White was stopped on fourth-and-one against the Longhorns.

Or for the Trojans' offensive struggles in a 13-9 loss to UCLA last Dec. 2, despite all the wins and productivity that came before and a 32-18 pummeling of Michigan in the Rose Bowl that followed.

The Raiders, 2-14 in 2006, have gone through seven head coaches in the last 12 seasons, and the new kid on the block looks like one of the New Kids on the Block.

Robin Kiffin, Lane's mother, has heard the talk but has also watched a son who started ascent to head coach the first time he climbed out of his crib.

Monte Kiffin, Lane's father and defensive coordinator of the Buccaneers, is one of the NFL's most highly regarded and highest-paid assistant coaches. Lane's future occupation was never in doubt.

"In Little League, the first coach he ever had said Lane wanted to come in and coach the team," Robin Kiffin said. "He' been around football forever."

While Robin Kiffin politely corrects Reaves' timeline regarding his son's engagement to Layla -- it was three months, not three or four weeks -- she admits her son shows no hesitation in pursuit of a goal.

"He is very decisive," she said. "He goes for it, where his father tends to go over it and over it."

David Watson, an assistant coach at USC who was a high school teammate and close friend who lived with the Kiffins for a time in Bloomington, Minn., said, "Lane has more strike to him -- a cobra mentality."

Football, training camps and practice schedules were a way of life at the Kiffin home in several different stops.

One of the favorite family stories was when Monte was the head coach at North Carolina State and had a weekly spot on a call-in radio show. Lane, 6, called the show and said if his dad could get a new contract, they could get a new blackboard for drawing plays.

Monte Kiffin said he remembers Lane watching him closely, drawing his own X's and O's, creating his own offenses and defenses.

"He loved challenges. puzzles, Legos, creating things," Robin Kiffin said.

Lane tagged along on practice fields and locker rooms with the Green Bay Packers, Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints and Buccaneers.

Chris Kiffin, 24 and a graduate assistant at the University of Mississippi, followed suit.

"It was all football, all the time," Chris Kiffin said. "I felt bad for my sister (Heidi) and my mom sometimes, wondering if they felt left out because we were always talking football."

By the time Lane was in high school, he was fluent in a football language that his teammates were just beginning to learn. He was a point guard in basketball and also played baseball, but was way ahead of the game in football.

"It was like talking to a 25- or 30-year-old coach instead of a 17 or 18-year-old player," said Stan Skeij, his high school coach at Jefferson High School-Bloomington. "He not only understood what he was supposed to do, but what all 11 players were supposed to be doing on every play."

Lane would bring Jefferson teammates, including Watson and current Chicago Bears assistant Lloyd Lee, to sessions at the Vikings practice facility.

There, they would watch film, take the field and get coached by Monte Kiffin, then a Minnesota assistant under Jerry Burns.

On Sundays, Lane and his friends would immerse themselves in football from breakfast through dinner. Lee remembers watching so much professional football he became confused about the rules on Friday night.

"We're driving down the field, the clock's ticking down and I'm telling Lane, 'We've got the two-minute warning coming up,'" Lee said. "Lane just looks at me tells me to settle down. We go in and score ... there is no two-minute warning in high school football."

Lee, Watson and others were regular guests at the Kiffin home. Furniture was moved on command to practice indoors. The house would empty at a moment's notice to adjourn to a local field for more football.

"I never knew when I got up Saturday or Sunday morning how many kids would be at our house," Robin Kiffin said. "I just kept the refrigerator full of food for all of them."

Lane Kiffin led Jefferson to an 8-3 season, eventually losing in the playoffs, and earned a scholarship to Fresno State. Blessed with more moxie than sheer talent and with an average throwing arm, Kiffin was asked by assistant coach Jeff Tedford if he'd rather spend his last year on the bench or become a graduate assistant coach.

Kiffin became a coach. He was on the fast track, even if he didn't realize it at the time.

After two years at Fresno State, Lane was told by his father that if he was serious about being an offensive coordinator, he needed to start with the offensive line. He coached as an offensive line assistant at Colorado State in 1999, then spent the 2000 season working with defensive backs as a quality control assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Lane Kiffin joined Pete Carroll, who had coached with Monte Kiffin at Arkansas and North Carolina State, at USC in 2001. He started with tight ends, coached wide receivers for two years and began calling plays in 2004, sharing the role of offensive coordinator with Steve Sarkisian.

With his single-mindedness of purpose and ability to sell his point of view, Kiffin became one of the nation's top recruiters at USC.

He engenders loyalty among his closest friends, yet some who have dealt with Kiffin say he can be curt, condescending and impatient with those who don't come around to his way of thinking soon enough.

"A lot of people thought he was cocky in high school, but I always looked at Lane as a guy who was always prepared and knew he could get the job done," Lee said.

Jon Leverenz, a Jefferson assistant, conceded there were some who considered Kiffin arrogant, "one of those guys who knew more than the coach ... and a lot of times he did."

Chris Kiffin said his father is "more laid back and more of a people person."

Lane?

"There's a notion out there that he comes off as a jerk sometimes," Chris Kiffin said. "That's something he needs to work on, and he knows that. But being around my dad and Pete Carroll so much is paying off."

 

Continued
The technical side of the sport shouldn't be a problem. Kiffin immediately sold Davis on his prowess at X's and O's. Chris Kiffin said when his brother and father talk football, they often do it without pen, paper or chalk.

"They can both see all 22 guys on the field at the same time in their minds and talk about a certain play, and Lane will immediately know what he's talking about," Chris Kiffin said.

Jon Gruden became an additional resource when he arrived in Tampa Bay in 2002.

"He sat in on quarterback meetings and kept picking things up from coach Gruden," Monte Kiffin said. "He took it back to Southern California and now he's going to take it to the Raiders."

Gruden said Kiffin took plays and concepts back to USC and "they ran them better than we did."

Reaves played with the Cincinnati Bengals when Bill Walsh was offensive coordinator under Paul Brown, and played for Steve Spurrier in the USFL. He was an assistant under Spurrier at the University of Florida from 1990-92.

"I've seen great coaches draw up an offense," Reaves said. "I realize I'm prejudiced, but Lane is really, really good. I don't think he'll have any trouble at all in that area."

With the Raiders having nowhere to go but up in terms of scheme and philosophy on offense, Lane Kiffin's biggest challenge will be to instill a sense of discipline, tempo and energy into an offense that sorely needs it.

Davis said Kiffin's age will not prevent him from being an authority figure. Robin Kiffin said Lane has "a look" that he might have picked up from Gruden.

"He related with Michael Williams, Dwayne Jarrett, Reggie Bush and LenDale White -- and they all wanted the ball, and they all wanted to ball," Watson said. "He kept everybody happy, everyone got their touches."

Said Reaves: "The players are the first ones to know whether a guy has got it or not. If they believe in a coach, they'll play hard. But if they don't, they'll be the first ones to shut it down. I think they'll know Lane has got it."

Chris Kiffin cautions those who saw a stiff, mechanical Lane Kiffin at the introductory press conference from reading too much into it.

"I called him and ripped him pretty good. I could tell he was nervous," Chris Kiffin said. "I told him he needed to relax and be himself."

Lane's mother hasn't talked much with her son since the big day. Lane told her about the interviews and how he and Davis had clicked immediately. Robin asked her son what he was doing, and visualized a moment of destiny forged by 31 years of football.

"He laughed," Robin Kiffin said. "Then he said, 'I'm sitting in my new chair.'"