Can Somebody Please Put Al Davis Out To Pasture?

Here are the records the Oakland Raiders have put up since reaching the Super Bowl in 2002:

4-12
5-11
4-12
2-14
4-12
5-11
5-11

These are pretty remarkable numbers considering how successful the franchise has been throughout the history of the NFL. I think the blame for their futility over the last 7 years can be placed squarely on the shoulders of owner Al Davis. Davis owns a majority of the team and has exercised near-complete control of football operation since the early 70s. The Raiders were terrific early on in Davis' tenure winning 3 Super Bowls in the 70s and 80s, but that was then and this is now. Davis will turn 81 this year and I don't think he is fit to run an NFL team anymore.

Davis has been looking to replace current Head Coach Tom Cable for the past several weeks which is interesting considering Cable was Davis' hand-picked choice to replace Lane Kiffin after Davis fired Kiffin in only his second season. Granted Cable has been under fire this season for some off-field issues involving domestic abuse but I think Davis wants to replace him because they no longer agree on coaching philosophies.

The revolving door that has been the Raiders Head Coaching position can be attributed to Davis. I think he has been trying to find a coach who can run the team the "Al Davis Way" and problems tend to arise because his coaches would rather win football games and that strategy seems to be at odds with Davis' wishes.

This sticking point this time seems to be Davis' unbreakable support of former #1 overall draft pick QB Jamarcus Russell. Davis drafted Russell because of his eye-popping physical ability which appears to be his drafting M.O. (see Darius Heyward-Bey's rookie numbers). I think at this point it is pretty clear Russell just doesn't have what it takes to play QB at the NFL level (he also wasn't particularly effective in the NCAA either but that's just my opinion) but Davis refuses to give up on his investment. He fired Kiffin because he never wanted to draft Russell and will likely fire Cable for not playing him either.

I don't understand how Al Davis can't see how bad of a leader Jamarcus is. The Raiders have some talent and Cable was able to win games this season with the likes of Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye at QB which is pretty remarkable when you think about it. Even veteran Jeff Garcia was critical of Russell's ability to win this season. I don't foresee the Raiders becoming relevant again until Al Davis relinquishes some control of the team and let's a coach rebuild the team the right way. I think the only way that will happen is if it is forced on Davis for health reasons. I'm pretty sure every football fan is Oakland is hoping for just that outcome...